Writing in-depth about the films on this AFI list, I’ve been avoiding one type. It’s not that I don’t like them, although I’ll admit it’s way easier to get bored, but because I’m a bit intimidated by them.

Silent films are tough. We live in a modern world where our attention can be easily drawn to our phones, Twitter, or many other distractions, and silent film is a medium where we need to give our undivided attention, as it’s so easy to miss something. In that way, it almost stands in a different art form than all those talkies that have existed since the end of the 1920’s.

Because it can feel like such a different medium, I have always felt a bit like I would have to talk about them differently from how I talk about all the other movies on the list. I also thought that since I tend to highlight what makes the movies so great and timeless, that this retired style wouldn’t be all that relevant to movies made today.

Watching this one, however, has given me a different perspective on silent films. I realized that they’re really not that different from movies of today. They’re like today’s movies but with a specific constraint: no dialogue. In that way it’s a very pure style of movie, since movies were always meant to be a visual medium. And I’m glad the first silent one I’m tackling is this one, since it exemplifies this concept so well.

So I will give lots of words to a film that says none. Here we are with 1925’s The Gold Rush, written and directed by Charlie Chaplin.

A message we want to believe

All films have messages, whether they’re intentional or not, and due to the visual nature of cinema, it demonstrates this message through its action.

The message of this one might be simple, but it’s one we can all resonate with. More specifically, it’s a message that I would guess most of us want to believe: good things happen to good people.

Chaplin’s recurring character, The Tramp, embodies being a good person. He tries to help others, he saves lives, he even shares his shoe meal with his friend. And at the end of the film, he’s rewarded for all good deeds. He gets all the things he had been wanting throughout the movie: money, food, and the woman of his dreams.

Big Jim does make some more questionable decisions throughout the movie. He almost resorts to cannibalism, and he even steps on The Tramp to save his own life. However at the end, he’s confronted with the choice to save The Tramp or not, and he chooses to do so. He is then also rewarded with a happy ending. 

There are other characters who act worse through the film and often bully the Tramp. They do not share this same reward system.

It is a simple message, and it’s not one, unfortunately, that’s always true to life, but it does at least highlight that there are rewards for putting good out into the world, and for a movie that doesn’t have the luxury of dialogue to convey the message with dialogue, it’s pretty impressive.

Working within the constraint

This movie was a blockbuster at the time, and just like the blockbusters of today, it does so many things right.

The most impressive part is that the movie is able to do all of these things while working under the constraint of being silent. Chaplin only had the visual to work with. If he can do it here, modern filmmakers and writers can also use visual elements to do the same.

Comedy

The film is masterfully funny. What’s most impressive to me about the humor is that, even with nothing but visuals to work with, there are so many different kinds of humor within it. The film mixes sight gags, slapstick, dry humor, and even some cringe.

All humor has a layer of truth to it, and even in the silliest moments of the movie, there’s still that truth there. When big Jim visualizes The Tramp as a chicken, the truth is that hunger will make everything look delicious. When Chaplin makes the rolls dance, the truth is that both dancing and shoes are kinda funny human inventions that we probably never think about (until they’re recreated by food that is).

And, of course, the movie fully recognizes how funny animals are, as we get to see bits with a bear, a wolf, and a mule.

Some jokes are layered too. We get to see Chaplin celebrate his interaction with Georgia, by tearing his place apart, commentary on how joyful something like that can feel. That alone would have been funny, but it’s made even more funny by her witnessing all of it, and then The Tramp trying to play it cool.

Drama

The movie, despite being a comedy, still has moments of high drama.

The characters’ lives are at stake many times throughout the movie. The Tramp has to deal with several adversaries from beginning to end. Hunger and desire are constant needs for him and other characters.

And with just the use of a few title cards, the film conveys all of this with just action and the characters’ reactions. 

Special effects

This film was also a spectacle when it came out.

I mean it had big set pieces, a falling cabin, a man turning into a chicken, a bear for christsakes!

At the time, these were all big deals. They were all pushing what you can do with film, and maybe most special of all, they were forced to be creative to do these things.

CGI has replaced most special effects, but there is something so real and engaging about watching a movie that has practical effects. 

So now I have a different feeling about discussing movies from this era, and I look forward to covering more of them.

Movie making is a beautiful art form, and a big piece of that is that cinema so beautiful and engaging to look at. When we isolate just that component, we see moving pictures as the unique artform that it truly is.

The silent form is a constraint, but it’s also a liberator. It’s better than a filmmaker lazily explaining things through exposition. It’s better than distractedly looking at our phones, paying half attention to what we’re watching.

It’s movie magic in its simplest form. And my words are no way to do it proper justice.

Thanks for reading!

Check out our streaming service: https://www.cideshow.com/subscribe/

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram.