Modern Times (1936)

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin (writer)

Release Date:

5 February 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

He stands alone as the greatest entertainer of modern times! No one on earth can make you laugh as heartily or touch your heart as deeply...the whole world laughs, cries and thrills to his priceless genius!

Plot:

The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

Plot Keywords:

Assembly Line | Shot By Police | Slapstick | Blockbuster | Gibberish

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Charles Chaplin	...	A factory worker (as Charlie Chaplin)
Paulette Goddard	...	A gamin
Henry Bergman	...	Cafe proprietor
Tiny Sandford	...	Big Bill (as Stanley Sandford)
Chester Conklin	...	Mechanic
Hank Mann	...	Burglar
Stanley Blystone	...	Gamin's father
Al Ernest Garcia	...	President of the Electro Steel Corp. (as Allan Garcia)
Richard Alexander	...	Cellmate (as Dick Alexander)
Cecil Reynolds	...	Minister
Mira McKinney	...	Minister's wife (as Myra McKinney)
Murdock MacQuarrie	...	J. Widdecombe Billows (as Murdoch McQuarrie)
Wilfred Lucas	...	Juvenile officer
Edward LeSaint	...	Sheriff Couler (as Ed Le Sainte)
Fred Malatesta	...	Head waiter

Also Known As:

The Masses (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Spain:T | USA:Approved (PCA #1596) | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Denmark:A (2003) | Norway:7 | South Korea:All | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | Australia:G | West Germany:6 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Boulevard & Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Charles Chaplin Productions

Trivia:

According to Paulette Goddard, Chaplin was deeply and profoundly involved in the recording of the musical score. He spent days upon days in the recording studio writing themes, and only left when Paulette begged him.

Goofs:

Continuity: Charlie attempts to go swimming and hangs his bathing suit out to dry. It disappears a few minutes later when he leaves for the factory.

Quotes:

[Listening to a phonograph record]
The Mechanical Salesman: Good morning, my friends. This record comes to you through the Sales Talk Transcription Company, Incorporated: your speaker, the Mechanical Salesman. May I take the pleasure of introducing Mr. J. Widdecombe Billows, the inventor of the Billows Feeding Machine...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Prisoner's Song

Always modern

Somehow, this very old film is particularly modern today and the exaggerations are not really sooo extreme compared with the real world. The humans, enslaved by the machines and by those who control them, become more and more small and insignificant, like the hero of this very funny comedy (one of the best in the history) that speaks about very ugly things in a very amusing way. The Tramp, is not a tramp in the beginning. He has a real job in a modern factory, that almost kills him, as the factory becomes more and more modern. He becomes a tramp when he stays without a job. Picking up red flags in the street can get you in a big problem with the police, who are there to serve and protect the rich. An honest man can stay honest even in prison and get benefits from this. Even a new job. But honesty is not really enough. Trouble is always around the corner and modern society doesn't permit you to make a new start easily.

Love gives you wings, or at list hope and the power to continue. A beautiful girl of the streets is more than our hero is asking for and he is ready to do whatever necessary. Even put his safety in danger to take care of her. And she, appreciates this. In the end, when everything is lost once again, all they are left with, is each other and that's all they really need.

For the first time is his cinema career, our Tramp will find a girl that will stick with him and support him. (Chaplin obviously felt with Paulette Goddard something that he didn't feel for his earlier women, and I don't blame him).

And this story of modern times, like all of Chaplin's films will end up with an optimistic feeling in a unhappy end. Never is everything lost.

With obvious inspiration from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and maybe René Clair's "À nous la liberté", it made the strongest point about THE where we 're going, in all the cinema of the 30's (I think) 8) and with only Marx bros' "Duck soup" being able to stand anywhere close to it. Maybe the most complete, funny and mature creation of the best comedian of the seventh art, with a lot more than a non stop production line of great jokes to offer. If made without a single joke, this film would still be one of the greatest of all of our modern times.