Chaplin’s second full-length movie (after thirty or so short movies), The Gold Rush doesn’t pretend to the social depth of later movies such as Modern Times or The Dictator, but it strikes just the right balance between poetry and fun, sadness and joy, tragedy and comedy. It features many themes that run through Chaplin’s movies: the contrast of wealth and poverty, of shyness and action, of loneliness and romance; love as a transcending power; an incredible mastering of the body…

The Gold Rush is full of cult scenes, from the potatoe-foot dancing (perhaps the movie’s most famous scene, which you can compare with its Johnny Depp revival) to the cartoon-like cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff, through the shoe-eating segment (which Chaplin had to shoot over 60 times!) and hallucinations of Chaplin as a human-sized chicken. Bear-lovers will also find it worth their time. Many of these scenes have made history and inspired generations of film-makers!

Chaplin’s supporting roles are also great: violent Black Larsen as the bad guy, not very bright Big Jim McKay as Chaplin’s friend, and the beautiful saloon-girl Georgia that toys with him.

It’s actually the first Chaplin movie I’ve watched as a teenager (possibly also the first silent movie); I was quite taken aback! I found it hilarious and I still do when I rewatch it.

If you like it, you can watch The Kid on My Kingdom for a Movie (I’ll upload more Chaplin movies!).

(As a footnote: the version above is the original 1928 version; as a personal view I find it much more enjoyable than the 1942 reissue with an additionnal running narration which kind of spoils the fun; I recommend starting with the original).

The post The Gold Rush first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

A feast of action, creativity and finesse, Sherlock Jr. goes way beyond the burlesque and the farcical inventivity of Keaton, and questions the relationship between dream and reality and between films and reality..

In one of his finest works, Buster Keaton invented many themes that would be copied by generations of movie makers.

The post Sherlock Jr. first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Arguably the last of the great silent movies, or the best of the last silent movies, Sunrise has several claims to fame:

• the first sequence shot / plan séquence of movie history (when the Man walks through a field to join the Woman From the City under the moonlight) and many other visual effects;
• possibly the first time a man cried on screen (before Gone with the Wind);
• an astronomous amount of work (and money) on the movie set, in particular to represent the city;
• “the most beautiful film in the word”, according to François Truffaut.

The post Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

The story of an abandoned child raised by the Tramp, The Kid is a mix of melodrama and fun, sadness and humor,

For some, it’s one of the most important movies in the history of cinema; but for many it’s also just a very, very, very funny movie.

The post The Kid first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.