Modern Times (film)
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| Modern Times | |
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| Directed by | Charlie Chaplin |
| Produced by | Charlie Chaplin |
| Written by | Charlie Chaplin |
| Starring | Charlie Chaplin Paulette Goddard Henry Bergman Stanley Sandford Chester Conklin |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | February 5, 1936 (USA) |
| Running time | 87 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,500,000 US (est.) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Modern Times is a 1936 film by Charlie Chaplin that has his famous Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization. The movie stars Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Stanley Sandford and Chester Conklin. It was written and directed by Chaplin.
Modern Times was one of the last silent films made, although it does include sound effects, music, singers, and voices coming from radios and loudspeakers. Towards the end of the film the Little Tramp's voice is heard for the first time as he ad-libs pseudo-French and Italian gibberish to the tune of Léo Daniderff's popular song, Je cherche après Titine.
Most of the film was shot at "silent speed", 18 frames per second, which when projected at "sound speed", 24 frames per second, makes the slapstick action appear even more frenetic.
This scene is symbolic of Chaplin being the film going through the projector. Another has the Tramp picking up a presumably red warning flag that has fallen off the back of a truck carrying an over-length load, and waving it to attract the driver's attention. He fails to notice that a parade of labor protesters, ostensibly communists attracted to the red flag, have come up behind him. When the police break up the protest they arrest the flag-waving Tramp assuming him to be the protest leader.
The music score was composed by Chaplin himself. The romance theme was later given words and became better known as the song "Smile" ("Smile though your heart is breaking...") and covered by such artists as Judy Garland, Liberace, Nat King Cole, and Michael Jackson.
The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Its depiction of Chaplin working frantically to keep up with an assembly line has inspired later comedy routines including Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face and an episode of I Love Lucy titled "Lucy in the Candy Factory."
It is rumored that it is the inspiration for the title of Bob Dylan's 2006 album.
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[edit] Cast
- Charlie Chaplin - A factory worker
- Paulette Goddard - A gamine
- Henry Bergman - Cafe proprietor
- Chester Conklin - Mechanic
- Stanley Sandford - Big Bill
- Hank Mann - Burglar
- Stanley Blystone - Gamine's father
- Allan Garcia - President of the Electro Steel Corp.
[edit] Crew
- Director: Charlie Chaplin
- Producer: Charlie Chaplin
- Screenwriter: Charlie Chaplin
- Director of Photography: Rollie Totheroh, Ira Morgan
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The Films of Charlie Chaplin | |
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The Mack Sennett Comedies: Kid Auto Races at Venice |
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The Chaplin-Mutual Comedies: The Floorwalker, The Fireman, The Vagabond, One A.M., The Count, The Pawnshop, Behind the Screen, The Rink, Easy Street, The Cure, The Immigrant, The Adventurer |
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Feature-length films: Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Kid, A Woman of Paris, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, A King in New York, A Countess from Hong Kong |
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Other films: The New Janitor, Chaplin |
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Stock company: Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman |
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