"Possibly Chaplin’s greatest masterpiece—though with so many, who’s to say?—Modern Times contains some of the comic’s most brilliantly iconic and politically savvy routines. A biting satire of modern industrialized society, Chaplin staved off the 20th-century (and sound cinema) with wit and elegance."
— MUBI's take
Modern Times (1936 film)
Genre:
Comedy
Starring:
Charlie Chaplin Paulette Goddard Henry Bergman Tiny Sandford Chester Conklin
Photography:
Ira H. Morgan Roland Totheroh
Release Date:
February 5, 1936
Country:
United States
Modern Times is a 1936 American comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world.
Why It Rocks
Chaplin’s United Artists partners – and silent stars as a whole – had to not just adapt to sound, but also adapt their screen personas to a changing culture. There were several aspects which delayed the film's creation and release, including constantly having to refine the Tramp change with the times, some of his traditional humor from his early years aging poorly, and having to adjust to/hide his advancing age.
Chaplin created his character Little Tramp out of raw desperation, needing to establish himself at once as an economically viable screen performer. Back in his early days, the Tramp was ruthless, amoral and ravenous (pure id), and only later was the Tramp refined and given a background implying breeding and education, and ambitions were more than just hunger. But he was still a tramp, fearful and disdainful of authority, with no labor or social skills and few prospects of succeeding in society. As Chaplin’s filmmaking technique matured, the Tramp would continually be refined as well, becoming liberal, sentimental and a friend to the underclass, and even taking on more responsibilities: such as a child (1921's The Kid), and a military mission (1918's Shoulder Arms). But hijinks and practical jokes that may have seem funny in the 19-teens often aged poorly by the 1920s, and in later years the Tramp was obstinate and unemployable rather than an iconoclast or someone who chose to be carefree.
Chaplin’s real problem was dialogue (as shown with a script he planned on using for film), rather than sound. As an expert mine, he could convey what he needed with gestures and intertitles. He stripped away dialogue and sound so the Tramp, the gamin, and all of the little people continued to stay in the silent age, while only the antagonistic figures – technocrats and industrial magnates – are given dialogue, and even then, they can only be heard through microphones and on records. When the Tramp finally does speak, it’s near the end of the film with a nonsense language.
This may be the Tramp’s last screen appearance, and Chaplin’s last truly funny film, but Chaplin really made both his performance and the overall film count.
The film opens with some simplistic shots comparing subway commuters and herds of sheep. There's dark humor in assembly lines and various other time-saving devices, although for most of the film Chaplin went back to material he was comfortable with from some of his previous films, often incorporating bits he admired from other performers, none of which would have worked if Chaplin’s character spoke.
A considerable portion of the story was given to Paulette Goddard’s character – the gamin – and she's shown as an orphan who has to steal food for her family, and became fond of the Tramp and his kindness. She's arguably the most mature and independent of all of his post-keystone heroines.
The film's full of impressive, and often audacious moments: At one point, a red construction flag drops off the back of a passing truck. The Tramp picks it up hoping to return it, only to find himself leading a parade of strikers down the street. The camera pulls back on a crane to show riot police arriving to break up the demonstration. In a single take, Chaplin brings viewers from the harmless slapstick of an earlier age, to the brutality of the present.
*
