The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition)
by Charlie Chaplin
List Price:
Our Price: $26.99
You Save: $2.99 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $14.87 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Georgia Hale, Henry Bergman, John Eagown, Sam Allen, W.S. DobsonDirector: Charlie Chaplin
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Silent gold
Summary: 4 Stars
This 2-disk set is a great resource for those interested in "The Gold Rush," Charlie Chaplin's 1925 comedy about Alaskan gold prospecting. The main disk contains the 1942 re-release, which did away with interscene placards, replacing them with a voiceover by Chaplin himself. The second disk included the original 1925 silent release. Both versions were accompanied by a wonderful piano arrangement that was timed with the movie action. The second disk also contains a "making of" shorts that described Chaplin's off-screen romances with his leading ladies as well as footage of an older Chaplin reprieving one of his movie routines. Another short describes the effect that Chaplin had on an African filmmaker. The extras are by no means comprehensive, but have enough meat to satisfy the casual student of Chaplin and early cinema.
The film is terrific and sometimes funny, and always watchable. Chaplin's "Little Tramp" character delves into the Alaskan wilderness, seeking his fortune as a gold prospector. He encounters other prospectors, good and bad, and falls in love with the lovely Georgia, who seems at first not to notice him. There is great pathos as well as comedy in the film. A scene in which Chaplin prepares a New Years' Eve party for Georgia and her friends, who have forgotten their promise to attend, is quite affecting. The misery is offset somewhat by one of Chaplin's great routines -- set in a scene that imagines how the party would have gone -- in which Chaplin sticks forks into two dinner rolls and makes these "feet" dance beneath his sad sack face. Other notable scenes include one in which the Little Tramp, being thrown out of the rude cabin he shares with Black Larsen, slips and slides in his struggle against a fierce wind that blows him back into the cabin. Another scene in which Larsen fights another prospector for control of a shotgun -- managing to point it at the Little Tramp no matter where he flees -- is perfectly-choreographed and fraught with comedic tension. AN early scene, in which a lone Chaplin navigates a narrow mountain ledge -- sometimes followed by a live bear -- are beautifully timed.
I preferred the 1925 version to the slicker 1942 release, but it's nice that both versions are here. YMMV. The film quality was superb, almost too perfect, and Chaplin's pancake makeup was quite obvious, especially in close-ups. You'll wonder whether a little-used print was located, or whether this version was cleaned up digitally. In any event, "The Gold Rush" disks is both educational and entertaining. Not a must-see, but not at all disappointing.
Summary of The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition)
A lone prospector ventures into Alaska looking for gold. He gets mixed up with some burly characters and falls in love with the beautiful Georgia. He tries to win her heart with his singular charm.After the box-office failure of his first dramatic film, A Woman of Paris, Charlie Chaplin brooded over his ensuing comedy. "The next film must be an epic!" he recalled in his autobiography. "The greatest!" He found inspiration, paradoxically, in stories of the backbreaking Alaskan gold rush and the cannibalistic Donner Party. These tales of tragedy and endurance provided Chaplin with a rich vein of comic possibilities. The Little Tramp finds himself in the Yukon, along with a swarm of prospectors heading over Chilkoot Pass (an amazing sight restaged by Chaplin in his opening scenes, filmed in the snowy Sierra Nevadas). When the Tramp is trapped in a mountain cabin with two other fortune hunters, Chaplin stages a veritable ballet of starvation, culminating in the cooking of a leathery boot. Back in town, the Tramp is smitten by a dance-hall girl (Georgia Hale), but it seems impossible that she could ever notice him. The Gold Rush is one of Chaplin's simplest, loveliest features; and despite its high comedy, it never strays far from Chaplin's keen grasp of loneliness. In 1942, Chaplin reedited the film and added music and his own narration for a successful rerelease. --Robert Horton
Classics DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in TOP 20 COMEDY MOVIES
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Widescreen)Universal; Release date: 2008-05-06; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off Bueller...Bueller... Edition (Special Collector's Edition)BRODERICK,MATTHEW; Release date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $5.66
Price in other shops:
Blazing Saddles (30th Anniversary Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
A Christmas Story (Ultimate Collector's Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-11-04; DVD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
The Big Lebowski - 10th Anniversary EditionUniversal; Release date: 2008-09-09; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The Blues Brothers (Widescreen 25th Anniversary Edition)BELUSHI,JOHN; Release date: 2005-08-30; DVD
Best price: $7.12
Price in other shops:
CaddyshackCHASE,CHEVY; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $3.56
Price in other shops:
Office Space - Special Edition with Flair (Widescreen Edition)LIVINGSTON,RON; Release date: 2005-11-01; DVD
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops:
Annie HallRelease date: 2000-05-30; DVD
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Bubba Ho-Tep (Hail to the King Edition)Release date: 2007-08-07; DVD
Best price: $22.97
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Bringing Up Baby (Two-Disc Special Edition)Release date: 2005-03-01; DVD
Best price: $14.89
Price in other shops:
CasablancaBOGART,HUMPHREY; Release date: 2000-02-15; DVD
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
Some Like It HotMONROE,MARILYN; Release date: 2001-05-22; DVD
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
Singin' in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition)KELLY,GENE; Release date: 2002-09-24; DVD
Best price: $14.66
Price in other shops:
Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2001-09-25; DVD
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops:
The Great Dictator (2 Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2003-07-01; DVD
Best price: $14.13
Price in other shops:
The General (The Ultimate 2-Disc Edition) (1926)Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $18.09
Price in other shops:
The Kid (2 Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-03-02; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Modern Times (2 Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2003-07-01; DVD
Best price: $10.18
Price in other shops:
City Lights (2 Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-03-02; DVD
Best price: $13.80
Price in other shops: