I admit I was pretty trepidatious about watching Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times." In my AFI 100 journey, I had yet to watch a old silent film. The natural worries about 2013 attention spans and differences in humor were definitely creeping up. I was concerned that the movie might appear boring and very alien to my tastes.
All those fears were allayed when I started the movie. In my first viewing of Chaplin and his classic Little Tramp character, I was immediately entertained and charmed. It turns out that Chaplin is a comedic genius whose work absolutely stands the test of time. I found his brand of frenetic physical comedy hilarious. The action and the jokes were enough to make up for the lack of dialogue.
This 1936 release is an interesting movie. It's the last appearance of Chaplin's famous Little Tramp character and the last of his silent films. By the time this film was made, "Talking" movies had been the norm for almost a decade starting with "The Jazz Singer." So Chaplin was going against the grain by releasing a "mostly" silent film. Although this movie contains songs, sound effects, and some sparse spoken dialogue, Chaplin was adamant that the Little Tramp did not speak. He didn't want to destroy the mystique of the character by having him suddenly talk. He only cheats a little when the Tramp sings a funny song of foreign worded gibberish toward the conclusion of the film.
The movie is also notable for its content. Inspired by the setting of economic depression and struggle, Chaplin made a movie about the common man's plight during this time. He showed how hard it was to find work, a decent home, and something to eat. He showed a restless people who couldn't comprehend why they didn't have much while successful business people seemed unaffected. In this regard, the film takes a very populist theme which borders on support of socialist/communist themes. Later Chaplin himself would be targeted as a communist supporter just as his Little Tramp was mistaken as a communist labor leader in the film.
The other theme in the movie refers back to the title. The tramp opens the movie working in a steel factory. He works furiously on an assembly line which no doubt inspired the famous "I Love Lucy" chocolate factory episode. He rides along and plays with artifacts of that accelerating industry age such as massive gears, switches, and levers. A laughable moment occurs when the president of the company demonstrates an automated lunch feeder on the Tramp for efficiency sake. Times are definitely changing, especially the advent of technology. In a way, the film parallels the Tramp's decline with the arrival of "Talking" film technology. There is a sad nostalgia for those glory days and an understanding that the old must ultimately give way to the new.
Ultimately, the charm, humor, and feeling carry this movie. It's these core components that make it surprisingly fresh and timeless. Chaplin would have been proud of his movie today because it showed those things he held very dear still matter, even in the face of the endless march of "modern" advances.
Rating: **** - Good
Highly recommended viewing.
Note: This movie is better than 2011's "The Artist", a throwback to the silent era. "The Artist" was a good movie, but it can't capture the spirit of the originals.
