my favorite movie of 1925:

The Gold Rush

(Charlie Chaplin, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain. Directed by Chaplin.)

A Criterion essay says:

[Chaplin] was spurred by reading a book about the tragic Donner Party of 1846–47, and then by looking through Douglas Fairbanks’s collection of stereoscope cards, which included a series on the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897–99. … Chaplin’s Tramp is here called the Lone Prospector, his costume unaltered except for the knapsack on his back, with attached pickax and frying pan. …

The essay goes on to sum up the movie’s highlights — for instance:

When the Lone Prospector is starving in the cabin with Big Jim, he resorts to boiling his shoe. After sacrificing the upper to Jim, he makes his own meal of the sole, nails, and laces, rolling the laces on his fork like spaghetti and relishing each individual nail as if they were the bones of a quail. …

And when the Lone Prospector falls asleep waiting for Georgia and her friends to come over for New Year’s Eve dinner, he dreams of entertaining them with a soft-shoe dance staged with rolls impaled on forks. …

And there is so much else. No one who has seen the picture can easily forget the cabin, come to rest on the lip of a chasm, teetering back and forth as Charlie and Big Jim move from one side to the other within. …

You can watch the whole movie for free here (in the public domain):

You can also stream The Gold Rush on the Criterion Channel, which has lots of extras including commentary, and Chaplin’s 1942 version of the movie with added narration. (If you don’t subscribe, try a free 14-day trial.)

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.