Episode 15—Modern Times: I Dream of Comedy in Long Shot
Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp is caught in the cogs of the machinery in the factory where he works in the 1936 classic, Modern Times (above).
“Modern Times showcases Chaplin’s talent across so many areas: as a director, as a performer, as a musician, as a modern day philosopher. He was firing on all cylinders when he made this movie. ”
Original 1936 movie poster for Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.
In the final installment of our series on labor and the workforce, we examine Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 film Modern Times, the Tramp’s final film appearance and only time where audiences heard the iconic silent character’s voice.
In this episode, we contemplate Chaplin as both a talented artist, modern philosopher, and flawed individual. We compare Modern Times to contemporary films, analyze its humanist vision of the search for meaning in a machine world, and reveal the extent of Frankee’s love for Charlie Chaplin movies.
“Buck up - never say die. We’ll get along!” 🔩🙂🔧
“I can imagine in the audience at the time, since people knew he was going to be talking to some degree in this movie, that every time there’s a human voice they were thinking: “Is it him? Is it the Little Tramp? Is he speaking?” Chaplin’s such a troll! He really rick-rolls the audience. ”
The film features an array of interesting characters, from the upper-class woman with digestive issues (above) to Paulette Goddard’s charming Gamine (right).
ABOVE: The Tramp sings.
RIGHT: The Tramp and the Gamine outside the shack.
ABOVE: The famous last image of Modern Times — and the Tramp’s last film appearance.
FILM SYNOPSIS
In the Tramp’s final film appearance, director and star Charlie Chaplin examines industrialization and poverty at the height of the Great Depression. The film follows the Tramp after he loses his factory job. He meets a poor young woman, the Gamine (played by Paulette Goddard), who is an orphan being pursued by the police after stealing bread. Together the Tramp and the Gamine search for fulfillment and a better life.
Modern Times (1936) was directed, written, and produced by Charlie Chaplin. The film stars Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard.
References
Metropolis (1927)
The Great Dictator (1940)
City Lights (1931)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
The Kid (1921)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929 novel)
Chaplin (1992)
Fleabag (2016-2019)
Blackadder (1982-1983)
The Artist (2011)
Recommendations
Jessee: Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and Oscar Micheaux
Frankee: The Grapes of Wrath (1939 novel) and My Autobiography by Charlie Chaplin (1964)
Annee: Sorry to Bother You (2018)
