The Gold Rush (United Artists) (1925)

Advance Stories for Newspapers TEARS AND TRAGEDY TURNED TO COMEDY Charlie Chaplin at Peak of His Career in “The Gold Rush,” New Film Charlie Chaplin’s new picture, “The Gold Rush,’’ coming to the . theatre next . is an¬ nounced as a comedy drama with a story of laughter and tears and of hope deferred. It is a rugged story with the spectacle of a valiant weakling in' search of gold in the biting blizzards of the north. “The Gold Rush,” a United Artists Corporation release, brings Charlie Chap¬ lin to the topmost peak of his dazzling career. His work in this picture will place him secure as the greatest panto- mimist of all recorded time. This story of the Alaskan gold rush; interwoven with all the jabbings of fate that well can come to one who is typical of life—almost reaching the goal, and watching its shadow disappear with the pained expression^hat only a Chaplin can wear—is a story crowned with the majesty of enterprise and the futility of it. This comedy-drama-tragedy of the Alaska of byegone days is called Chap¬ lin’s greatest picture for two reasons. It is said to represent his intellectual and artistic growth fresh from his dra¬ matic triumph, “A Woman of Paris,” and secondly, it runs the entire gamut of human emotions; the blended panorama of life, the subtle and vital essence of it, the defeat and the victory and growth of a soul in struggle. And through all the picture Charlie has not forgotten the children. There is a tenderness in the little comedian for the children of the nations. They were his first admirers and well he knows it. It was their response that led him on to fame and fortune. And always, in the making of comedy, he considers them. And yet, in his role of the hardluck sourdough, Chaplin presents the biogra¬ phy of a life with complete understand¬ ing and sympathy. And while the pa¬ thos and sufferings of the characters are converted into laughter, there is linked to the picture a chain of circumstantial tragedy that is relieved by the great com¬ edian’s ribald mastery of pantomime and comedy. Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Rush,” fresh from its triumphant presenta¬ tions in New York, Chicago, Los An¬ geles and other large cities will be shown in . for the first time next . evening at the . Theatre where it is booked for a limited engagement. CHAPLIN’S COMEDY BUILT ON TRAGEDY CHAPLIN’S COMEDY AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY NEW COMEDY NOTE IN CHAPLIN’S FILM Human Hardships Turned Into Hilarity by Comedian in “The Gold Rush” The new Charlie Chaplin motion pic¬ ture comedy, “The Gold Rush,” has been described by those closely associ¬ ated with the world’s greatest comedian as a symbolical autobiography of the great star himself. With that genius which peculiarly is Chaplin’s own, and against a back¬ ground of the Klondike gold stampede into Alaska, the screen-comedian has depicted with subtly tender and deli¬ cate master strokes, the struggle of man’s eternal search for happiness, its heartbreaks and its tears; its humor, its laughter and its joys. Charlie of the little derby hat, the tricky little cane, the baggy trousers, the mustache, the waddling walk and big shoes,—the man who has made more laughs for the world than any other liv¬ ing comedian has built in “The Gold Rush,” a delightful structure of fun and hilariousness, which comes to the..... theatre next . under a United Artists Corporation release. On the tragedy and misery suffered by the pioneers who first journeyed into Alaska, and on the dramatics of the soul sufferings of the “sourdough” who braved rnountains, ice, snow, starvation, teath, in their mad rush for gold, Charlie Chaplin has built the funniest and most laugh-producing comedy of his career. He has cast himself in the role of the hard-luck “sourdough” who chases rain¬ bows of the heart and of the soul in the midst of a struggling mob that pur¬ sues one thing only—gold, and nothing but gold. Pathos and suffering are con¬ verted by the Chaplin genius into laugh¬ ter and comedy; and there is a laugh in every one of the nearly nine thousand feet of film in “The Gold Rush.” $6,000 TO FILM A CHAPLIN SCENE Chilkoot Pass Portrayed in “The Gold Rush” Cost Small Fortune The famed Chilkoot Pass, the gun- sight notch through which gold-seek¬ ers passed in the mad rush to the Klondike, is most realistically pre¬ sented in Charlie Chaplin’s great com¬ edy-drama of Alaska, “The Gold Rush,” now showing at the . Theatre under a United Artists Cor¬ poration release. The panorama of the pass was filmed near the summit of the high Sierras at an elevation of 9850 feet and cost Chaplin more than $50,000 for the filming. The upper slopes of Mt. Lin¬ coln, far above timber line where eter¬ nal snows are banked, was the locale used. To construct the pass, professional ski jumpers were employed to notch out steps of a pathway 2300 feet long rising 1,000 feet up the precipitous de- “The Gold Rush” Called Greatest Laugh Producer of Star’s Career That Charlie Chaplin has made in “The Gold Rush,” his new screen feat¬ ure, his greatest comedy is the claim advanced by those who have seen it in its completed form. The little comedian in his famous character of old has created, in one epi¬ sode, more laughs than are usually shown in feature comedies of many thousands of feet. But laughs alone are not relied upon to make this United Artists Corporation release, Charlie’s greatest. The story and dramatics of the production are revolutionary. “The Gold Rush” is really Charlie’s screened autobiography, symbolized against the background of Alaskan gold rush days. The stirring days of the Klondike rushes, the hardships endured by the pioneers who journeyed to that icebound country are depicted with in¬ tense realism of one who in his early life, has had to live through the tragedy of hunger and misery. “Chilkoot Pass,” that famous gateway to the great Klondike cut through the snows over a precipitous mountain side, the pass which struck terror in the heart of the bravest and where many faltered, has been duplicated and its hardships re-enacted by one who in the first stages of his career has had to fight his way inch by inch in a tremendous struggle for recognition and final ma¬ terial, ease. The gold and the riches that finally come to the “successful” prospector in “The Gold Rush” do not bring him the happiness—as the material success that is Charlie Chaplin’s at last has never satisfied his soul. clivity from a narrow basin, known as “The Sugar Bowl,” where a rude min¬ ing camp was constructed. The locale is nine miles from the railroad and a trail had to be cut through an immense fir forest to make possible the bringing up the huge quantities of paraphernalia necessary to build the camp and film the pan¬ orama. The pass opened and mining camp constructed, the Southern Pacific was asked to round up an army of 2,500 extras to present the prospectors in the Klondike dash. In two days the company had assembled the greatest band of human derelicts ever as¬ sembled, their blanket rolls carrying all their personal belongings. The task of gathering the men was easier than it appears, for the prospect of appearing in a picture with the most famed of vagabonds brought tramps from far and wide, and they realistical¬ ly battled the snow like the lure was gold itself and not just a day’s pay. The frigid temperature and the la¬ borious ascent in the rarefied atmo¬ sphere of high altitude made the scene one of the most remarkable ever filmed, it is said. But the Chaplin of Old Also Is Found in New Feature, “The Gold Rush” Though a new note is sounded in the showing of Charlie Chaplin’s new nine- reel comedy feature photoplay, “The Gold Rush,” described as the greatest of all Chaplin comedies—the public will see also all the Chaplin tricks that have put this picture star in a class entirely by himself. “The Gold Rush,” a United Artists Corporation release, which is scheduled as the feature attraction for the. theatre next . is described by those who have seen it as far and away the best piece of work Chaplin has ever done; and by far, the funniest. It also presents a biographic symboli¬ zation of the real Charlie Chaplin; his life from the days of an unknown to the best known man in the world is por¬ trayed between a range of deep pathos and hilarious comedy against a back¬ ground of hardships as one of the gold seekers in the early stampede days in the frozen wastes of Alaska. A new note in comedy dramatics is sounded j an advanced departure in character portrayal and delineation is revealed with Chaplin in “The Gold Rush.” But, in addition, there is the Charlie of old—the Charlie of the little derby, the trick cane, the baggy trousers, the little mustache, the sloppy shoes and the funny walk. All of Chaplin, and a lot more, is to be found in this new picture. FUNNIEST CHAPUN IN “TMLD RUSH’y “The Gold Rush,’* Charlie Chaplin’s new screen feature coming next. to the . theatre under a United Artists Corporation release, is a symbolical autobiography by Chaplin himself. With that genius which is peculiarly his own, and against the background of old Klondike gold rush days of Chap- linesque conception, the greatest screen- comedian has depicted with subtly tender and delicate masterstrokes the struggle of man’s eternal hunt for hap¬ piness, its heartbreaks and tears and its laughter and joy. Charlie Chaplin of the derby, cane, baggy trousers, funny mustache and waddling walk who has made the whole world laugh more than any other mere comedian that ever lived, has built in “The Gold Rush” a delightful structure of fun and laughter. On the tragedy and misery suffered by the pioneers who first journeyed to the ice-bound Alaska, and on the drama of the soul sufferings of the sourdough who braved mountains, ice, snow and starvation and death in their mad rush for gold, Chaplin has built the funniest and most hilarious comedy of his career. He has clad himself in the role of a hard-luck sourdough who chases rain¬ bows of the soul and heart in the midst of a mob that chases one thing only— gold and nothing but gold. Pathos and suffering are converted into comedy and laughter—there is a laugh in every one of the eight thousand or so feet of “The Gold Rush.”