October 28, 1993

Contact: Gary Fitzpatrick (202) 707-8542
Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940

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1925 Version of Chaplin Film "The Gold Rush" Restored

For the first time since 1925, an American audience will have the opportunity to see "The Gold Rush," Charlie Chaplin's classic comedy, in a newly restored print with the original music performed by a live orchestra at the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center on November 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m.

The orchestra will be conducted by Gillian Anderson, a Library of Congress music librarian who participated in the restoration and reconstruction of the film.

A co-production of the Library of Congress and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, this is the first event in the Library of Congress's celebration of the 100th anniversary of the motion picture in the United States.

"The Gold Rush" has been called one of the top 10 films of 1925 by the New York Times. In 1942, Chaplin reissued a sound version of the film, using different camera takes for many of the scenes, substituting his spoken narration for the printed intertitles, and adding an orchestral score that contained music that he wrote himself. This version ran at 24 frames per second, twenty percent faster than the original. For a decade, this was the only version available.

Now, using a negative assembled from various sources by Paul Killiam, the film laboratory of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress has struck a new 35mm print that will be used for this performance.

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PR 93-137
11/8/93
ISSN 0731-3527