Modern Times (1936)

Industrial modernity proves mercilessly madcap in Charlie Chaplin’s final (mostly) silent feature, one of the most inspired and ingenious of all his comedies.

Nine years after the arrival of film sound, the silent cinema’s biggest star remained reluctant to leap into the new world. While City Lights (1931) was almost wholly silent however, Charlie Chaplin’s new film incorporated some sound effects and voices, alongside the by then archaic use of intertitles in place of dialogue.

Chaplin admitted he didn’t know how to make the Tramp work in sound, but his ambivalence about the new technology was appropriate to the theme of Modern Times, which distils anxiety about the dehumanising effects of mechanised labour into inspired comedy.

Sequences including the Tramp unable to stop his assembly-line bolt-tightening (to the alarm of passing women with temptingly placed buttons), or being conveyed helplessly through the cogs of a giant machine, found the director’s comic genius undimmed.

“Chaplin’s final screen outing in the Little Tramp persona sees him taking on the impact of industrialisation on the working class. Modern Times marked Chaplin’s first use of dialogue on screen, albeit in Chaplin’s typically adventurous, unconventional way: when the audience finally hears the Tramp’s voice, he’s singing gibberish as the character improvises the lyrics to a song. While the Tramp rotates between prison and employment and life seems a constant struggle, Modern Times remains stubbornly hopeful and hilarious.“ David West

“For releasing the human body into such kinetic chaos and comic élan, defying so many forces that would browbeat our bodies, our dreams, our movies into conformity.“ Nick Davis

“The 20th century in 87 minutes.“ Paolo Mereghetti

1936 USA
Directed by
Charles Chaplin
Produced by
Charles Chaplin
Written by
Charles Chaplin
Featuring
Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman
Running time
87 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Modern Times

Critics

Neta Alexander
USA
Vasco Baptista Marques
Portugal
John Berra
UK
Eddie Bertozzi
Italy
Jean-Loup Bourget
France
Teesha Cherian
India
Luc Chessel
France
Nick Davis
USA
Annouchka De Andrade
Angola/France
Bryony Dixon
UK
Louise Dumas
France
Ruy Gardnier
Brazil
Gemma Gracewood
New Zealand
Nachman Ingber
Israel
Sarah K Keller
USA
Nino Kovačić
Croatia
Matthias Lerf
Switzerland
Eri Mahihara
Japan
Sam McAuliffe
UK
Joan Mellen
USA
Lidia Merás
Spain
Paolo Mereghetti
Italy
Santiago Navajas
Spain
Derek O'Connor
Ireland
Višnja Pentić Vukašinović
Croatia
Domino Renee Perez
USA
Dana Polan
USA
Selina Robertson
UK
Can Sungu
Turkey/Germany
Andreas Ungerböck
Austria
Víctor J. Vázquez
Spain
Ivan Velisavljević
Serbia
David West
UK
Hady Zaccak
Lebanon
Ramin Zahed
USA

Directors

Faouzi Bensaïdi
Morocco
Hanna Bergholm
Finland
Gan Bi
China
Raymond Red
Philippines
Shaunak Sen
Kazuhiro Soda
Japan
Chaitanya Tamhane
India
Maryam Touzani
Morocco
Frederick Wiseman
USA
Heng Yang
China

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