The Gold Rush (Force) (1925)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1925
Running Time	71:50 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Charlie Chaplin
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Charlie Chaplin Mack Swain Georgia Hale
Case	C-Button-Version 2-Opaque
RPI	$29.95	Music	Charlie Chaplin

    It has been some time since we have been able to indulge in some classic silent film courtesy of Force Video, but thankfully a gem marks the return of silent film to my DVD player. Whilst Force Video have thus far released a few Buster Keaton films, the great Charlie Chaplin has been lacking in their schedule. That was rectified by the release of The Gold Rush, one of his best, dating all the way back to 1925.

    Before we go too much further, it should be pointed out that regrettably this is not the 1925 silent version of the film. This is in fact the 1942 reissue, which features a descriptive narrative as well as music and editing provided by the great man himself. It also features a shorter length as a result of the elimination of the subtitle cards and a few scenes. Compared to the silent version, it also has some different shots as a result of the use of some film from an alternate camera shooting during the making of the film. The silent film runs to about 80 minutes in length whilst this "vocalised" version runs about 72 minutes in length.

    I suppose there will always be argument as to who was the greatest of the silent film actors - Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin. My personal view is that Buster Keaton was the better, as his films seem to have aged somewhat better in my view, but it is a tough call. Certainly Charlie Chaplin made plenty of gems of films and many of these continue to amuse even seventy five years later. It was for that reason that I jumped at the chance to review this latest offering from Force Video.

    The Gold Rush is precisely what this film is all about - the gold rush in Alaska during the 1850's. The story is that of The Lone Prospector (Charlie Chaplin) who heads out in search of fame and fortune in the frigid wasteland. It is also the story of Big Jim McKay (Mack Swain), another prospector. Their paths meet at the cabin of fugitive Black Larsen (Tom Murray). The Lone Prospector is the first to find Black Larsen as he stumbles into the cabin tired and hungry. Black Larsen orders The Lone Prospector out, but before that happens, Big Jim McKay stumbles in to the cabin and soon ensures that no one is leaving except perhaps Black Larsen. He remains, but eventually hunger forces someone to go search for sustenance, and that person is Black Larsen. While out he manages to kill two lawmen who were on his trail, and find Big Jim's mountain of gold. Back at the cabin, the Big Jim is going stir-crazy; it is only a break in the weather that sees the two go their separate ways. Big Jim returns to his mountain of gold where he is set upon by Black Larsen whilst The Lone Prospector continues to wander the country. He gravitates to town where he meets and falls in love with the lovely Georgia (Georgia Hale) but lacks any way of impressing her. That is, until Big Jim turns up again, and they set off in search of the mountain of gold. Will The Lone Prospector find true love with Georgia?

    The film is famed for a number of sequences that are among the classic moments of silent film: the meal of the boiled boot, the teetering cabin and the bread roll dance. Suffice to say that even seventy five years later you will get more than a grin out of these scenes (and many more). The acting is the over-the-top stuff that we expect in the silent films, but who cares? The only real issue here is whether the descriptive narrative added by Charlie Chaplin is actually an improvement. My personal view is that it is not, and that it is to be slightly regretted that the opportunity was not taken to provide the original silent version of the film on the DVD. Sure you can mute the sound, but that is still not quite the same thing. because you also lose the music which used to accompany the film courtesy of the theatre organ.

    Nonetheless, it is great to have the film on Region 4 DVD and the overall quality is actually pretty good.

Video

    The film is presented in the usual aspect ratio of the day being 1.33:1, which is of course not 16x9 enhanced.

    Considering the age of the film, the overall quality of the transfer is actually pretty good, if somewhat variable. Sharpness is the main issue; it can vary from being very good to a little average. The inconsistency is not really bothersome, but is a little jarring at times. Detail is about as good as we can reasonably expect from material of this age; at times it is surprisingly good. Shadow detail is generally good throughout. Clarity is a little variable with some segments displaying a slight murkiness to them. There is a bit of graininess around too but that is pretty much what I would expect. Low level noise does not appear to be a significant issue in the transfer.

    The black and white tones display a little variability. Some segments show good contrast, while others are more a collection of mid-scale greys. In the overall scheme of things, I found nothing objectionable here and generally found this to be very easy to watch.

    There are some issues with MPEG artefacts in the transfer, mostly some instances of slight pixelisation in the picture - an example can be found at 4:10 and similar instances crop up now and again. It is possible that these coincide with some damaged portions of film which makes them a little more noticeable. They certainly do not create a major issue. Other than that, film-to-video artefacts mainly comprise some minor telecine wobble in the credits and some minor instances of shimmer here and there. Obviously there are plenty of film artefacts in the transfer, with blemishes such as scratches and dirt marks being found in abundance. None were really intrusive, despite being quite obvious.

    There are no subtitle options on the DVD, which seems a little odd, in view of the descriptive narrative.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    The narrative and the music come through pretty well, and obviously there are no issues with audio sync.

    The music provided by Charlie Chaplin is a bit derivative but that is hardly surprising for the genre or the man - he is not renowned as a composer!

    There really is not much to say about the sound - it does its job well and there are few significant audio drop outs or other annoying blemishes to contend with. The necessary speakers for this film do not extend to surrounds or a subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Nothing is the short and not too sweet description here.

Menu

    An imaginative use of a segment from the teetering cabin scene distinguishes this effort which really has little to do.

    Reviews of the Region 1 release are not common. What I can find indicates that the Image Entertainment version of the film contains a scenario by Charlie Chaplin called "Lucky Strike-A Play in Two Scenes", as well as an interview with Lita Grey Chaplin. There are also possibly some production notes and some photographs on the DVD. The review indicates a not dissimilar standard of transfer, which would seem to indicate a slight preference for the Region 1 release.

    The Gold Rush is a gem of a film, currently residing well within the Internet Movie Database Top 250. It is a little disappointing that we do not get the original 1925 version of the film, but for the classic scenes in the film this can almost be forgiven. If you have a hankering for silent film gems, then this is right up your alley. The technical quality of the DVD is acceptable enough considering the source material is seventy five years and more old.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall