On 100th anniversary of 'The Gold Rush,' Cannes tips hat to Charlie Chaplin
On the opening day of its 78th edition, Cannes debuted a 4K restoration of 'The Gold Rush,' one of Chaplin's most beloved silent masterpieces. The screening, held just before the festival's official opening ceremony, was part of a new day-one tradition for restored films, festival director Thierry Fremaux said before the screening at Cannes' Debussy Theatre.
Years in the making, this 'Gold Rush' pristinely restores Chaplin's Tramp to all his downtrodden glory. The 1925 Alaskan frontier comedy may be marking its centenary, but it looks bracingly fresh in the restoration carried out by La Cineteca di Bologna.
The restoration was more complicated than most because it included an extensive search for any missing footage. In 1942, Chaplin edited the film and re-released it with sound effects, music and narration. That version landed two Oscar nominations, but the restoration sought to get as close to the 1925 original as possible.
In 'The Gold Rush' Chaplin's lone prospector ambles through the snowy Alaskan wilds in pursuit less of gold than some food and perhaps companionship. His antic, cliff-dangling struggles make up much of the film's deft slapstick, but the Little Tramp's humble, sweet hopes for romance greatly exceed his strike-it-rich ambitions.
The film's premiere drew two grandchildren of Chaplin: Kiera Chaplin and Spencer Chaplin.
'What to say about 'The Gold Rush?' said Spencer Chaplin. 'It was his biggest production to date. He built the set — it was almost like a tourist attraction in L.A. at the time. He built the mountains.'
The screening in Cannes drew a packed house in one of Cannes' largest theaters, a crowd that the Chaplin descendants warmly surveyed.
'Our grandfather would be really proud to see this, a hundred years later, to see all you here and interested in seeing the film,' said Kiera Chaplin.
'The Gold Rush' will roll out in theaters worldwide on June 26 in a release organized by mk2 Films.
___
For more coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Central Station review – Walter Salles's big-hearted Brazilian road movie boasts stellar performances
Brazilian film-maker Walter Salles had a huge breakthrough success with this big-hearted road movie in 1998. It is a prize-garlanded and Oscar-nominated film that made a serious player of its director and an international name for its then 69-year-old female lead, Brazilian stage and screen star Fernanda Montenegro. She plays a querulous woman called Dora who finds herself travelling across the country, on the edge of poverty and almost on the run, from Rio to the Sertão in Brazil's remote north-east, in the company of a bewildered, angry, vulnerable little orphan boy whose life she has just (unwillingly) saved. It's an often unashamedly sentimental movie about redemption in the tradition of Charlie Chaplin and Vittorio De Sica. An ingenious, if glib, final twist gives the tale its solidity, though you can taste some processed sugar in the mix; from a modern perspective it's possible to compare this to rom-dram pictures such as Message in a Bottle and The Lunchbox. Central Station's two characters happen to be looking for someone called Jesus; a common enough name in Brazil, of course, but the audience is entitled to suspect more, given that this man is supposed to be a carpenter and his loved ones believe that he will one day return – that is, make a second coming, back into their lives. Montenegro's Dora is a weary and cynical woman, a retired teacher who supplements her nonexistent pension by setting up a stall at Rio's teemingly chaotic Central Station – naturally, a vivid image of vast, uncaring indifference – offering to write letters for illiterate people and post them. There's an endless line of people poignantly dictating their desperate messages, but Dora has lately taken to secretly binning them at the end of the day. Salles at one point also contrives a terrific sequence showing dozens of young guys hurling themselves through train-carriage windows to get the best seats. One day, a stressed woman called Ana (Soia Lira) asks Dora to write an accusatory letter to the man who, before vanishing, fathered her son, who she has brought with her; a moody, unhappy nine-year-old boy called Josué (Vinícius de Oliveira). Josué wants to meet his dad, but when Ana is accidentally killed in traffic outside the station, Dora 'sells' this boy to a people trafficker for the price of a new TV. She then thinks better of it, steals the boy back and, avoiding the sinister people who now want to kill her, takes Josué on a desperate mission to track down his fugitive, no-good dad, Jesus, with only the address she has on the envelope to go by. Throughout the film, Salles keeps in play a basic question: what exactly does Dora want? To some degree, she simply wants to escape the now murderous and vengeful traffickers and to annul the grotesquely evil thing she tried to do; an intelligent woman, Dora surely knew in her heart that the people who bought Josué were not froman adoption agency, as they claimed. But we are to be in no doubt that this whole incident has brought to the surface of Dora's mind long-suppressed and painful memories of her own father, who broke her heart rather as Jesus appears to have broken Josué's. Salles allows us to ponder a further question: if Dora is sceptical, as we must be, that there can be no good reunion of Jesus and Josué even in the unlikely event of Jesus being found, then what does Dora envisage for herself at the end of all this? To find a new beginning on the road – even love? There is an aborted romance with a sweet-natured truck driver, who senses that joining forces with this woman and this boy is not a good idea. Perhaps Dora vaguely imagines establishing a new family life with Josué far away from Rio. The film's final twist makes the story close with a satisfying click, though there is something a little smooth about it; for me it works against the story's social-realist credentials and its evident ambitions for something more mysterious and spiritually resonant. Yet there is great pleasure to be had in those fervent, crowd-pleasing lead performances from Montenegro and de Oliveira. Central Station is in UK cinemas from 15 August
The Herald Scotland
11 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
How Travis Kelce made Taylor Swift 'the most engulfed' football fan
And it appears she's successfully been learning the intricacies of the sport thanks to her boyfriend. "I sort of made her a football fan," Kelce said in the interview. "She is the most engulfed fan now. She knows what the injury reports look like. She understands what special situations are, third and short - all these things because she just naturally loves to hear about my job." Kelce spoke on a number of topics with GQ, but the latest comments on his relationship with Swift drew crossover attention. The two have been a pop culture fascination the past two seasons, with Swift's appearances at Chiefs games to watch Kelce and Kelce's appearances at Swift's concerts chronicled worldwide. Swift grew up in West Reading, Pennsylvania as a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and her song "Gold Rush" even includes a lyric alluding to her fandom. But those days are over. Kelce expressed satisfaction with their dynamic when supporting one another, and the reality that her celebrity overshadows his. "I get to be the plus-one," Kelce said. "I get to go and be that fan. Because I am a fan. I'm a fan of music. I'm a fan of art. And it's so cool that I get to experience her being that plus-one for me on the football field. ... I feel that same enjoyment every time she comes to my shows." Kelce did not talk about retirement from football in specific terms, but reiterated he's interested in remaining involved with the game once his career is over while also exploring a potential move into acting or entertainment. He recently had a cameo role in "Happy Gilmore 2" and served as the host of "Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity" on Amazon Prime. He also co-hosts the popular "New Heights" podcast with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles center and current ESPN NFL analyst Jason Kelce, which is reportedly worth $100 million after being licensed by Wonderly last year. Swift announced her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," during a clip released on social media ahead of an upcoming appearance on "New Heights" on Wednesday night. It means Kelce has officially gone from coaching Swift up on football to collaborating with her on PR rollouts. For football's most famous couple, it's yet another sign of a healthy relationship. "When you see me hanging out at the US Open with Taylor, it may look like the two of us are partying," Kelce told GQ. "But I'm just enjoying the fun of being at this really cool event that I always wanted to go to with the person that I love." When does 'The Life of a Showgirl' drop? In a teaser social media video, Taylor Swift appeared with Travis Kelce on his podcast, "New Heights," which he co-hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce. During the episode, she revealed a mint green briefcase featuring her initials and announced that it contained her new album. On Swift's official website, there is a countdown leading to 12:12 a.m. ET, where fans can preorder "The Life of a Showgirl" on vinyl, cassette, or CD, complete with a poster. No additional information has been disclosed yet, including the album cover image. Fans will have to wait until the "New Heights" podcast releases on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. ET for more details.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
‘Our director is a madman': a century on, Gloria Swanson's disastrous film Queen Kelly is finished
In the long history of Hollywood excess, there is no tale as torrid as that of Queen Kelly. This lavish silent melodrama starring Gloria Swanson and directed by Erich von Stroheim will screen as the pre-opening event at this year's Venice film festival, with a new score by composer Eli Denson. The film is an outlandish saga of illicit love in sordid surroundings – and so is the story of its production. Queen Kelly is set in Europe before the first world war and tells the story of Patricia Kelly (Swanson), a convent girl who falls in love with a prince (British actor Walter Byron) who is engaged to a deranged queen. Patricia is sent away to Tanzania, where she is forced into marriage with a vile character called Jan, later earning the nickname Queen Kelly. It's a far-fetched tale, which sets a curious tone from the beginning with its infamous meet-cute, in which Patricia is so overawed by meeting the prince that her knickers fall to the ground. On the first day of shooting in 1928, Swanson had a premonition that the film would never be finished, and events proved her correct. The screening at Venice consists of a new restoration by Dennis Doros that incorporates previously unseen material, and some inventive methods of recreating the film's grand finale. He describes this version as a 'reimagining'. Viewers of the film have always had to fill in the gaps, as did those who wanted to learn what happened behind the scenes. The story of the film begins with a love affair. In 1927 Swanson was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, married to French war hero Marquis Henry de la Falaise, when she met the married Boston businessman Joseph P Kennedy, father of the Kennedy clan. The following year Swanson and Kennedy became lovers, and their relationship was soon an open secret in Hollywood. Swanson, who was living beyond her generous means, put her financial affairs in his hands. Kennedy had been in the movie business for some years, and together they planned a lucrative showcase for Swanson's talent. Making an expensive silent film when the talkie revolution was already in motion was one questionable decision. The next was hiring Von Stroheim to write and direct it. He was anything but a safe bet, known for his censor-baiting storylines, immense profligacy (insisting the extras in 1922's Foolish Wives be supplied with silk underwear) and epic running times (his original cut of 1924's Greed was said to be nine hours long). Von Stroheim proved as immoderate as ever. In the third month of filming, with costs soaring, Swanson and Kennedy called the whole thing off. Her objection was that Von Stroheim had taken the narrative in a direction that would never pass the censors. The scenes they were working on in Africa were clearly set in a brothel. She was exhausted by his reshoots and horrified by having to do a scene in which Jan (Tully Marshall) dribbled tobacco juice on to her hand. She called up Kennedy, saying: 'Our director is a madman.' For his part, Von Stroheim claimed the shoot was abandoned purely because the coming of sound rendered this expensive silent film obsolete. Whatever the reason, Swanson and Kennedy cut their losses, which totalled a reputed $800,000. Von Stroheim was unceremoniously removed from the project. He would never complete a film as director again, although he would continue to find success as an actor, dubbed the 'The Man You Love to Hate' for playing German villains, most notably in Jean Renoir's 1937 classic La Grande Illusion. Swanson and Kennedy tried to complete the film as a talkie and even a musical. A 1932 cut of Queen Kelly was shown in a few countries, but this was essentially only the film's first half. Fast-forward to 1950, when Swanson staged her own glorious comeback, playing washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder's black comedy Sunset Boulevard. None other than Von Stroheim was hired to play Norma's butler, the man who keeps her fantasy of enduring fame alive. And when Wilder needed to use a scene from one of Norma's old movies? A clip of Queen Kelly was chosen. Swanson was back in the spotlight, and one of her most famous follies was once more a talking point. From then on, she did her best to revive the project she once thought was doomed – screening her cut of the film at one-off events and even on US TV, with the words: 'This Queen Kelly gal was a child that somehow didn't want to be born.' Swanson died in 1983, just two years before Doros completed his first reconstruction. He used Swanson's own prints and outtakes, which had been preserved at the George Eastman Museum. This new restoration, and its red-carpet premiere in Venice, may just be everything that Swanson dreamed of for her lovechild Queen Kelly. Von Stroheim, one suspects, would prefer to try a few more takes. Queen Kelly screens in Venice on 26 August
