The Gold Rush (United Artists) (1925)

First Advance Stories—Cast and Synopsis “THE GOLD RUSH” IS CHAPUN’S GREATEST PATHOS AND COMEDY IN CHAPLIN FILM BILLING, CAST AND SYNOPSIS for CHARLIE CHAPLIN Super-Comedy Booked as Feature Attraction by the Blank Theatre Manager At last, the world’s foremost comed¬ ian, Charlie Chaplin, has launched his greatest comedy, “The Gold Rush,” on the sea of popular fancy. Announce¬ ment is made by Manager . of the .Theatre, that he has paid the record price for any photo¬ play ever shown in .and that the celebrated star’s new United Artists Corporation release comes here next . For sixteen months, Charlie Chap¬ lin worked on this production. During that time he was practically a hermit— recluse to all, save his studio associates. Only the vaguest announcements of pro¬ gress oil “The Gold Rush” came from his studio. The factory system of movies, and the consequent mediocrity as an art, have in Charlie Chaplin an example of the opposite production method in this dramatic comedy. It has been made w>th -the artist’s necessary leisure. It was never restricted by definite schedule or time-clock methods, but inspired by Chaphn with a passion for perfection as his only taskmaster. When Chaplin works, he burrows into solitude. He broods, agonizes, sweats comedy and its dramatic counterbalance from his soul. He creates by inspira- Uon. When the mood is upon him, he toils feverishly. Then he may rest and brood again for weeks—and always when the productive throes are upon him he is sensitive to the thumpings of the outside world. Chaplin senses, and expresses more than any other entertainer, the close af¬ finity between the ludicrous and the pa¬ thetic; his comedy springs from within -—more as a matter of mood than of circumstance. Usually he needs very little story structure to his comedy, but in “The Gold Rush” he has created a rugged story in which laughter surges from the spectacle of a valiant weak¬ ling; facing perils which strewed the paths of the early gold seekers with skeletons. In the role of a hardluck sourdough, dressed in the baggy pants, the floppy shoes, the old derby and funny cane of early association, Charlie twists the sufferings of the Alaskan pioneers into a strange commingling of humor and tragedy. He thaws fun from a frosty, forbidding background. The treatment is wholly unlike anything hitherto done, and strikes a new note in photo drama¬ tics. Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” contains comedy, drama, satire, melo¬ drama, farce. Not to forget a little slapstick—and everything else in the way of entertainment all rolled into one big tra reeled film. This great picture will be shown in . at the . The¬ atre for the first time next . evening, and Manager . has made special arrangements for the handling of the crowds. Also first aid treatment will be rendered to those OAercome by laughter. Great Comedian Seen as Pathetic Tenderfoot in “The Gold Rush” In “The Gold Rush,” called Charlie Chaplin’s greatest comedy, and coming nqxt . to the . under a United Artists Corporation re¬ lease, the world’s most famous com¬ edian is seen as a pathetic tenderfoot struggling along with hundreds of others who are in search of gold in the Klondike. Poetic pathos and whimsical comedy are cleverly blended in this film. There is one scene in which Charlie, a be¬ draggled bit of humanity, finds a sym¬ pathizer and sweetheart—a girl in a dance hall. She dances with the little tramp who beams over her shoulder into the eyes of his rival, a wealthy miner. There is Jim McKay, a giant as strong as an ox. McKay is enraged and Charlie trembles as the big man menaces him. The little man thinks after all that death is better than the loss of the queen of the dance-hall. To have the right types in Truckee, in Northern California, where many scenes of this picture were produced. Chaplin took out a special trainload of hoboes with well-seared countenances and tattered clothes. In several sequences it seems an end¬ less line of ragged humanity that is crossing the Chilkoot Pass. A blizzard rages and men are blown about helpless¬ ly. They fight on doggedly, as this winding path cut through the snows over a precipitous mountainside, is the gateway to their goal, the Klondike. Then in another stretch there is Black Larsen, who lives in terror of the police. He builds a hut in the Alaska mountains and lives as a hermit amid snow and ice. To this hut comes the pathetic Chaplin. He knocks at the door for a rest before plodding along to the land of gold. Larsen does not care who starves, as he is not going to take any chances of the police appre¬ hending him. The scenes aboard a big steamship are full of human interest. The luxury and comfort of the first cabin are contrasted with the misery, want and sickness in the steerage. There is the little man, who a few years before went on the long hike to the Klondike, and who now aboard the great vessel, is seen wrapped in costly furs. He is unhappy because he has lost his girl. But in the steerage there is a girl returning home from Alaska wishing she could find her dear little tramp again. KLONDIKE STAMPEDE CHAPLJOILM THEME “The Gold Rush” Called Greatest Comedy Celebrated Laugh- Maker Ever Produced The Alaska of the days of the Klon¬ dike gold rush; the lone prospector; miners, big and little and old and young; dance-halls and dance-hall girls and “THE GOLD RUSH” A Dramatic Comedy Written and Directed by CHARLIE CHAPLIN Released by United Artists Corporation THE LONE PROSPECTOR Big Jim McKay . Black Larsen . The Girl . Jack Cameron . Hank Curtis . THE CAST .CHARLIE CHAPLIN .Mack Swain .Tom Murray .Georgia Hale .Malcolm. Waite .Henry Bergman Miners, Dancehall Girls and Habitues, Inhabitants, Officers, Assayers, Ships Officers, Passengers, Reporters, Photographers, Etc. Locale: The Alaskan Northwest. During the Days of The Gold Rush Copyright 1925, By Charles Chaplin STUDIO STAFF Associate Director, Charles F. Reisner; Assistant Director, H. d’Abbadie d’Arrast; Technical Director, Charles D. Hall; Cinematographer, Roland H. Totheroh; Cameraman, Jack Wilson; Editorial, Edward Manson; General Manager, Alfred Reeves. THE synopsis' The picture opens with a long line of human ants toiling up a snow-clad mountain side. The story, presented against a rugged background of Alaskan Northwest, for the time being, concerns only three individuals. First, a valiant weakling in the role of a hardluck sourdough; a lone pros¬ pector facing perils which strewed the paths of the early gold-seekers with skeletons. Second, Black Larsen, one of the backwash of the underworld, outlawed, and wanted by the police; living in a lonely cabin, hidden away in the barren snow wastes of the far North. Third, Big* Jim McKay, a hardy pioneer. A man of might and brawn. A giant who has found a mountain of gold and is secretly digging from the frozen fastnesses nature’s hoarded treasure. Fate brought these three together—then hurried on its next playground, regardless of what happened. A terrific storm had driven, first the lone prospector, then Big Jim, to the cabin of Black Larsen. Together the three were herded against their wishes; the raging storm holding them captive. Hungry they became to the point of starvation, and in desperation lots were drawn to decide which would brave the storm to procure food. To Black Larsen fell the task, and in pushing forward through the blinding storm he encountered the omnipresent hand of the law; two officers in search of him. In a running gun fight, he shoots them. Taking their sleigh, laden With food, and unmindful of the plight of the two men left in. the cabin, he rushes on to stumble into the claim of Big Jim McKay. Through days -of hunger the two strange companions who had been left in the shack survive until the fortunate killing of a big black bear puts an end to their starvation. Their packs re-provisioned with bear meat they part —one to his secret mine, the other to whatever fate holds in store. Big Jim, on reaching his secret claim, finds Larsen already there and in possession. They fight, and Larsen brutally beats McKay with a shovel. Leaving him for dead, he rushes on with the plunder. But the North is a law unto itself, and Black Larsen finds himself engulfed by a moving avalanche and is swept over a mountain precipice. The Lone Prospector has reached one of the many cities which were built over night during the great rush for gold. There he sees Georgia, a flower of^ the dance-hall. It is love at first sight for him, hut unrequited love as the girl is oblivious of his heart yearnings. Hank Curtis, a big-hearted mine owner befriends Lonely, and leaves him to take care of his cabin. There, Lonely dreams of his love,, Georgia. He is the laughing stock of the village, and butt of the practical jokes of Jack Cameron, the ladies’-man of the town. Cameron is an admirer of Georgia, and knowing Lonely’s secret love for_ the girl, sends a note to him wherein the girl declares her love. Lonely, believing the note from Georgia is really intended for him, starts rushing through the dance-hall in search of her. At that moment. Big Jim McKay enters. He has recovered, but has conipletely lost his memory, and only knows that should he ever find the cabin again, he could locate his mountain of gold. Lonely is the one man who can take him there. As Lonely is frantically looking for Georgia, Mc¬ Kay grabs him, and shouts: “Take me to the cabin and I’ll make you a millionaire in less than a month!’’ Lonely sees Georgia just then, and rush¬ ing to her, embraces her and declares his love—to the astonishment of all. McKay unceremoniously drags him from the dance-hall,—Lonely shouting to Georgia, as he unwillingly leaves, that he will come back for her a millionaire. Big Jim McKay and his partner, the Lone Prospector, have struck it rich and are returning in affluence aboard. Lonely has everything to make him happy, hut he could not find his love, Georgia. His search for her was in vain. She had disappeared from the dance-hall and all its associates. But there, by a strange turn of fate—in the steerage, is the girl of his dreams. By an accident he finds her there, and as the reporters are getting a story of his career, they sense a romance and immediately ask who is the girl. Lonely whispers to Georgia, who nods her consent. "They pose for the photographer, and as the shutter closes the reporter exclaims: “What a wonderful story this will make!’’ hangerson; mining camp types of all sorts; assayers; ships’ officers and crews; incoming and outgoing passen¬ gers ; newspaper correspondents and photographers—this is the locale and these are the people pictured in Charlie Chaplin’s new motion picture comedy, “The Gold Rush,” heralded by critics and experts as the greatest of all Chap¬ lin comedies. “The Gold Rush,” a United Artists Corporation release, is booked as the feature attraction for next . at the . theatre and the film is claimed to be the funniest that Chaplin has ever made. The picture is in nine reels, and photoplay experts de¬ clare the ninth has more laughs in it than the first, and that the first is bet¬ ter than any previous Chaplin laugh producer. Chaplin jwrtrays the lone prospector, and others in the cast are Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Georgia Hale, who has the leading feminine role, Malcolm Waite and Henry Bergman.