Tempos Modernos

We like to think that comedy has evolved since the time of silent film. We like to think that with the advent of sound and the injection of modern technology in all aspects of film production has made just about everything better. Indeed, it's hard to argue that so much of today's fun and farce just can't exist without a sound mixer and a few boom mics laying around. Ask yourself, if you put The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) or The Hangover (2009) on mute, would you really get anything out of it?

By 1936, sound had long taken the film industry by storm. In fact, if you listen closely to the moment Al Jolson uttered "You ain't heard nothing' yet," in The Jazz Singer (1927), you may have heard the careers of many shattering in earnest. Never has there been a piece of technology so seamlessly adapted to an industry before or since. To name the number of noteworthy films made after 1929 that were silent would be to name perhaps a dozen.

Yet with this adoption came growing pains. The cumbersome size of the Photokinema sound-on-disc machines and their components meant cameras had to stay bolted down. Actors had to not wonder too far from the mic or worse still, find a way to wear several pounds of bulky microphones under their garments. What once were dreams, stitched together by editing cuts became pale imitations of stage plays. The grammar of film essentially took two steps back.

Seeing this, silent era superstar Charlie Chaplin decided to stem the tide. In 1931, he directed, produced and starred in City Lights, a romantic masterpiece of stagecraft and pantomime that to this day is one of the best examples of the beauty we lost. Seeing the writing on the wall by 1936, Chaplin decided to give the Tramp one last hurrah before retiring the character. One last bow before the tendrils of technology transforms his career into a shadow of its former self.

Modern Times is at once one last bow, one last look at innocence lost and one glorious masterpiece of cinema. In it, Charlie's lovable Tramp struggles to adapt to a modern technological age while causing light-hearted mayhem everywhere he goes. Throughout the film he tries to conform to working as a security guard, a longshoreman, a factory worker, a mechanic etc. yet his peculiarity prevents him from being at a work site for too long. During his struggles he befriends an woman named Ellen (Goddard) who aids him in his quest for fulfilling work. They of course, fall in love in the chaste innocent way that couples did in the films of the time.

Modern Times is infamous, for among other things, a soundtrack that includes the earworm "Smile" composed by Chaplin himself. The most famous cover was crooned by Nat King Cole whose astringent voice had the poorly covered scars of a life harshly lived. "Smile" to Modern Times is perfect; both as a bittersweet anthem and as addition to the American songbook. It perfectly captures the Tramp's uneasy monachopsis while hanging onto a buoyant hope of finding purpose. It's at times sad, at times triumphant but always life-affirming.

Modern Times is also known for large, unique and detail filled comic set-pieces that despite being around for eighty years still coaxes laughter. One after another, these moments capture the absurdities of industrial life no other film does. Whether it be Chaplin toiling over a conveyor belt of widgets or literally being engulfed by a mechanical do-dad, He always has the perfect expression to reaffirm his humanity in the most inhuman of situations. It's pitch-perfect pantomime done by a true master of the craft.

Of course, being the film advertised as "the one where The Tramp speaks," Modern Times does succumb to the encroachment of sound. And unlike in City Lights, Chaplin decides to inject it as part of a large theme as opposed to a target of mockery. The film is book- ended by two moments of sound, the first of which is his factory boss yelling at him through a large projected screen. "Get back to work!" he yells while the Tramp struggles to find a moment of respite. The inclusion of sound as an oppressor, even a personified one is an effective means of identification. Those who have heard the phrase "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean," will no doubt sympathize with Chaplin's character in that particular moment in time.

The second time sound is used, is to affirm Chaplin's Tramp as a unique individual amid a crowd of onlookers. Late in the film, Ellen finds a job for the Tramp at a restaurant as a singing waiter. Right before his debut, he struggles to remember the words of the song he's to sing. He decides to put the lyrics on his detachable cuffs. Invariably, he looses the cuffs and, thinking quickly, begins to sing in gibberish. It's a prank pulled on audiences clamoring for the Tramp to finally speak on screen, yet it's one that's so incongruously Chaplin that one can't help but admire it.

With Chaplin having a hand in every aspect of the film's production, one can write an entire book fawning over the exploits of a genius so ahead of his time, we still feel his influence. Modern Times showcases that genius, filling the celluloid with beauty, pathos, humor and humanity. Years after most of today's contemporary comedies fade into obscurity, those centuries from now will still fondly remember Charlie and his lovable Tramp. I guarantee it.

This very well written story never lets down from the very first image we see, flocking sheep compared with rushing urban human crowds, to the very ending. Excellent criticism of the Taylorism/capitalistic through humor relevant for any age, nationality or time; story-telling that would touch anyone alike in a universal fashion, every now and then sparkled with Chaplin's unique and deeply influential sense of humor and on-screen comedy. Hilarious in moments, and unique. A man of many talents clearly, and excellent at those. Overall this depicts quite a zany approach to life, one that is pure in essence and profoundly antagonistic with the current ways of the time, and ways of today still: a life dominated by one-track thinking, rigid and stubborn social etiquette, and the enslavement this new world has brought in so many aspects to the human species. Finally, it highlights the importance of never giving up; EVER; and the preciousness of love.

One of this movie's most famous images--Chaplin sliding around inside the gears and cogs of a monstrous machine--provides a handy visual to go along with my opinion of the film in general: there are individual cogs that I remember as being brilliant, but when put together they don't make a totally satisfying machine.

Unlike "City Lights" or "The Gold Rush" before, or "The Great Dictator" after, I didn't get caught up in the narrative of "Modern Times," and I felt there were longer gaps between the funny bits. However, some of the set pieces in this are hilarious, most notably the scene where Chaplin finds himself strapped into an automatic feeding machine that goes berserk; and a nimble scene on roller skates that showcases his athleticism.

Sadly, "Modern Times" was an all too applicable metaphor for Chaplin's place in the film industry. New technologies were beginning to make his artistry obsolete, and the sadness of that is palpable in the film's final shot.

I'm recommending "Modern Times" because it's a very good movie. I just didn't think it was as good as some of Chaplin's other well-known projects.

Grade: B+

... as I find it to be the combination of the most relatable and the funniest of his films.

Normally I start these reviews with a short synopsis of the plot with a few personal observations, but it's hard to do that in this case without it turning into a bunch of "And then's". I've read that Chaplin had the general idea of what kind of film he wanted to make in this case, and came up with the specific skits and gags he wanted, and then built a specific plot around it. It was unusual for Chaplin to put any of the women in his life into his films, at least while they WERE the women in his life, and it was also unusual for them to get away without having at least one child by him. Paulette Goddard managed to do both. So Goddard is "a gamin" - a street urchin, also known as Ellen. Chaplin is just "the tramp" character that he normally is.

At first, the tramp is all alone facing these "modern times" of the 1930s - a dehumanizing factory job that causes a breakdown, then he's falsely labeled as a Communist leader and instigator and jailed, and when released he finds himself looking for work among the many millions of unemployed during the Great Depression. His fate joins with Ellen when she is caught stealing a loaf of bread and he takes the blame for it to spare her from jail. When they both escape - they are both arrested for the thievery - they join forces and try to find happiness around the edges of society, finding jobs when they can.

This is Chaplin's last silent film, but it really is more of a mute sound film than a true silent. The factory boss speaks - "Get back to work!" and Chaplin himself sings the gibberish song towards the end of the film - the first time his voice had ever been heard on film. You can also hear the crowd noise in the cafe when Chaplin sings.

This film has lots of blatant anti-capitalist themes, based on Chaplin's long held beliefs and observations from a childhood rife with poverty, as well as the contrast of the America he found when he returned after being abroad for a good long time versus the one he left, before the Great Depression had taken hold. Had he not been playing his Little Tramp character while making all of these statements with his art, the film might not have been passed by the censors.

This mostly silent movie deals with a little man , a disgraced factory worker who goes insane from his repetitious job at an assembly líne . At the same time the exigent boss demands him for greatest efficiency and speed at work . As the unfortunate man moving from hapless factory worker to singing waiter and ultimately triumphing along the way .

An interesting and thought-provoking Chaplin film encompassing the tyranny of Machine over man, this great film has more relevance nowadays than ever. The pic contains a sour denounce on capitalism , industrialization and human explotiation . This is a vintage flick much in the fashion that sound films offended his pantomimist's sensibilities . This is a silent movie , being the only dialogue a song sung by Chaplin in gibberish Italian .Chaplin gives an awesome and sympathetic performance as a labourer who goes crazy and triumphs over adversity , just as Charles the film director proved victorious over sound . Chaplin also composed the score which incorporates the charming tune : Smile. His spouse to be Paulette Goddard is attractive in the femenine lead , playing a poor orphan. Look for a young Gloria de Haven , as one of Paulette Goddard's Sisters . She is the real-life daughter of Chaplin's assistant director .

The motion picture was masterfully directed by Charles Chaplin .This was one of the longest ones to that date . Chaplin previously directed 2 or 3 reel short movies, such as : Our hero, The fireman, Night at the show , The adventurer, The floorwalker, The cure , The inmigrant , The circus , Burlesque on Carmen , among others . After that , he made long feature films such as : The gold Rush , The kid , City lights , The great dictator , Monseur Verdoux , Limelight, A king of New York and his last one : A countess from Hong Kong . Rating 8/10 . Better than average . Well worth watching .