Trailer
Plot summary
The Klondike gold rush draws the Lone Prospector north to Alaska, where a blizzard catches him at his digging. He takes refuge in a cabin that belongs to Black Larsen, a wanted criminal, and Big Jim McKay arrives at the same door. Larsen tries to throw both men back out into the snow, but Big Jim overpowers him, and the three agree to stay in the cabin until the storm passes. When the food runs out, they draw lots to decide who must go out for more. Those left behind cook one of the Prospector's shoes, and a bear that enters the cabin is killed, supplying them with meat. The Prospector moves on to a boom town, where Georgia dances in a hall and he falls for her. Jack Cameron pesters her for a dance, and she chooses the Prospector.
Cast
- Jack Adamsas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- Frank Aderiasas Eskimo Child (uncredited)
- Leona Aderiasas Eskimo Child (uncredited)
- Lillian Adrianas Woman in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- Claude Andersonas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
Show all 19 cast
- Harry Arrasas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- F.J. Beauregardas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- Marta Belfortas Woman in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- William Bellas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- Francis Bernhardtas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
- E. Blumenthalas Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Gold Rush (1925)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Chaplin drew on photographs of the Klondike Gold Rush and the story of the Donner Party, snowbound in the Sierra Nevada and driven to cannibalism or eating leather from their shoes, and decided to combine such deprivation and horror with comedy.
- Lita Grey, whom Chaplin married in November 1924, was originally cast as the leading lady of The Gold Rush but was replaced by Georgia Hale because of her pregnancy; Grey still appeared in the film as an extra.
- For the opening scene Chaplin recreated the prospectors' climb of the Chilkoot Pass at Truckee in the snow country of the Sierra Nevada, with six hundred extras clambering up a 2,300-foot pass dug through the mountain snow.
- Chaplin did not renew the copyright on the 1925 original, so it may have entered the US public domain in 1953 and was once widely available on home video; after 1995 his estate blocked unauthorized US releases, arguing the Uruguay Round Agreements Act had restored the copyright.
- The Tramp's "roll dance" was copied by Robert Downey Jr. as Chaplin in the 1992 Chaplin, Johnny Depp in Benny and Joon, Grampa Simpson in The Simpsons and Amy Adams in The Muppets; Roscoe Arbuckle had done something similar in the 1917 The Rough House with Buster Keaton.
- The Gold Rush was the first of Charlie Chaplin's classic silent films that he converted to sound, with a new score by Max Terr; the music and the sound recording by James L. Fields were nominated for Academy Awards in 1943.
