Modern Times (1936) Reviews

By now, I have seen all the movies directed by Charles Chaplin and, even though I really love 'The Great Dictator', this movie remains hands down my favorite Chaplin feature. Indeed, even as a kid, I saw the damned thing many times and, already at the time, I thought it was completely marvelous. In my opinion, with this movie, Chaplin managed to find the perfect balance between the funny bits with his usual awesome slapstick, the poetry and also the social relevancy. Back then, sound had already been invented for a while but Chaplin was still perfecting his own brand of movie, using sound only sporadically but the end-result was just tremendous, resulting in a movie completely entertaining and spellbinding to watch. In fact, it has been a while since I have watched it and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Like I said before, I was very young when I watched it the first time, I really loved it and I think it is a great way to introduce movies to children, instead of the usual animated features. Personally, I was introduced to this movie by my mother and, even though it seemed the most simple thing in the world at the time, it had a massive impact on me and my everlasting relationship with cinema.

工場の作業をこれ程ユニークに表現した映画ってないと思います。まるで人間が機械の一部になってしまったか、機械に同化してしまったか、そんな感じがします。

When I was going to watch this film on DVD for the first time, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to make of it but when I did see I thought it was a lovely, romantic and hilarious silent masterpiece! Modern Times takes you through a series of hilarious disasters regarding the factory worker's journey getting back involved in life after he ended up in prison. It is a very beautiful story on friendship and it makes it better that it's silent because I personally think it would have been crap if it was speaking. For example, it was a bit of a risk of Chaplin doing a speaking film which was called The Great Dictator but that turned out a great success. There is one scene where Chaplin does speak in the film and that's where the factory worker is asked to sing in a hall where he is working. I don't really laugh at old black-and-white films out loud but I think only Modern Times, City Lights, The Gold Rush and Some Like It Hot are the ones that have made me laugh out loud.


Charlie Chaplin brings back the Tramp character again in this film but once again the character doesn't have a proper name. He has a name in the outside world but not in the films the same character stars in. For example in City Lights he is called just 'a tramp', in The Gold Rush as 'The lone prospector' and Modern Times as 'the factory worker'. Chaplin was a director with an extremely rare talent for acting, dancing and also charm (in his personal life) because of what his abilities are. Chaplin has created my favourite character of my favourite character (if you get what I mean) because his character is the same in every silent film but has a different name.


Chaplin directs this film really well which isn't a big surprise to me because it is in the very early days of cinema and we cannot expect top notch filmmaking like we sometimes do see now. To be honest the old films are better but there are a lot of masterful new ones as well. There obviously isn't a script to it because it's a silent film but Chaplin just follows with the flow so to speak on what he wants himself to do and the rest of the cast within the motion picture.


Modern Times is one of my favourite comedy films of all time. It is and probably always will be my favourite Charlie Chaplin film of all time because it is just too beautiful and too hilarious to replace with another Chaplin. Modern Times is one of my ultimate films of all time as well as one of the best films of the 1930s. It is a film that named Charlie Chaplin one of my all time favourite actors too which probably won't make me name another Chaplin film better than Modern Times.

Modern Times is classic Charlie Chaplin slapstick comedy, and a timeless experience. The film marks one of Chaplin's most potent movies that still has bucket loads of relevance to typical contemporary audiences.

In one of his final silent movies (more or less), Chaplin plays a worker at a local factory who struggles to live in an industrial society. In a nutshell, the film essentially examines the dehumanisation process of modern industries. In a time when people's lives hinge on getting a steady job and an income, Chaplin's character is still endlessly searching for work with the help of a young homeless woman who is on the run.

The whole movie is a collection of hilarious gags strung together with not much of a plot, which is the film's biggest downfall, but its entertainment value is what matters most during a silent movie. Like most of Chaplin's silent movies, the film is frequently hilarious.

As the title character, Chaplin is able to insert a plethora of side-splitting sight gags that never lose steam. I will admit that the opening gags were better quality than the succeeding gags, but I was still laughing from start to finish.

And Chaplin doesn't utter a word until the very end with his very amusing (and immensely random) dance number while he sings pure gibberish. For the most part, the film is silent. But there are minor instances when dialogue is used, but it is only used for voices coming from mechanical devices. This is another symbol of the film's theme of modern technology and its importance to the typical society at the time.

Modern Times is a highly hilarious slapstick comedy, but this is only what it seems on the surface. Below the surface; a sleuth of groundbreaking, amazing themes and motifs that seem to become more relevant as humanity becomes ever more reliable on technology. And the film also parallels the American dream in the way that Chaplin and his love interest (played by Paulette Goddard) fantasise about living in a beautiful home with the husband raking in cash while the wife stays at home all day to cook and clean.

I found the 1930s slapstick gags somewhat predictable at times, but I was always laughing incredibly hard. However, not all audiences will find Chaplin's antics as funny as some others do. In my opinion the comedy is classic and exquisite, and some of the slapstick stunts in the movie are highly intriguing (who could forget that classic image of Chaplin roller-blading blindfolded in a department store) not to mention just plainly uproarious.

The music used throughout the movie is extraordinary (essential to any silent movie is pertinent music to accompany the almost complete silence on screen). For a scene that includes some of Chaplin's hilarious dancing or otherwise, I found the music to suit the mood extremely well.

While viewing the movie I was completely amazed about the outstanding restoration job. I could not imagine the film being as entertaining if the transfer wasn't on par. Of course it's no-where near the quality of a film made recently, but for a film over 70 years old it's mind-blowing.

Modern Times is a comedy that has been regarded as one of the funniest movies of all time. Although not entirely accurate, the film has symbolic meaning under the surface as the filmmakers point out the ills of society. Running at a brisk 83 minutes, the film delivers its message quickly and doesn't overstay its welcome. For the reason of such contemporary significance, the film is groundbreaking and is a fabulous tale to watch even after the time of silent pictures has long passed.