95. Modern Times (1936)

Running Time: 87 minutes
Directed By: Charles Chaplin
Written By: Charles Chaplin
Main Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard

THE LITTLE TRAMP SAYS FAREWELL

In my previous post, I said that "Modern Times" would be the final Charlie Chaplin film in the "1001" book and I was wrong. There is one more Chaplin film by my count and we'll discuss it when we come to it. Now, we're talking about "Modern Times", my favorite Chaplin film, thus far and one that I feel flowed along brilliantly and was heartwarming and hilarious all at once.

The film starts out in a factory and the Tramp is one of the many assembly line workers. He's pushed to work hard, with short breaks and he's even forced to be a guinea pig for a new device, that feeds the workers, while they work and it results in him being assaulted by an ear of corn and a lot of hilarity. After all of the abuse from the factory gets to him, he has a nervous breakdown and is put into a hospital. Upon being released from the hospital, he finds that the factory, where he previously worked, has been shut down as a result of the Depression and through a simple misunderstanding and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the Tramp is arrested. While in jail, the Tramp mistakes a salt shaker full of cocaine, for what else...salt and winds up in a delirious state, stumbling into the midst of a jail riot and knocking out the would be rioters and saving the guards.

After the Tramp saves the guards, he's treated like a king in jail and then he's eventually pardoned by the warden. He pleads with the warden to let him stay, but to no avail. After he's released he stumbles across an orphan girl (referred to here as a "gamin"), who steals a loaf of bread and is subsequently caught by the police. The Tramp, seeing an opportunity to get put back in jail, takes the rap for her, but it doesn't work and they both end up under arrest. However, they both end up escaping together and becoming friends, determined to get jobs, get a home and never go hungry again. The Tramp tries out several jobs, including a night watchmen at a department store and going back to his old re-opened factory, but they both fall through and they always end up at square one. Eventually they both get on, working at a cafe and it is here that we hear the Tramp's first words, in the form of a song, sung in gibberish.

While this isn't Chaplin's final film, it is the final film of his beloved character, "The Little Tramp", and the final scene makes you almost want to cry, as the Tramp, arm in arm with his gamin, take a final walk down a long road. "Modern Times" seemed to flow along much better than his two previous films in the book, "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights" and therefore was my favorite of the three. There was just something about this one, that had me glued to the screen for the entire time, as there was always either something hilarious or something appealing on the screen. Not to mention, the gorgeous Paulette Goddard who plays the orphan child (not really a child, she was 26 when the year the film was released) who mesmerized me as she trotted around barefoot and beautiful. What you have here is scene after scene, of either great comedy or something bewildering, from the opening factory scene, to the accidental ingestion of cocaine, to the Tramp roller skating around the empty department store, to the final heartbreaking scene. It's all great and it will go down as my favorite of the three most well known Chaplin flicks.

RATING: 10/10 Had to go the full monty on this one, as there was no downtime and everything was great, in my opinion. Now I really want to buy the Chaplin collection on DVD.

NEXT UP: Swing Time...More Astaire and Rogers! Cannot wait to see Ginger gracefully dancing and being twirled by Fred. Review will come tomorrow.

February 7, 2010 3:36pm