User Reviews

Part satire, part slapstick comedy, part melodrama; the great pioneer of film, Charles Chaplin, has created his own monument with this film. At the same time, 'Modern Times' was Chaplin's last goodbye to the era of silent film - which, remarkably, had already ended almost a decade earlier.

After nearly 80 years, this screen marvel still makes me laugh, cry - and think about the ongoing automatization of practically every trivial little thing in our lives. Modern times, indeed.

To me, this film is as entertaining and funny today as I imagine it was then, and it's certainly as relevant as it was then.

The tramp still rules. My vote: 9 out of 10.

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

This very well written story never lets down from the very first image we see, flocking sheep compared with rushing urban human crowds, to the very ending. Excellent criticism of the Taylorism/capitalistic through humor relevant for any age, nationality or time; story-telling that would touch anyone alike in a universal fashion, every now and then sparkled with Chaplin's unique and deeply influential sense of humor and on-screen comedy. Hilarious in moments, and unique. A man of many talents clearly, and excellent at those. Overall this depicts quite a zany approach to life, one that is pure in essence and profoundly antagonistic with the current ways of the time, and ways of today still: a life dominated by one-track thinking, rigid and stubborn social etiquette, and the enslavement this new world has brought in so many aspects to the human species. Finally, it highlights the importance of never giving up; EVER; and the preciousness of love.

One of this movie's most famous images--Chaplin sliding around inside the gears and cogs of a monstrous machine--provides a handy visual to go along with my opinion of the film in general: there are individual cogs that I remember as being brilliant, but when put together they don't make a totally satisfying machine.

Unlike "City Lights" or "The Gold Rush" before, or "The Great Dictator" after, I didn't get caught up in the narrative of "Modern Times," and I felt there were longer gaps between the funny bits. However, some of the set pieces in this are hilarious, most notably the scene where Chaplin finds himself strapped into an automatic feeding machine that goes berserk; and a nimble scene on roller skates that showcases his athleticism.

Sadly, "Modern Times" was an all too applicable metaphor for Chaplin's place in the film industry. New technologies were beginning to make his artistry obsolete, and the sadness of that is palpable in the film's final shot.

I'm recommending "Modern Times" because it's a very good movie. I just didn't think it was as good as some of Chaplin's other well-known projects.

Grade: B+

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) is the final film to feature the great actor/director/writer's most easily recognizable incarnation: The Tramp. Here is a character that is so ingrained in the collective conscious of modern film audiences that many recognize him despite the fact that they have not seen a single Chaplin film. Indeed, several iconographic studies have labeled The Tramp (with his worn hat, distinctive mustache, dusty suit, cane, and trademark waddle) as the single most identifiable fictional image in history.

Still, the film that perhaps most influenced the creation and thematic realization of Modern Times was not even a silent one. The Jazz Singer, which debuted in 1927, five years before Modern Times began production, is perhaps the most important watershed film in the industry's century-old history. In the film, comic great Al Jolson stands up in front of the audience and...sings. And as Millard Mitchell said in Singin' in the Rain, the public was suddenly in a frenzy for "Talking pictures! Talking pictures!" Sadly, with the advent of synchronized sound and dialogue, the world of silent filmmaking began to slip into obscurity with audiences and studios now viewing it as obsolete and undesirable. Nevertheless, Chaplin continued his passion for the subtle craft by creating City Lights (1931), which many critics and academics consider one of the greatest films ever made, but by the time Modern Times was released, Chaplin was one of the last directors left clinging to a dying art.

Modern Times is not an entirely silent film, (there are dialogue snippets and sound effects), but if you look closely, every character with dialogue (excluding Chaplin himself) is being mocked. Even when The Tramp opens his mouth (the only time he ever did so in a film), the words are nonsensical, defying the burgeoning convention that dialogue is mandatory for substance, entertainment, and quality.

Despite the film's status as one of the greatest comedies of all-time, it is hard to ignore the political component. In his movies, Chaplin often exhibited a great mistrust for authority and progress, as often embodied through the social elite, the police, and wealthy entrepreneurs. The irony of the film's title, then, is two-fold. It connects with Chaplin's own bitter feelings regarding his moribund art form, but also refers to the plight of the working classes during the Great Depression (long working hours with little job security and meager salary, while the upper classes remain wealthy and bide their idle time) The world was changing fast, and Chaplin foresaw that many of these changes were far from beneficial.

As we watch The Tramp struggle through the modern, mechanized world, we laugh at his antics and the absurdity of their results, but we can also feel pain and pity. He is clearly a man who does not belong. Indeed, The Tramp can almost be thought of as a misfit who has passed through a membrane from some alternate reality and unwittingly fallen into our familiar world (notice that he does not have a name or identification of any kind, and as far as we know, he has no friends, family, funds, or history).

He takes on assembly lines, feeding machines, department stores, policemen and various other mass-oriented aspects of the industrialized world (all which demand and exhibit sameness and conformity), but The Tramp (and his symbolic extension, the individual) never seem to fit.

This is, consequently, why Modern Times is also one of the most poignant love stories ever put on film. The only character who is on the same level as The Tramp is a young, homeless woman who is referred to as "The Gamin" and is played by Chaplin's then-wife, Paulette Goddard. These two are brought together by the fact they have almost nothing except the will to live and continue forward, despite adversity. Both are nameless, neither has a home, and they each have no money or material possessions.

It is here that Chaplin makes his most poignant and saddening statement about modern living. The Tramp and The Gamin are the only characters who exhibit individuality and idealism, yet they are also the ones lowest on the social and economic food chain. The conclusion of the film, which most likely reflects upon Chaplin's own emotions, is tinged with sadness, but also a lingering hopefulness that resonates as loudly and clearly today as it did more than sixty years ago.

Then there is, of course, the comedy, which is the stuff of legendary status. Some of the most memorable comic images in film history are found in Modern Times. These include The Tramp's bout with an assembly line (and his resulting twitches), his unfortunate encounter with "nose-powder", the moment when he quite literally becomes a cog in the wheels of industry, and his epic struggle to bring roast duck to an angry customer.

In my opinion, however, the two standout moments are the scene in a department store involving a blindfold and some rollerskates (the most exquisite moment of comedy in the film) and the sequence where The Tramp is submitted to the mad whim of an out-of-control feeding machine (the most uproarious moment in the film).

These are just a handful of moments that make Modern Times the enduring masterpiece that it is. On a personal level, the aspect of the film that resonates strongest with me is its appeal to the idealistic misfit in all of us. In our hearts, many of us long for the simplicity and exuberance with which The Tramp and The Gamin live life (with attention to the bare essentials and an absence of need for materialism and modern trappings).

As Chaplin so skillfully shows, however, our modern times make this lifestyle a faded dream, lost among the sheep-like herds of men and women scurrying through a modern metropolis that only Fritz Lang could make seem darker and more devoid of true humanity. Still, the final image of Modern Times refuses to let the film end on an exclusively tragic note and demonstrates that the individual is still alive and may yet find his way in an ever-changing world.

We like to think that comedy has evolved since the time of silent film. We like to think that with the advent of sound and the injection of modern technology in all aspects of film production has made just about everything better. Indeed, it's hard to argue that so much of today's fun and farce just can't exist without a sound mixer and a few boom mics laying around. Ask yourself, if you put The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) or The Hangover (2009) on mute, would you really get anything out of it?

By 1936, sound had long taken the film industry by storm. In fact, if you listen closely to the moment Al Jolson uttered "You ain't heard nothing' yet," in The Jazz Singer (1927), you may have heard the careers of many shattering in earnest. Never has there been a piece of technology so seamlessly adapted to an industry before or since. To name the number of noteworthy films made after 1929 that were silent would be to name perhaps a dozen.

Yet with this adoption came growing pains. The cumbersome size of the Photokinema sound-on-disc machines and their components meant cameras had to stay bolted down. Actors had to not wonder too far from the mic or worse still, find a way to wear several pounds of bulky microphones under their garments. What once were dreams, stitched together by editing cuts became pale imitations of stage plays. The grammar of film essentially took two steps back.

Seeing this, silent era superstar Charlie Chaplin decided to stem the tide. In 1931, he directed, produced and starred in City Lights, a romantic masterpiece of stagecraft and pantomime that to this day is one of the best examples of the beauty we lost. Seeing the writing on the wall by 1936, Chaplin decided to give the Tramp one last hurrah before retiring the character. One last bow before the tendrils of technology transforms his career into a shadow of its former self.

Modern Times is at once one last bow, one last look at innocence lost and one glorious masterpiece of cinema. In it, Charlie's lovable Tramp struggles to adapt to a modern technological age while causing light-hearted mayhem everywhere he goes. Throughout the film he tries to conform to working as a security guard, a longshoreman, a factory worker, a mechanic etc. yet his peculiarity prevents him from being at a work site for too long. During his struggles he befriends an woman named Ellen (Goddard) who aids him in his quest for fulfilling work. They of course, fall in love in the chaste innocent way that couples did in the films of the time.

Modern Times is infamous, for among other things, a soundtrack that includes the earworm "Smile" composed by Chaplin himself. The most famous cover was crooned by Nat King Cole whose astringent voice had the poorly covered scars of a life harshly lived. "Smile" to Modern Times is perfect; both as a bittersweet anthem and as addition to the American songbook. It perfectly captures the Tramp's uneasy monachopsis while hanging onto a buoyant hope of finding purpose. It's at times sad, at times triumphant but always life-affirming.

Modern Times is also known for large, unique and detail filled comic set-pieces that despite being around for eighty years still coaxes laughter. One after another, these moments capture the absurdities of industrial life no other film does. Whether it be Chaplin toiling over a conveyor belt of widgets or literally being engulfed by a mechanical do-dad, He always has the perfect expression to reaffirm his humanity in the most inhuman of situations. It's pitch-perfect pantomime done by a true master of the craft.

Of course, being the film advertised as "the one where The Tramp speaks," Modern Times does succumb to the encroachment of sound. And unlike in City Lights, Chaplin decides to inject it as part of a large theme as opposed to a target of mockery. The film is book- ended by two moments of sound, the first of which is his factory boss yelling at him through a large projected screen. "Get back to work!" he yells while the Tramp struggles to find a moment of respite. The inclusion of sound as an oppressor, even a personified one is an effective means of identification. Those who have heard the phrase "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean," will no doubt sympathize with Chaplin's character in that particular moment in time.

The second time sound is used, is to affirm Chaplin's Tramp as a unique individual amid a crowd of onlookers. Late in the film, Ellen finds a job for the Tramp at a restaurant as a singing waiter. Right before his debut, he struggles to remember the words of the song he's to sing. He decides to put the lyrics on his detachable cuffs. Invariably, he looses the cuffs and, thinking quickly, begins to sing in gibberish. It's a prank pulled on audiences clamoring for the Tramp to finally speak on screen, yet it's one that's so incongruously Chaplin that one can't help but admire it.

With Chaplin having a hand in every aspect of the film's production, one can write an entire book fawning over the exploits of a genius so ahead of his time, we still feel his influence. Modern Times showcases that genius, filling the celluloid with beauty, pathos, humor and humanity. Years after most of today's contemporary comedies fade into obscurity, those centuries from now will still fondly remember Charlie and his lovable Tramp. I guarantee it.

Never a dull moment with the vagrant antics of Mr Charlie Chaplin as he seeks to impress on his audience the impact of living in the modern era. What would the little man make of the world today, as technology continues its drive to remove people from the workplace and replace them with more and more automation (who can blame them during pandemic times). A timeless classic that is perfectly geared, engaged and enmeshed for the unstoppable onslaught of technology and its perpetual modernisation - happiness beckons.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Modern Times" (1936) is my first movie which i saw that features Charles Chaplin. Saw it first time in 2015, but nevertheless it's a great movie. Comedy here is truly funny, and it's not just a comedy. It tells a story, with some underlying themes that are still kinda topical till this day – technology is changing, evolving, and if you are not keeping pace with it, you will have some hard times like our hero of this movie.

Acting here is very solid, actually i was surprised of how well acted this movie was – no one overreacted. Story itself is interesting and movie is very well paced – at running time 1 h 27 min it almost never drags and is entertaining from start till finish.

Overall, "Modern Times" is a black and white silent movie (there are some sounds actually) which safely can be viewed for the first time even in 2015 – 79 years after it's original release. It has some truly genuine comedic situations, it tells good story and pacing of picture is very solid. Maybe it is not possible to review this movie correctly now because it's very old, but great movies are great movies – they can be viewed no matter what.

There is something fundamentally sad about Modern Times, by the very fact that it shows an unparalleled genius making his last move in the now-defunct art form with which he made his name. Charlie Chaplin, undisputed master of silent comedy, had managed to bluff his way through the awkward early days of sound, but by 1936 the talkie had got its act together, and screen comedy was dominated by the witty wordplay of the Marx brothers and the smart sass of screwball. Slapstick had all but lost its market, and the picture is saturated with a feel of "One last time…" A

nd Chaplin expresses his feelings with scathing satire. Modern Times is quite plainly a blast at many aspects of industrialised living, especially unemployment and Fordist production management. However the picture also takes several sly swipes at sound film itself. From the beginning, sound is associated with the mechanical, the authoritative, and the austere, with the few bits of spoken dialogue being via some piece of technology such as a radio or the boss's speaking tube. Sound effects too are reserved for nasty clanking and scraping sounds of machinery and things breaking apart. Finally there is Paulette Godard's pronouncement that "The words don't matter" as Charlie forgets the lyrics for his singing waiter act. Chaplin was of course very good at nonsense voices, as this and his Adenoid Hynkel act in The Great Dictator demonstrate, whereas meaningful verbal comedy was his Achilles Heel.

Despite all this vehemence, Chaplin is making one or two concessions to contemporary cinema. Modern Times features a lot more camera movement and close-ups than we see in his previous pictures, where he tended to stick to static long shots to preserve the best flow of physical comedy. The more technical approach here is always done for a reason – for example whip-panned close-ups are used for emphasis, and there is often a change of angle to punctuate a gag such as the half-built ship slipping out of dock. While they do draw attention to the funniest moments they disrupt the purity of the routine and are most likely concessions made by Chaplin for an audience not used to silent comedy. Modern Times is also much more variable and fast-paced than previous Chaplin features, skipping from factory to prison to department store and so on.

And yet, of all his feature films, Modern Times includes perhaps the most protracted bouts of silent comedy, far more than the story-driven City Lights. Despite its linking plot, the various settings in which the little tramp finds himself each provide fully-fledged slapstick routines, and there are very few moments in which point or poignancy are allowed to overrule the comedy. The picture is in some ways like a compendium of the non-stop gagging two-reelers he was making in the 1910s. Modern Times may not be quite the tearjerker that The Kid or City Lights were, but it is the master's final great showcase of his primary talent.

Long after most people thought the silent movie had been buried forever, Chaplin brought his "Little Fellow" out of mothballs for one more magnificent motion picture. The Tramp is trapped in a factory, performing mind-numbing repetitive tasks, and finally he goes hilariously berserk. I started laughing the instant I saw the lady in the dress with the buttons. Like "City Lights," this film is a collection of charming vignettes, this time revolving around The Tramp's desire to settle down with gamin Paulette Goddard. From the Tramp's encounter with an assembly-line "feeding machine" to his unsuccessful stints as night watchman and waiter, this movie is packed full of delights. Chaplin never speaks, but he does sing a little. This work of genius can make you smile though your heart is breaking.

Modern Times exemplifies Depression-era America; a stream of disappointments, tattered dreams and missed chances that attempt to drag the characters down, but are defied by the ever buoyant hope of the American Dream.

Scenes from Modern Times aptly capture the mood of America in the late 1930's; men superimposed by sheep shuttled into a waiting line, workers being pushed to go faster and faster, eventually consumed by the very machine they deigned to control. Yet elements of optimism shine through the weary film-Chaplin and his gamin dream of a home of their own, with cows ready to be milked and steaks crackling on the stove. Though their reality-a depilated shack "Is no Buckingham Palace" the two are able to sustain themselves on the "American Dream" of a more secure, fruitful life.

Several aspects of the film called to mind a 1984-type reality (Though 1984 was written in 1949, 13 years after the birth of Modern Times) including the large two way screen in the factory, allowing the owner to be "Big Brother" to the workers as well as the police brutality and Ford factory line of men and machine.

The film ends appropriately; dusty and bruised from pursuit, hardship and hunger, Chapin and his orphan girl head of hopefully into the sunset, convinced of a better reality awaiting them on the sun's return; a hope shared by many in America's Modern Times

"Modern Times" is in my top 5 films, and #2 in my list of favorite comedies. Charles Chaplin is arguably the most talented human being, nevermind film maker, that ever lived. I first saw this treasure about 8 years ago, and I watched it again recently to make sure that it really WAS funny, and that I had not given it too much praise because it was simply a Chaplin film. "Modern Times" passed my test with flying colors. I laughed hysterically from start to finish. Each and every scene is innovative, well thought out, and executed with the genius that only Chaplin possessed. Among my favorite scenes are the "automatic worker-feeding machine"; the jail scene in the cafeteria when The Tramp accidentally sprinkles cocaine on his food, thinking it is salt; and the roller skating scene in the department store. No special effects or computer animation, just pure, simple, genius.

The storyline in "Modern Times" is purposefully naive, a trick Chaplin used time and again to bring a profound humanitarian quality to his films. Watching this film is comparable to watching a Warner Bros. cartoon, which coming from me is a sincere compliment. The level of physical comedy in "Modern Times" is on par with the masterful short films of Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and others.

Finally, as was the case with most of his later films, "Modern Times" is a serious social commentary. Its message is as relevant today as it was more than sixty years ago when it was released. In fact, it is arguably even more relevant today, and unless the world changes drastically in the future it will continue to be. "Modern Times" is essentially the story of a simple but extremely kind man caught in the traps of industrialized society. The opening scene, which compares a crowd of workers boarding the subway to a flock of sheep, is Chaplin's warning against standardization, mechanization, and other facets of life which rob men and women of their individuality. Chaplin always tried to speak for the downtrodden, because despite his enormous success and wealth, he never forgot where he came from. In the end, "Modern Times" is a reminder that no matter how bad things are, you can still smile. Charles Chaplin has made more people smile than almost any other, and his legacy of love and laughter lives on in his films. Its up to us to keep his legacy alive.

Just like City Lights, Modern Times utilises Charlie Chaplin's comedic skill. Being a silent film, all of the humour comes from physical comedy and slapstick which is where Chaplin shines. The technical skill that went into getting certain shots and sequences was just incredible, especially the sequence where Chaplin is sucked into the factory machine and has to navigate his way around all of the different cogs.

This notwithstanding the film isn't perfect. Like City Lights, Modern Times didn't hold my interest throughout. I did get a little bored at times.

Read my full review here:http://goo.gl/DfLxUR

This is where I decided to have a look at Charlie Chaplin and his famous "Modern times" - we are all familiar with scenes in a factory but honestly there is much, much more happening later and it truly surprised me that film turns into a such epic saga. Another example of things I just assumed I know. It charmed me instantly, of course, because Chaplin was a true genius and magician - his creation, "Little Tramp" is easily understood to anybody no matter what background and we love him dearly, for all his sweetness, clumsiness and old heart. This story apparently happens in Metropolis-like factory where work, machines and buttons are parodied mercilessly until we (audience) roar with laughter - I was honestly surprised that something filmed almost a century ago was still so fresh and funny. Basically, everything after the first start on the fast track was new to me and I laughed and laughed, until I found myself rewinding scenes and enjoying them again. What a genius!

Once Little Tramp looses his job - there is a whole unspoken atmosphere of unfairness, poverty and depression around - he quickly ends up in a prison, from which he doesn't even want to leave. However, he gets Cocaine in his salt, (Charlie Chaplin on a Coke!), saves policemen from escaped criminals, meets minister's wife (very funny scene) and gets release from the prison, with job recommendation letter. And this is still just a beginning of the movie! There is much, much more coming up later - it really goes on forever but its wonderful, heart-warming and joyous to watch. I almost forgot everything about myself and my whereabouts while I was so deeply lost in this masterpiece. Film is so immensely rich with characters, stories, little details and magic that I honestly think its one of the best things I have ever seen.

This mostly silent movie deals with a little man , a disgraced factory worker who goes insane from his repetitious job at an assembly líne . At the same time the exigent boss demands him for greatest efficiency and speed at work . As the unfortunate man moving from hapless factory worker to singing waiter and ultimately triumphing along the way .

An interesting and thought-provoking Chaplin film encompassing the tyranny of Machine over man, this great film has more relevance nowadays than ever. The pic contains a sour denounce on capitalism , industrialization and human explotiation . This is a vintage flick much in the fashion that sound films offended his pantomimist's sensibilities . This is a silent movie , being the only dialogue a song sung by Chaplin in gibberish Italian .Chaplin gives an awesome and sympathetic performance as a labourer who goes crazy and triumphs over adversity , just as Charles the film director proved victorious over sound . Chaplin also composed the score which incorporates the charming tune : Smile. His spouse to be Paulette Goddard is attractive in the femenine lead , playing a poor orphan. Look for a young Gloria de Haven , as one of Paulette Goddard's Sisters . She is the real-life daughter of Chaplin's assistant director .

The motion picture was masterfully directed by Charles Chaplin .This was one of the longest ones to that date . Chaplin previously directed 2 or 3 reel short movies, such as : Our hero, The fireman, Night at the show , The adventurer, The floorwalker, The cure , The inmigrant , The circus , Burlesque on Carmen , among others . After that , he made long feature films such as : The gold Rush , The kid , City lights , The great dictator , Monseur Verdoux , Limelight, A king of New York and his last one : A countess from Hong Kong . Rating 8/10 . Better than average . Well worth watching .

It is a testament to Chaplin's filmmaking skills that he is able to impose such significant meaning on what really boils down to little more than a series of comedy skits strung together on an apparently flimsy clothesline of a plot. Indeed, the cinematic value of Modern Times is unquestionable, but it is ironically noteworthy that such a simple and even blocky plot is made into such a memorable film experience and delivers such a strong, time-transcending message about poverty stricken populations.

It is no secret that Charlie Chaplin was more or less dragged into the sound era against his will. In the early part of the 20th century, he had built a tremendous career as a silent film actor, and had created a character, the Tramp, that was purely a silent film character who could not be transported into the sound era. Charlie had built his career and his popularity with the Tramp, and the coming of sound to the cinema meant the end of that character (as illustrated by Robert Downey Jr.'s Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 film Chaplin, `The Tram CAN'T talk. The minute he talks, he's dead.'). Chaplin delivers to the world a cynical satire about modern technology as well as his own ode to the silent film with Modern Times.

Charlie plays the part of a man who works a dehumanizing position in a factory in which he is little more than a component of a machine, and he is controlled like a pawn by the menacing boss, who we see mostly as a looming face on a tremendous television screen. Clearly, the most memorable scenes in the film involve something to do with the factory, such as Charlie's brief trip into the innards of the machine, as well as his warm-hearted efforts to feed lunch to a man who has inadvertently become lodged in a machine, with only his head free. However, there is a very noteworthy but fairly subtle subplot that quietly reveals Chaplin's fondness for the silent film.

The first and most obvious thing is that for the most part, this is a silent film. There are intertitles, there is precious little dialogue, and the film's main character doesn't utter a sound until near the end of the film. But there are also a lot of other things that more subtly hint that silent films are better than sound films. For one thing, the only intelligible words spoken in the film are done so through some sort of barrier. There is the factory boss speaking demandingly through the television screen, and the feeding machine company speaking through the radio as they try to sell the feeding machine to the factory boss. This becomes the most obvious by the fact that anyone speaking on screen - such as the factory boss as he tells the men that the feeding machine is not practical - only does so in intertitles. We know that dialogue can be put in the film, but Chaplin chooses only to do this in a detached and mechanized way.

There is also a very strong example of Chaplin's endless sympathy for poor people at several points in this film. The most significant example of this is his interactions with the Gamin, played by Paulette Goddard, as well as his nearly constant contempt toward the police. After the scene where he gorges himself at a small diner (note that the window said `Cafeteria: Tables For Ladies'), he casually calls an officer into the diner and tells him to pay the tab, unable to pay it himself. As he is handcuffed to the officer, he gets a cigar from a nearby vendor and hands some large candy bars to a couple of small children nearby, who look to be the type of children who are never sure where their next meal is going to come from.

Charlie plays a hard working, lower class man in Modern Times, and no matter how badly he just wants to get some good work and earn a living so that he can buy a house for himself and Paulette, things constantly seem to go wrong for him. It seems that this bad luck is used to suggest that poor people are not poor as a result of their own shortcomings, but because they just can't seem to work their way up to a better life, no matter how hard they try. This social commentary is intertwined with such skillful intricacy with the story about Chaplin's love of silent film that there is really no switching back and forth between the two. Modern Times strikes me as especially memorable because it is a very simple story that is punctuated by a series of comedy skits, yet it also delivers several different messages that are important to society as well as to the filmmaker himself. In this way, the movie almost seems to deliver these strong messages without the audience even being aware that they are being presented with these issues. It is a great way to mix entertainment with important societal topics, and Charlie's decision to finally have the Tramp utter vocalized speech is done so in an endlessly watch-able song and dance scene, adding to the immeasurable number of film skits for which Charlie Chaplin will be remembered and loved.

By 1936, Charles Chaplin was already an anachronism – albeit, an anachronism who was also treasured as an artistic genius. The arrival of 'The Jazz Singer (1927)' did little to curb the director's enthusiasm for silent cinema, and, though he considered at length the commercial implications of converting to synchronised sound, his first film in the "talkie" age was almost completely silent (Chaplin compromised by composing a musical score). Nevertheless, the critical and commercial response to 'City Lights (1931)' was strong, reaffirming Chaplin's status as a cinematic master, and vindicating his decision to linger with an otherwise extinct medium. Thus, 'Modern Times (1936)' was to follow in the same mould, despite a synchronised soundtrack which includes a musical score, sound effects and several lines of spoken dialogue (always spoken through a mechanical "barrier," such as a record-player, radio or loudspeaker). The film is historically significant in that it was Chaplin's first overtly political work, raising concerns inspired both by the economic hardship of the Great Depression, and Chaplin's growing interest in socialism.

The title 'Modern Times' is used to deliberate ironic effect. Traditionally, to be modern was to be at the forefront of human progress, a step forwards in Man's noble attempt to assert his dominance over his environment; in short, to further distinguish our species from the lower animals. Yet Chaplin believed that such widespread industrialisation was a step backwards for society. Even from the opening shot, he draws comparisons between the hustling crowds of factory workers travelling to work, and a flock of sheep being herded through a corral. The dehumanisation caused by the workers' monotonous factory work is played for maximum comedic effect, with Chaplin's Tramp eventually driven to a nervous breakdown by Frederick Taylor's apathetic brand of scientific management. In these conditions, direct human interaction is minimal, and almost always channelled through an mechanical mediator. In a scene predating Orwell's "Nineteen-Eighty Four (1949)," Chaplin is reprimanded by a telescreen in the bathroom, the image of his boss looming overhead like the spectre of Big Brother.

Chaplin may also have been remarking upon the rise of the Hollywood studio system, which by then employed a comparable assembly-line approach to film-making. Chaplin, who was given full artistic control through his co-ownership of United Artists, worked in complete opposition to these practices, though it could be argued that his perfectionism and often improvisational style was so inefficient that only an artist as wealthy as he could have gotten away with it. Truth be told, there's nothing particularly distinguished about Chaplin's direction – despite his strong reliance upon actions over words, his silent films were never as visually accomplished as that of Murnau or Lang, for example. However, his greatest talents as a filmmaker were concerned with the plight of people, and, however much sentimentality he liked to dish out, there can be no doubt that, in Chaplin's characters, one found individuals with whom they shared a very real human bond, of empathy and compassion. For all the director's criticism of modern society, he possessed a genuine belief in the value of human spirit.

When Chaplin came under fire for alleged "communist sympathies" in the late 1940s, the content of 'Modern Times' was scrutinised for evidence to support the allegations. Certainly, within the director's distaste for industrialisation one may discern an underlying dissatisfaction with capitalism, but Chaplin was definitely not a communist; after all, a prime motivation in his choosing to continue producing silent films was to retain his commercial popularity in foreign-language markets – that's the capitalist spirit! Nevertheless, Chaplin was eerily prescient when he included a scene in which his Tramp is falsely accused of being a communist, mirroring his own intense political troubles, which concluded in 1952 with the retraction of his US re-entry visa. Though he was initially hesitant about breaking his screen silence, as Chaplin's political convictions grew, so too did his desire to have himself heard. For that, he would, however reluctantly, have to embrace the technology of sound, and, for a mouthpiece, he would choose the most hated man in Europe.

I saw this as a child and my laughter at the feeding machine scene was so WILD that I have never laughed so hard at anything again in my entire life. I literally slid out of my chair to the ground gasping for air. The whole film is absurd and brilliant, crisply realized by a comedy genius but for me that one moment transcends even greatness and touches the sublime where is poetry and God. Seeing the 'feeding machine' again as an adult there are tears mixed with laughter. To eat is to live, it is the personal realm and the invasion of the authoritarian state into the personal realm is so arrogant and pompous that it frightens me a lot to see how far it has gone as 'they' regulate our speech, our food, our sex lives according to the latest PC doctrines of 'nice'. Chaplin would not have recognized this new world of ours where the working class he represents here is ruled by progressive billionaires spouting inanities.

Hilarious, touching, anarchic, revolutionary, realist, surreal, of its time, timeless - Modern Times is a multifaceted work of genius. When it's over and you recall the number of sight gags and magic sequences Chaplin has packed into 85 minutes, it is incredible - the conveyer belt and nut turning; Chaplin caught in the cogwheels; the feeding machine; the Red Flag march; the "nose powder"; the roller skating ballet; the waiter with tray caught up in the dance (my favourite); the gibberish song - and many more. Then there is his mixing of silent and sound techniques, making the best of both worlds, not falling between stools as some directors might have done.

Of course, there is also a political and social dimension; many of the scenes refer to the impact of technical advances, of bureaucracy, and of the then current depression, on the ordinary "little man". And it is the little man, the individual caught up in society's complex machinery, whom Chaplin championed. He may have sympathised with left-wing political parties and unions in so far as they supported ordinary working people, but Chaplin's essential beliefs are enshrined in the final "words" and shot, with him telling Paulette Godard, that she should keep smiling, they will get along, as they walk, a couple of individuals, into an uncertain future. Beyond politics, the individual has to rely on his or her own resources and spirit to survive.

It seems the people who read my reviews always give the positive "helpful" votes for those films I praise, while they punish my comments for the films I don't like. I guess the same will happen now since "Modern Times" is the highest praised Chaplin film on IMDb.com and I'm giving it only a 7 out of 10. It's a very good film, a brave and interesting satire on the great depression in USA, but Chaplin's other films like "City Lights", "The Gold Rush" and "The Great Dictator" were in my opinion superior and much more enjoyable.

"Modern Times" starts with a frame of a herd of sheep, then cutting right into a mob of nervous factory workers, pointing out how the capitalism and the industrialization are treating people like a bunch of slaves. Chaplin's Tramp is one of those workers who looses his sanity from non stop work and gets fired. He then meets a poor girl, lands in prison, gets bailed out for helping stop a jail break and starts finding new jobs, just to get fired again. The story doesn't flow as smooth as some other silent classics from the famous actor/director and is made out of little bits and events which aren't connected. Apparently Chaplin made this without any script, and it shows. Also, some of his Tramp's goofy jokes today seem a little outdated and childish.

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Still, putting the flaws aside, this is a quality film with human message. In today's mechanical age it even seems somewhat visionary since the poor, jobless couple back then can easily be found even today on the streets. But not to say the film is without humor, like when the Tramp picks up a red flag on the street that fell from a truck and gets mixed up with a communist leader or when the feeding machine proves to be a real useless disaster, something the machine haters will love to hate.

Grade: 7/10

This movie is a must see for anyone who loves comedies. Charlie Chaplin is at his all-time best as the Tramp, and he has wonderful chemistry with Paulette Goddard's Gamin. Together, they provide an hour and a half of non-stop laughs. My favorite parts are when he is fed by a "modern" machine that goes awry, and then when Charlie goes crazy in the factory. The situations and expressions are hilarious! Please see this movie soon...you definitely will not regret it.

It is very difficult to believe the amount of pretentious waffle that has been written about this film. I am not a film student and so I can only guess that the film is taught to gullible undergraduates as an all-time masterpiece containing multiple levels of deep meaning concerning the loss of human identity in modern industrial society. It is nothing of the sort. It is a rather tedious mix of sentimentality and slapstick, and was anachronistic even when it was made in 1936 in that it pretends to be from the silent era, which had ended in 1927.

To be fair, there are a few funny scenes, all of which take place in the factory. The ones involving food are the best. All the scenes outside the factory are boring and many of them are hopelessly sentimental. The music, composed by Chaplin, is horrendous. Chaplin's wife is pretty, but can't act.

If the film had had a proper story developing the factory theme it could have been better. As it is, it is a typical collection of music hall / vaudeville set pieces which are only loosely connected. Many of these scenes do not advance the plot and aren't funny. The scene where Chaplin sings is also not at all funny.

In my view Chaplin was a one-trick pony with one character and a silly walk. What he does, he does well, but there is really no range in it, and those who claim there is are deceiving themselves.

In short - there is no deep meaning to the film at all - don't believe those who say there is.