On the surface, Chaplin's and Keaton's approaches to comedy and cinematography are quite distinguishable. Even though both The Gold Rush and Sherlock Jr. fall in the same film genre, however, the essence and moral of each picture is brought up from different styles of filmmaking. Chaplin's comedy is rooted from his brilliant acting performance and storyline rather than the use of film techniques. Chaplin bases his film on people's everyday lives and expresses his mind through symbolism in the movie. Chaplin's character, the Tramp, has a unique style. He shows a penguin like body movement that are easily identified by the audience, which makes Chaplin a different filmmaker than others. Chaplin's comedy mostly derives from the cluelessness of the Tramp himself. The Tramp who appears in various movies with different storylines, leaves a mark of his persona in the audience by creating a one of a kind character. This results in the audience sympathizing with this unlucky character who is always put in tragic circumstances. Chaplin's picture, such as The Gold Rush, also conveys stronger moral values that are clearly depicted in the movie. Chaplin uses humor to tell the audience about people being underprivileged, an outsider, living in poverty and the mad drive to achieve wealth. Although his pictures are comedy based, they also incorporate tragedy to give the audience an idea of coping with tragic situations. Other than his acting performance and character development, Chaplin uses different shots in the movie to emphasize different emotions to the audience. He uses long shots in the comedic scenes to show everything that is happening at once without cuts. This technique is used to show the quick witted side of the Tramp. Instead of humor, incorporating cuts and different shots in a movie adds more drama and suspense.
On the other hand, rather than leaving a mark of a character's persona to show humor, Keaton takes more advantage of his film editing skills. However, Keaton's character in Sherlock Jr. still shows a peculiar mannerism, known as his deadpan facial expression. Keaton's reserved manner contributes to the comedic aspect of the movie when the character is faced with adversity. Keaton creates humor through the small gags resulting from the frantic circumstances. The character still manages to deal with these circumstances by showing a straight face but with an expressive physicality. His character complies with the dream world without being too dramatic, resulting in a good comedy. He also expresses his cinematic techniques when exploring two worlds in a shot. In one of the scenes, Keaton's "soul" flies out of his body, signifying that he is entering the dream world. This editing technique proves how skilled Keaton is in the field of film. In addition to his performance, Keaton pays much attention to the artistry aspect of a picture. He adds special effects and performed thrilling action choreography to give an illusion of danger in the scenes. The brilliant camera work in Sherlock Jr. also contributes to the quality produced film. Despite the constantly moving setting, the shot is always static and manages to maintain a perfect screen ratio. Keaton also incorporates tracking shot in several scenes, which is not a common technique in the early days of film and could risk the actors and staff of injuries. However, as a professional stunt actor, Keaton manages to overcome the tricky stunts in just one shot. There are various shots that are taken from various angles and this creates a flow that helps the audience to comprehend what the character is up to. Despite the differences explained, Sherlock Jr. and The Gold Rush have a similarity in terms of character. Both main characters are outsiders who are able to outwit the "heroic" antagonist smartly, with humor. Keaton's character is able to outwit his antagonist through his stunt work, which Keaton brought up from his early days as an acrobat. While the Tramp outwits his antagonists through his clever ideas and swift body movements. Nevertheless, both pictures are visually pleasing and possess remarkable plots. Sherlock Jr. and The Gold Rush definitely encapsulates everything necessary for silent films; brilliant editing skills, directing and acting performances.
