Modern Times – 1936

Silent Film – 1936
Charlie Chaplin

Another visit to Chaplin’s tramp character. This time he’s working in a factory where everything is regimented and watched over (very big brother like) by the boss via television screens. Chaplin’s character is starting to show stress from the repetitive nature of the work and then goes off the rails in a madcap dash around the factory -eventually getting stuck in the gears in a pretty famous scene

He’s committed to a hospital and when he gets out accidentally gets involved in an anti govt protest and ends up in jail. At some point in prison he ingests a bag of cocaine and goes full Tony Montana (only without the guns) and in his rush around the station he stops a breakout attempt without even realizing what he’s doing.  The cops are so thankful they give him a cushy cell with lots of amenities which the tramp seems to really enjoy. However – his time in prison is soon to be over and he unsuccessfully tries to convince the police that he belongs back in prison since he gets three meals a day and a comfortable place to sleep.

One released he struggles to find a job – eventually finding work using a letter of recommendation from the police captain at a shipyard where he’s given a simple job of hammering some piles in – however he didn’t understand the instructions (in true tramp style) and ends up launching a ship that… wasn’t quite ready to be launched. Dejected from his inability to find work he’s walking down the street when he sees a young girl stealing bread and when the cops ask him what happened he said he stole the bread trying to get back to his cushy prison cell.  Witnesses tell the police that he didn’t really do it and he’s freed back onto the streets.

Really determined to go back to jail – he goes to a restaurant and eats a ton of food and then doesn’t pay – tracking down a cop to come arrest him for it.  He’s locked up in a paddy wagon – and lo and behold, the girl from earlier is in the wagon with him! He tries his charm on her and she seems to vibe with him.. When suddenly the paddy wagon crashes and they escape in the chaos.

He tries to go straight for the girl and takes a job as a night watchman at a department store  – he has a great time roller skating around and sharing what the store has to offer with her but then three goons break in and try to rob the place – the tramp realizes they’re fellow factory workers who are just hungry and desperate. He decides not to call the police and falls asleep in a very unfortunate location where he is discovered the next day and promptly fired.

The girl gets a job dancing in a nightclub and convinces the owner that the Tramp is a singer and waiter but he’s terrible at the waiting part and his last chance is the singing performance. He’s really nervous but the girl helps him write the words on his cuffs so he won’t forget them – but he loses the cuffs during the dancing part! What’s he to do? That’s right.. He channels his inner Eminem and goes full five mile on them: Chaplin Modern Times ‘non-sense song’

Things are seeming up for these two lovebirds, but then the police track the girl down from her previous escape and her and the Tramp are forced to flee once again.  The stop at the site of the road and the girl desparis at they have nothing left but the tramp reassures her and they set off down the road into whatever awaits them.

4/5 – Great move and one of Chaplin’s finest performances

I think this is the first time you hear Chaplin’s voice in one of this films and he uses it to sing a nonsense song that somehow conveys an idea without using an actual language (he made it all up). The slapstick comedy was tight and funny and the camera work and direction was engaging.  Some of the ‘special effects’ were really well done practical effects that he sold with his conviction and body control.  Reading into it somewhat it was a commentary on industrialization and the political climate of the time and has eerie echoes into the current day with AI threatening to displace a lot of people’s jobs. It was one of the last silent films of the era and Chaplin’s last performance as the tramp and I’m glad he got to set off into whatever future awaited him with someone by his side.