CHAPLIN TURNS TIME BACKWARD

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 95, 16 January 1943, Page 8

CHAPLIN TURNS TIME BACKWARD

“Gold Rush” Steps From 1926 Into 1943

(By

T.L.)

And so he is back. The pathetic little figure, the symbol of the masses who laugh a little and fight and die with wishes ungranted, the man who, in becoming the worlds greatest comedian has become almost frightening in his interpretation of our civilzation —Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Rush, of which he himself said nearly 18 years ago, “This is the picture that I want to be remembered by."

And so he shall. - . Last night, almost If years to the day since its first 'Wellington showing, “The Gold Kush,” came back again, in a world that has’ changed beyond belief only the genius of Chaplin remains immutable. When the comedy was flashed on the screen of the De Luxe Theatre in January, 1026 (and for one week only, strange as it may seem), this was the news of the day: Work was about to begin on the Singapore naval base: V ashington was hotly discussing the disclosure that a million dollars had been spent on propaganda “aimed at establishing a ■Soviet Government in the U.&.A., Premier J. T. Lang was threatening to abolish the New South Wales Legislative Council. “Go it shall." he declared, even if it takes a fight of 20 rounds! The Prince of Wales was pleading passionately’ in London for greater migration to the Dominions; Germany was about to enter the League of Nations and asking that the Army of occupation be reduced; P. FI. Nimmo was warmly advocating an exhibition in Wellington, naming £3OO, 000 as the sum required and Lyall Hay ae the site: George the Fifth was sending tncssages to the United States on the saving of the crew of the British freighter Antinoe bv the President Roosevelt in mid-Atlantic; the master of the German liner Bremen was being publicly feted in Ireland for rescuing the men of a British ship: the Manawatu was incensed at a letter received in Wellington from Philadelphia asking where was Palmerston North?

Explosion Shakes Opera House

And while “The Gold Rusli" was drawing its crowds in that peaceful January of 1926 a musical comedy, “Leave it to Jane,” was at the Opera House with the now well-known Hollywood star, Mona Barrie, in the leading part. (An explosion in a'building at the back of the theatre during a performance blew in the windows, shook the theatre and nearly caused the audience to stampede.) Wirth’s Circus was at a site in Cable Street and Guy Bates Post and the English actor. John Loder, were about to open in “The Masquerader. ’ Clara. Butt and Kennerley Rumford were enjoying a huge success at the Town. Hall. Rivals for cinema favour in that same, week of 17 years ago were Constance Talmadge in “Her Sister from Paris,” “Broken Barriers’’ with “that sweet young actress, Norina Shearer,” and a pulsating drama, “Loraine of the Lions,” with Patsy Ruth Miller, at the King's which, remodelled . beyond recognition, is the 1943 home of “The Gold Rush. Names in the film advertisements of those days will bring back memories— Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon, both of whom are top-liners in the London stage today, Nazimova, who was. even then, sliding from the heights she had occupied , in the very early twenties, Irene Rich and Blanche Sweet. How dead these little moments of history seem, as dead ns the dust that coats the names of the cinema’s fleeting great, as sterile as the bomb.dust that •■hungf over Singapore's naval base. But Chaplin and his art have lived. He has his wish. He is remembered—he will be remembered—for one of the great tragicomedies of our time, “The Gold Rush.”

OPERA HOUSE

Curiously enough, when 1 looked at “Sergeant York” the other men ng m; mind went back to lh “,. l ,‘,°y.' rc ..Ai.,fe when I stood before Millets Anicius amid felt the deep devotion tp the soil in the bowed figures and the “.“U terltv of their faith ami the r lives. Ahin York’s mother Is a screen character I will remember for a long time. compromising as wind in the \aliej, dur and inspiring as a shalt wliiter bunIb'lit this woman was tashlontd to hca heroes. Who will forget, when A'ork leaves his Tennessee home for the front, how the li"ht and pain of every mother shone in those eyes, the Iml rec ribable moment when her boy goes off to God knows what •■Sergeant York” is a great picture because It has boldly striven to give th. world more than a series of scenes with words. It has looked down into a mans soul—a shabby sou) it seemed at first anud caught the first burgeonings of conscience, the slow awakening to the mea ling of individual freedom and thought. York is a good soldier, but lacking when ho must reckon with Iris conscience. He si ts “none on a hillside, the, Bible in one hand, a history of the United States lu the other. Does one bear relationship to

the other? Must, blood be shed so thamen may live and send th ® [, <1 B “ n kS » f "®*;" dom above the roiling pills I bergeant York does not find the true answer tit he reaches the torn fields of Argonne in the autumn of 1918. And then be performs the astonishing deed of vulou '[ 1 Y ‘ made him the greatest American soldier of th Gan’ o, Cooper has seldom done better To see “Sergeant York” is to bo ashamed of the tub-thumping of so " li ’".v ot “er films made in the name of patriotism.

KING’S THEATRE

In common pro'bably with most of the other members of the audience which comnletelv filled the King's last night, my clilel' feeling toward "The Gold Kush was curiosity. Could the art of even a great actor like Chaplin stand the test ot tune. Would the figures jump about like scared marionettes Would the situations and the comedy be outmoded and pathetic. Remember,' it is 18 years since “The Gold Kush” was made and celluloid Is a poorwearing substance. • I need have had no fears. All the superb artistry of Charlie Chaplin, nil the laughter and the tears are there in full measure and-running over. From the moment the little baggy-trousered figure came round the snowy mountain path, ridiculously ill-equipped for an Alaskan adventure,'and closely followed by a huge bear, I settled down to enjoy the only comedy ever made that could *so magnificently withstand the rigours of time. How truly has Chaplin gauged tlie purpose and the ends of true comedy. For “The Gold Kush” is wholly his—writing, direction and acting. Today it has even more than when it was first' released. It has the voice of Chaplin, too, a cool, cultured voice with a smooth and humorous twist. There are heights that comedy seldom roaches; the unforgetable scene when the famished prospectors eat one of Chaplin's boots, lace and all; when he dances with the light of liis heart, Georgia, and unsuspectingly tied to a large dog; the shuck precariously balanced on the cliff edge; the moment when Big Jim, crazed with hunger, keeps seeing the little comedian as a giant chicken and pursues it with an axe. There are inexpressible moments of pathos, too: the New Year's Eve feast prepared for Georgia, who forgcts'to turn up; his unbounded and misguided delight when she honours his shack with a visit; his earnest endeavours to cut a fine figure.