The Gold Rush is a film directed by Chaplin that was released in 1925 and finally premiered in China 100 years later. This release is a restored version with a score, lasting 95 minutes, longer than the original silent version of 72 minutes. It retains the subtitles and removes the voiceover narration, which reportedly did not work well. The visual restoration is quite good, with clear images, allowing the audience to see the characters' expressions clearly on the big screen.
This film is a romantic comedy with many classic humorous scenes, such as eating a shoe, turkey hallucinations, dancing with a dog, the bread dance, and the cliff cabin. After the laughter, the audience can feel the loneliness and sadness within the main character. The male lead, as a vagabond searching for gold, has almost nothing. Although the movie has a happy ending, in reality, the outcome for the poor is more likely to be freezing to death in the snow, starving, being beaten to death by others, being eaten by bears or people, or falling off a cliff and dying. Even if he is lucky enough to return to the small town alive, he is more likely to be doing heavy snow shoveling work, being ordered around, scolded, or even beaten by the wealthy. A beautiful girl seeing a poor man is more likely to walk away to avoid him, and even if they meet again, she is unlikely to remember him, making love almost impossible. However, the poor can still have hope, through their own efforts, taking more risks, and paying more costs, with a certain probability of becoming wealthy and realizing their dreams.
Some of Chaplin's other films I have seen, such as Modern Times and City Lights, also depict the experiences of vagabonds but do not have happy endings, feeling more realistic. Although The Gold Rush has a happy ending, everyone can still feel the difficulties of the poor's lives. The film's happy ending is the director's blessing and hope for the lives of the poor.