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Modern Times is a 1936 American part-talkie comedy film produced, written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. In Chaplin's last performance as the iconic Little Tramp, his character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film also stars Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford and Chester Conklin.
Modern Times: Directed by Charles Chaplin. With Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford. The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
- (262K)
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Charles Chaplin
- 1936-02-25
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
Modern Times, American silent film, released in 1936, that starred Charlie Chaplin as a man at odds with modern technology. It is regarded as the last great silent film.
The film, which was set during the Great Depression, centres on a luckless factory worker (played by Chaplin) who finds himself so unnerved by trying to cope with the modern equipment he must operate that he suffers a breakdown. After being institutionalized, he is freed, only to be mistaken for a communist agitator. He is arrested but released after preventing a jailbreak. He subsequently falls in love with a young girl (Paulette Goddard) whom he met when she was running from the police after stealing a loaf of bread. The factory worker and the girl have many adventures together as they evade the police and struggle for a better life. Eventually they escape for the open road.
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Chaplin had not been seen on a theatre screen for five years when Modern Times premiered to great acclaim in 1936. Still stubbornly resisting work in “talkies,” he stood alone in his insistence upon preserving the silent film. As he did with City Lights (1931), Chaplin conceded to recording a music and sound effects track, but there would be no dialogue heard on-screen. (A reactionary in terms of filmmaking techniques, he once predicted sound films would be passé by 1932.)
(Read Lillian Gish’s 1929 Britannica essay on silent film.)
•Studio: United Artists
•Director, producer, writer, and music: Charlie Chaplin
•Charlie Chaplin (A Factory Worker)
•Paulette Goddard (A Gamin)
•Henry Bergman (Café Proprietor)
•Stanley Sandford (Big Bill)
- Lee Pfeiffer
Filming Modern Times. Chaplin was acutely preoccupied with the social and economic problems of this new age. In 1931 and 1932 he had left Hollywood behind, to embark on an 18-month world tour. In Europe, he had been disturbed to see the rise of nationalism...
With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times—though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!)—is a timeless showcase of Chaplin’s untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy.
- A Factory Worker
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.
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Jul 11, 2024 · “Modern Times” (1936) is a remarkable film that showcases Charlie Chaplin’s genius as a director and performer. With its blend of comedy and social critique, the film provides a poignant and entertaining examination of the effects of industrialization on human dignity.
