This episodic satire of the Machine Age is considered Charles Chaplin's last "silent" film, although Chaplin uses sound, vocal, and musical effects throughout. Chaplin stars as an assembly-line worker driven insane by the monotony of his job. After a long spell in an asylum, he searches for work, only to be mistakenly arrested as a Red agitator. Released after foiling a prison break, Chaplin makes the acquaintance of orphaned gamine (Paulette Goddard) and becomes her friend and protector. He
takes on several new jobs for her benefit, but every job ends with a quick dismissal and yet another jail term. During one of his incarcerations, she is hired to dance at a nightclub and arranges for him to be hired there as a singing waiter. He proves an enormous success, but they are both forced to flee their jobs when the orphanage officials show up to claim the girl. Dispirited, she moans, "What's the use of trying?" But the ever-resourceful Chaplin tells her to never say die, and our last image is of Chaplin and The Gamine strolling down a California highway towards new adventures. The plotline of Modern Times is as loosely constructed as any of Chaplin's pre-1915 short subjects, permitting ample space for several of the comedian's most memorable routines: the "automated feeding machine," a nocturnal roller-skating episode, and Chaplin's double-talk song rendition in the nightclub sequence. In addition to producing, directing, writing, and starring in Modern Times, Chaplin also composed its theme song, Smile, which would later be adopted as Jerry Lewis' signature tune. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The picture is grand fun and sound entertainment, though silent. It's the old Chaplin at his best, looking at his best -- young, pathetic and a very funny guy.
The opening sequence in Chaplin's second Depression masterpiece, of the Tramp on the assembly line, is possibly his greatest slapstick encounter with the 20th century.
the fact that it is one of Chaplin's great masterpieces is testament to both his artistic resilience in the face of industry change and the enduring power of great silent comedy.
There can be no better description for Modern Times-or indeed, Chaplin's career-than the film's initial title card: "A story of industry, of individual enterprise-humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness." [Blu-ray]
Sometimes sentimental yet highly comical, Chaplin's anti-industrialisation statement is wholly idealistic but its topical reflection on industrial paranoia still resonates today.
What we have is not just a story about a funny little man, but a morality fable, or cautionary tale, about people on the chuckholed road to the American Dream.
For the [MK2/Warner] restoration, experts at Cineteca Bologna assembled the best footage from a variety of sources into a new print. MK2's technicians painstakingly touched up all 126,000 frames individually...
I recently rented the new BluRay release of Modern Times, "What's the point of that?" my girlfriend asked. I saw her point, a BluRay of an old silent black & white does seem like overkill but then we both were in awe of how beautifully well done the recent restoration has been. I remember watching it as a child but not
well enough to write a review - now re-watching it I was taken back and taken aback, it really is something special. You don't need me to tell you who or how important Charlie Chaplin is but the cliched tags of 'Timeless classic' and 'Just as relevant today' are quite true. In short, it's brilliant and funny and pretty unbeatable.
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