The Gold Rush was the last movie Chaplin made before the specter of the talkies began to haunt him. Its brilliant set pieces—Chaplin’s character, the Little Tramp, making dinner rolls appear to dance; the actor Mack Swain, as Big Jim, hungrily mistaking the Tramp for a giant chicken; Big Jim and the Tramp feasting on the latter’s shoe; and a cabin teetering on the edge of an abyss—are among the highlights often included in any assemblage of classic moments of silent-film comedy. While all of Chaplin’s silent features are somewhat episodic, they are held together by his sublime performances and inventive imagination.

Although it is Chaplin’s most famous film, The Gold Rush is nonetheless atypical of his work. Its snowy wastes are far removed from his usual urban and rural settings, and cannibalism and murder seem peculiarly dark subjects for a comedy made during the Roaring Twenties, a period of optimism and social and cultural development. The film also ends strangely, with the Tramp marrying and becoming a millionaire. The Gold Rush, made by Chaplin’s own production company, captured him in a time of relative contentment—one of the century’s great film geniuses at a moment of confidence in his ability to control his destiny and his art.