Can the truth of life be filmed? One hundred years since the film that made Charles Chaplin famous.

BarcelonaCan dancing shoes be made with just two rolls and two forks? Are the sole and nails of a climbing boot edible? Can a cabin on a snowy mountaintop sway as if suspended over nothing? Is emotion tangible? Can the truth of life be filmed? Questions that range from the most comical to the most metaphysical and intangible. They are all contained in The gold rush (1925), one of the essential films in the history of cinema, a masterpiece, a singular work of art by Charles Chaplin that celebrates its centenary this year. Incredible, isn't it? One hundred years old and as young as the first day, so inspiring, so poetic, and precious. Eternally sustained in time, it will be admired forever. No matter what new generations come next, they will continue to be surprised like all the previous ones, they will continue to laugh and smile at the wit and gags of the tramp with the mustache and the bowler hat. Charlot's charlottes, yes, that's what Charlot's comic discoveries are called. Even if you know them almost by heart, you always want to go back to see if they still have the same beneficial effects as all the previous ones. It's relevant that we celebrate today. The gold rush And we envy those who can enjoy it for the first time these days, as it returns to movie screens for its centenary. If you can't enjoy it on the big screen, you have multiple home options. From Movistar and Apple TV to the still-popular DVD and Blu-ray formats.

Box office success

The gold rush It premiered in the United States in the fall of 1925 and was a success, grossing five million dollars domestically, an enormous amount in the days of the already dying silent film industry. The success allowed Chaplin to recover from a bad run of fortune. The disaster ofA woman from Paris, His immediately preceding feature film – in which he did not appear as an actor – made him seriously reconsider his career. He thought it would be a good idea to once again don the Charlot costume that suited him so well in the numerous short and medium-length films of the 1910s and early 1920s, and also in The boy (1921), his first celebrated feature film. In order to achieve a complete change of direction, the filmmaker saw clearly that it was necessary to strike out on his own. To gain independence. And that meant parting ways with his friends and partners Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, with whom a few years earlier he had founded United Artists, a pivotal production company in the history of cinema. And so he did. He did, however, consult them about the ideal project. The opinion of the Fairbanks-Pickford couple was important to Chaplin. Together they had an idea. Looking at photos of old ideas stored away in a drawer, they dusted off some images of the mid-19th-century Gold Rush in the United States. Long lines, daring expeditions, countless toasts to the sun from thousands of people who embraced the idea of finding gold in the snowy mountains as an unavoidable life goal. Chaplin, always interested in the grand theme of reality and desire, of man's struggle against adversity and the forces of nature, saw possibilities and immersed himself fully. He was particularly interested in the case of the so-called Donner Party, which in the winter of 1846 was trapped in the mountains of Wyoming. Hunger left a deep mark on them, and they say they had to resort to cannibalism. In the film, Chaplin didn't want to make a big deal out of this issue and only dared to use skillful comic suggestions, somewhere between dream and reality.

Offscreen

The filming of The gold rush It was tainted by extra-cinematic issues that, while at the time didn't raise any particular controversy or involve anything more than a bit of a bad rap, seen from today's perspective are, at the very least, shocking. The actress initially considered for the lead female role was Lita Grey, with whom Chaplin was romantically involved and had impregnated. Forced by her mother, Chaplin married in 1924 (he was 35, she was 16!). They had two children. "Marriage is better than prison," is the devastating phrase Chaplin is said to have told his closest friends. To replace Grey, Chaplin chose Georgia Hale, with whom he began an adulterous relationship. Chaplin's romantic ups and downs were nothing new in Hollywood. A few years earlier, the actor had already married, forced by his then-partner, Mildred Harris—also a minor—who also suspected he had become pregnant. In the end, it wasn't to be.

The film's opening scene was a real feat. It was shot in natural settings to recreate the odyssey of dozens of gold seekers trying to make their way through the snowy mountains. Chaplin filmed it at a California ski resort and hired 500 homeless people to play the explorers. Finalizing the scene became a dreamlike ordeal, never better said. And Chaplin decided that the rest of the film would be shot in a studio. A real bear was used for the famous mountain ridge scene, something truly unusual both in terms of budget and danger. The usual—and rudimentary—routine was for a stuntman to don the animal costume in question and pray that the invention would be at least minimally believable. Flour, plaster, and salt were used to recreate the snow, and licorice was a good substitute for leather and nails for the famous "Tiberius" boot scene. Dressed only in his trademark black suit, white shirt, tie, bowler hat, and cane, it seems difficult not to freeze to death in the middle of a snowy mountain. The magic of cinema, of course, acts as an ideal substitute for verisimilitude.

Chaplin, seventeen years after its release, wanted to polish up his film. In 1942 he re-released The gold rush. A coat of paint and sheet metal that included sound, musical accompaniment, and a voiceover by Chaplin himself. The modernization was rewarded with two Oscar nominations: Best Sound and Best Music. In those years, of course, Chaplin had already excelled in sound films and had recently released The great dictator (1940), his famous and extremely risky satire of Hitler filmed – no joke – during the first months of the Second World War and banned around the world, including Spain.

Charles Chaplin will surely be one of the decisive artists of 20th-century art. His personal life was a corollary of ups and downs that were not exactly exemplary. In addition, he was always an uncomfortable character for the Yankee establishment. He had to leave the United States, persecuted by anti-communism. He never declared himself a communist, but he did not hold back his fierce criticism of the inequalities existing in his country. What is he but, Modern times (1936)? And The chimera of gold, Of course. An accumulation of influences, paradoxes, contrasts. Even if you're not a cinephile, everyone should see a Charlie Chaplin film at least once in their life. Why not start with the life of the explorer saved from starvation by a shoe sole?