510.THE GENIUS OF COMEDY ON FILM: CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S THE GOLD RUSH

Peter Josyph

Often voted as Chaplin's masterwork, The Gold Rush follows the adventures of the Tramp—now the Prospector—and his friend Big Jim in the Alaskan Klondike during the Gold Rush. Blizzards, villains, a bear, and their own worst selves are some of the challenges facing the two men. The film, first released in 1925 and newly restored, contains some of Chaplin's most iconic scenes, including a bold sequence in the snowclad Sierra Nevada for which he used 600 extras, and an entire cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff. In the New York Times, Mordaunt Hall called it a comedy "with streaks of poetry, pathos, and tenderness." Chaplin said: "This is the picture I want to be remembered by."

A lively discussion will follow the screening of this amazing piece of cinematic history.

1-3:30 p.m.                                                                                                                   1 Session

Thursday, November 6                                                                                                 Fee:  $40

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Peter Josyph is an actor, a painter, a photographer, an award-winning filmmaker, and he has published 13 books.