Modern Times
Charlie Chaplin is no doubt the first great artist of the filmmaking medium (with only D.W. Griffith hovering near that level and time period) but sadly a number of his nonconformist tendencies that he incorporated into his beloved character of The Little Tramp led many to believe that he was a dyed in the wool Communist when actually he was not (although he did hold a rather ill conceived respect for the ethos as a whole). What he was truly (by all accounts) was what is known as being a benign anarchist, that being one who advocated for less (or no) rules within society but who still held at his basic core a devout respect for human life, a humane outlook that at least upheld the traits of no killing and no rape while always questioning why people in this world were denied basic things like food or shelter based solely on something like financial status by those who controlled the wealth and had more than enough to throw it around when it came to taking care of those who are less fortunate. Anarchy in and of itself when it came to film comedy was really the field which Chaplin was most acute in and it shows in just about all of his work (as well as the generations that came after him) and having all hell break loose hilariously onscreen in his silent films was always his true specialty. As the silent era ended for the rest of the Hollywood film industry turning to talking films, Chaplin adamantly refused to give up the baton for what was more of a refined style than anything else, continuing into the 1930s with what many say was his greatest works in the field, the 1931 masterpiece City Lights and then this release from 1936, released at the height of The Great Depression (from which its themes were inspired) but yet still remaining relevant today for many reasons, not the least of which is the heartless automaton mentality that many seem to view the so called common workers with even now, nickel and diming both hard working men and women and even families with children even in this day and age on the mindset that continuing to do so with even the most petty things on a daily basis will add up to more saved revenue and invested money in the pockets of the ever wealthy. Itâs not a perfect movie by any means (although maybe the best silent film ever) simply because the basic style can throw one off even by the conventions of actual silent films. Besides using his own self composed music, Chaplin chose to incorporate a wide array of sound effects which more often than not corresponded to events happening onscreen. Even more shocking was his first ever use of actual heard and spoken dialogue at what he must have considered the most opportune moments, usually to reflect the themes of mass industry replacing the human element in society. The film also notably suffers from having a first 20 to 30 minutes that are so good (and frighteningly profound at times) that the rest of the movie (with its slightly more episodic nature) can only hope to occasionally live up to it. Chaplinâs Tramp (whose character is billed as âa factory workerâ) is an assembly line worker in a large automated factory who over the course of one day at work just seems to lose his mind completely despite an indifferent boss who appears on video screens (even in the bathroom) in order to dole out orders (in the actorâs actual speaking voice) and sees little issue with dangerously increasing the workrate of the machines and his workers in order to increase productivity. To this end, it is Chaplin who is selected to demonstrate the benefits of an âeating machineâ which in order to decrease lost revenues by decreasing workersâ breaktimes essentially has the worker strapped down and forcefed their lunch in a matter of minutes, but with The Tramp locked down in it, the machine of course goes completely haywire and turns the act of eating lunch into systematic abuse. Eventually The Tramp goes completely nuts and starts taking his job (tightening nuts and bolts) a little too seriously, leading to him being committed to a lunatic asylum with a pink slip waiting for him when he gets out. At this point the movie becomes more about The Tramp trying to start a new life for himself in this cold, strange world, most notably through his friendship / romance with a beautiful homeless girl (Paulette Goddard, Chaplinâs wife at that time who despite clearly being too young for him onscreen was still an extremely underrated major beauty of the era who had a long and prolific acting career after she and Chaplin divorced even though it is barely remembered and she still to this day remains best known for her work with Chaplin) whose father has died and whose younger sisters have been taken into foster care with their attempts to get something going almost always meeting with failure whether it be The Tramp working as a night watchman in a department store, trying to live in a ramshackle house on the edge of an industrial area or working as a singing waiter in a restaurant that specializes in that sort of thing. Goddard (despite wearing a ridiculous looking and obviously tailored âraggedy dressâ that looks like something out of a Les Miserables production) still brings the female charisma and poise to the film that Chaplin never could (and he knew it) with the one truly interesting idea in the filmâs second half being that whenever The Tramp (simple fellow that he is) finds himself locked up in jail (which is often), he is ironically happier in there than he is on the outside due to having no responsibilities whatsoever and having all of his basic needs well taken care of. Thereâs also a daring bit where The Tramp is shown accidentally snorting cocaine and thus turns into a super fighting machine who helps to apprehend a couple of criminals even though he still doesnât really know where he is, a scene which makes one wonder just how the film managed to get through the ultra censorship tactics at the time of the movie approval board known as The Hays Office (perhaps maybe because the substance was referred to as ânosecandyâ in the title cards instead of by its proper name) who were known to force edits into any old movies with direct references to illegal narcotics (among many other things). And of course, there is the aforementioned bit with The Tramp going to work as a waiter and being asked if he can sing as well (and Chaplinâs perfectly frightened reaction to that prospect) all leading up to the historic first scene where Chaplinâs voice is heard onscreen for the first time. Chaplin had always been known to be reluctant to have The Tramp be heard on film ever and so when he gets up there to sing, what we hear from him isâŚcomplete gibberish and nonsense, a possibly adlibbed bit where he just tries to keep his vocals in time to the music and not worry about whether anything he is actually saying even makes a bit of sense (it doesnât), a far cry from the stirring speech made in his own voice at the conclusion of his next film, The Great Dictator. Even as the story ends with The Tramp and Paulette trudging on to their next chapter in life, it is made abundantly clear in how Chaplin was steadfastly an idealist above all things, someone who believed in the potential greatness of the human race which even in that world of time and space which he lived in he saw vast room for improvement in almost every area. Instead there remains a selfishness from the top rung of the food chain all the way down to the bottom that has resulted in greed leaving no qualms about destroying families and poorer people emulating that by always stabbing each other in the back over the faint hope that it will move them higher up in this world which more often than not never happens. The promise of mankind that Chaplin had hoped to one day see has instead continued to be divided by religion, politics, money, and worse of all, self destructive substance abuse which would appear to have been purposely introduced into the mix in order to make things easier for one side over the other. Silent Cinema has never had a better or greater poet, nor will it ever again have one who truly thinks better of us allâŚ
8/10