Charles Chaplin, 1936, USA
Written and directed by Charles Chaplin, Modern Times is the last incarnation of the iconic “Little Tramp,” the character fleshed out by Chaplin in countless silent movie as a goodhearted, homeless man wearing baggy pants, a tight coat, a derby hat, and a large pair of shoes, who behaves with the dignity and the manners of a gentleman of a higher social status. Indelibly associated with Chaplin’s pantomimes, the Tramp had become an “international character” which would have never survived a transition to synchronized dialogue, so Chaplin shot, edited, and released Modern Times as a sound film, with synchronized music and sound effects, in which the tramp and the main characters pantomime their actions, for the last time, and where synchronized dialogue is used only for characters who control the industrialized, automatized world of a modern factory via security cameras, screens, and machines that spy on their workers and automatize their activities to increase production. In such a world, the tramp struggles to keep a job or stay out of jail, but he manages to keep his dignity and optimism, convinced that there is a bright future ahead. In order to tell the story. Modern Times remains one of the highest achievements in the art of visual/silent narration. 87 mins.