IMDb #128 Review: The Gold Rush (1925)

Source: Wikipedia

Vagaries of fate deposit the Tramp, a contender for the world's most famous fictional hobo, into the freezing North to prospect for gold. Back when Alaska wasn't a state any more than the toothbrush mustache belonged exclusively to Uncle Adolf.

The floppy-footed manchild waddles into a raging blizzard. In a flash of basic intelligence, he seeks shelter in a cabin. Which he shares with a rich miner and a fugitive murderer. Pretty grim for a harmless comedy.

Slapstick happens, because Charlie Chaplin's vaudeville roots run deeper than Alaskan oil reserves. Also like Alaskan oil reserves, he taps that wealth and generates repercussions for the every human/animal/vegetable/mineral in the vicinity. He draws his staying power from the timeless humor of idiots in pain. For example, stranded in the cabin, "funny stuff" entails hilarious starvation and cannibalistic fantasies and unconvincing chicken suits.

When the plot wears thin, it moves the Tramp to a town with more people. And a dance hall, because what what kind of self-respecting old movies lack pointless dance scenes. And women who notice the hobo, because what kind of old movies lack romantic naivete an rambling dream sequences. And a horribly mismatched fight, in which our intrepid hero clocks some big lug in the head with ... a clock.

Bored again, the plot deposits us back where we started, with gold and the fugitive and millions of potential dollars. Not that any amount of money can fix stupid. But it's funny to watch them try (and fail, but mostly try).

Stupidity seems to offer boundless energy, because the poorly-dressed hobo never succumbs to frostbite or diphtheria. It must take acting chops to look that dumb. Because the real man brilliant: writing, directing, producing, editing, starring in, and composing music for just about every movie he made.

For maximum effect, try to get this masterpiece as close to the original as possible. Yes, even with the screechy, scratchy jazz organ soundtrack. It complements the grainy video of jerky antics of a lovable imbecile. Best to think of it as a live-action cartoon, a blurry glimpse into a period when movies were simpler, quieter, and hella weirder.

95 minutes.

IMDb #136 Review: The General (1926)

Source: Wikipedia

Confederate stereotype Johnny Gray loves his country (the South), loves his train (the titular General), and loves his one-dimensional girlfriend Annabelle Lee (lifted straight from the Poe poem).

The kid's such a good engineer, the military recruiters won't let him enlist. He's bummed. Even more bummed when Yankees hijack his train and accidentally make off with his lady, too.

(Despite his fanatical loyalty to her, she believes the anonymous liars who claim he's a bloody coward too afraid to fight. He's no coward, just a lucky idiot. She, however, is an unlucky idiot.)

He chases them, they chase him back. And that's pretty much the whole movie.

Disappointed? Don't be. The journey's the thing.

Our intrepid hero gives chase on foot, one guy versus a dozen. On foot, by handcart, by hipster bicycle. And somehow he obtains a train. Yankees sabotage the telegraph pole and railway line? He proceeds by tenacity, ingenuity, sheer stupid luck.

He clambers like a monkey over his engine while it's barreling at breakneck (actually break-everything) speed. He puts the "loco" in locomotive. 

Honestly, it's a welcome relief from brutal realism. Blood and guts, moral quandaries, existential angst -- none of that complexity here. Just death-defying stunts, clever hijinks, slapstick in synch with the screechy-scratchy soundtrack. It leaves the tremendous complexity of the Civil War implied, fortunately untouched.

What's included is more important than what's overlooked. Certain details (like sound) aren't there, because they aren't necessary. Like the dialogue, there's plenty of implied talking, but the text cards tell us what they're saying when it's important for the story.

And after days of hard work fighting train-hijacking girl-stealing Dixie-hating Yankees, the army might just let the guy enlist. Congratulations, hero, now you too can go forth and die horribly of some untreatable disease that has nothing at all to do with the war.

75 minutes.