Modern Times; silent tragicomedy, USA, 1936; D: Charlie Chaplin, S: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Chester Conklin
The Tramp works on an assembly line in a huge factory, having to curve screws all day long. He becomes mad and ends up in a mental institution, but after he becomes well again, he now doesn't have a job anymore and accidentally ends up in prison. Since he foiled criminals from escape, the warden releases him from jail. On the streets, he meets a girl who lost a father and doesn't have a home. The couple settles down in an old shack and starts working as entertainers, but get fired, thus end up once again on the street.The exposition is without doubt excellent: from the opening shots, where a herd of sheep is switched to a scene of a herd of tired workers; through the CEO appearing on the screen of the restroom to order the Tramp to get back to work; up to the legendary sequence where the Tramp is quickly working on an assembly line, but when he sneezes he loses his pace and thus suffers a nervous breakdown from all the economic pressure, the story shows the inhumane industry system that lost touch with the little man from the urge for hyper-production. Certain jokes remind of Chaplin's heydays: one of them is when a red flag falls down on the street from a driving truck, so the Tramp picks it up and waves to the driver that he dropped something, but just then a crowd of protestors emerges from behind the corner and starts marching behind him, causing the police to arrest the Tramp as the "communist leader". On the other hand, some gags are bizarre (the one where the Tramp ends up in jail and mixes up cocaine (!) with salt), and a fair share of them just doesn't work or feels forced and misguided (the woman having gastritis after drinking tea or Tramp as an apprentice of the factory mechanic, for instance, should have been cut) which thus give the impression that the story is lacking, underdeveloped at times. Paulette Goddard and Chaplin give great performances, nontheless. Despite not being as funny as Chaplin's previous films and too naive at times, "Modern Times" is a good achievement that amusingly paraphrases "Metropolis" and offers a couple of genius scenes. But its story is lost in all the preaching.
Grade:++
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