Modern Times (1936)

Dreadfully Boring

Blistering performances.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I can't even count how many times I have watched that initial factory scene on classes that I have being to, but this was the first time that I actually saw the whole movie, and man, it's clear that is prety damn important for cinema.For me, what builds a real masterpiece is the fact that it is timeless, no matter how old the movie is, I still can what and enjoy it (not only with laughs, but also analysing it, or even being thrill by it). And Modern Times is definitely a masterpiece. For my surprise I didn't find the movie that funny, it's for a good part "cute", like, I can't be sad watching some scenes, but you not necessarily are laughing too. But, the topics it approaches are incredible important, and relevant even nowadays. If the whole "captalism destruction" back then was something, imagine how it is today. I love everything with Paulette Goddard in this movie, she delivers a such powerful performance, she is charming, funny, but also can provide a raw and brutal sadness, you just fell for her.Even though at some point they just forgot about her sisters fate, the themes her family's plot talks about are real, and make us think about our own lives, and how we're blessed to have what we have.And again, Chaplin is amazing, you can almost see his dedication to the role, and everything else surrounding the movie. The guy was a genius, and even thoug Silient Movie was in a way "dying" in 1936, he still made a 90% Silent Movie, with writting words and stuff, and it was great.In fact (didn't know that, I was reading the trivia section here on IMBd and saw this) this is the last American movie with that style, and, the last dialogue title card of the film, and in a certain way, the entire silent era, is from The Tramp, who says "Buck up - never say die! We'll get along.", coincidence? Anyways, the movie is just cinema history being written on screen. I've said that in other silent movies I've reviewed before, I really don't know for sure how am I supposed to grade a movie like this, if I had to say on issue that I had with the movie it would probably be that some comediac scenes seems "too long", as I said, I didn't find the movie that funny, so for those scenes were just trying to get more laughs from me, when they actually hadn't even got the first one. But anyways, it could probably be the "common style" of the time.To wrap up, Modern Times is an amazingly important movie, that has some prety serious and dense subjects, but is done in a subtle way with a cleaver and lightful approach.

This was really good!! I lke yhe structure of the movie, and the acters are sooo good!

I love silent movies but I've never liked Chaplin. I find his little tramp mean and maudlin. This is particularly so in Modern Times. Nor do I find him funny. There wasn't a single smile, much less a laugh in the film. I loved the factory set and the quality of the cinematography. I loved the roller skating. Otherwise, nothing. I just watched the film today, thinking I should see it at least once. But then I kept recognizing vignettes that I must have seen within the last six months. That's the impression it made on me. And frankly, I was appalled by the socialist themes that an uber rich capitalist embraced. The Tramp is supposedly jobless, except that he gets jobs easily. He loses them not to the Depression but to his own poor performance and incompetence. He celebrates theft of food but celebrates it through gluttony. In short he has very few redeeming features here. When you can't identify with the "hero", much of the interest in the film is lost. All that said, it wasn't a bad film, just not a very good one. I give it a 6.

Mr. Chaplin's pièce-de-résistence, MODERN TIMES is his last silent feature, but rendered with an innovative adulteration of sound voices solely from mechanical devices, barring Chaplin's near-end humorous performance of THE NONSENSE SONG, for the very first time, audience hears the maestro's real voice from the screen in a gibberish ditty, one could only imagine the hype and excitement at then. MODERN TIMES introduces Chaplin's iconic screen alter-ego aka. little tramp as an assembly-line worker in the Depression era, the factory's pristine props hark back to Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS (1927), but less futuristic, more realistic in its scale of grasping capitalism under the efficiency- prioritizing doctrine whereas a proletariat like the tramp, has no means to secure an auspicious future and is inescapably subjected to the exploitation by the industrialized society, picked as a guinea pig for a novel lunch-feeding contrivance, constantly under the duress of the ever- accelerating assembly-line, after being engorged by it (a brilliant surreal light-touch), he is driven mad and wreaks havoc on the machine and is sent to hospital, subsequently, being mistaken as a Communist and thrown into the prison, where he accidentally becomes a hero by thwarting a jail- break attempt, but ironically because he is high on cocaine, which he mistakes for salt in his lunch. Yet, whenever he is given a new lease on life, reality will cunningly squash his effort although in some cases, he has only himself to blame for. There is a skewering political spin aiming at the modernized assembly line, the humongous machines, the callous industrialists and the oppressive authority, being buried underneath the surface of bang-up farces, which has been scarcely actualized in Chaplin's works before. The plot mainly consists of a string of superlative skits de rigueur, which is completely in Chaplin's elements, the tramp's free-flowing pantomime, delightful slapstick and ingeniously devised set pieces (although the stomach-churning duet crops up as a head-scratcher) are typically endearing to watch, what is more astonishing is how he can make tough stunts look incredibly effortless, in particular with sleight of hand, an arresting trompe l'oeil is accomplished when he roller-skates blindfold against a matted painting which puts viewers at the edge of their seats for his safety. The story also presents a fiery heroine, the gamin (Goddard), a recently orphaned girl who is anything but a damsel-in-distress, Goddard, although is not endowed with Chaplin's bent of physical comedy, is impeccably elemental in foregrounding the gamin's gallantry and loveliness, takes on a weighty counterpart against the tramp's unostentatious playfulness, together, they help each other out in the difficult times, share bitter-sweet moments. A self-encouraging coda might betray Chaplin's precaution that comedy has its built-in calling to look on the brighter side, by and large, MODERN TIME is a reverberating showcase of Chaplin's competence which further transcends its time and context.