The Gold Rush sent the Tramp to the Klondike, where hunger, cold and hope produced some of Chaplin’s most famous comedy.
The Gold Rush was released in 1925. Chaplin played the Lone Prospector, a version of the Tramp who travels to Alaska in search of gold. He was trapped in a cabin in a blizzard with another prospector, and the two men grew so hungry that they imagined each other as food. Later, in a dance hall, he fell in love with Georgia, played by Georgia Hale.
Two sequences became legendary. In one, the starving prospector cooked and ate his own boot, treating the leather with the manners of a fine dinner. In another, he entertained Georgia and her friends by dancing with two bread rolls impaled on forks, turning them into a pair of legs. The cabin itself, perched on a cliff edge, rocked and teetered in the wind, in a sequence that mixed danger with comedy.
Chaplin later said that The Gold Rush was the film for which he most wanted to be remembered, and audiences have agreed. It was a huge success, and it showed his ability to build a feature film from a simple idea: a small man, far from home, trying to survive and to be loved. The film remains a central part of his reputation.