Tuesday, May 17, 2011

#78 Modern Times (1936)

The past few weeks I haven't had many weekdays off work, so it's been a while since I watched a movie on my list. Not excited about either of the movies I have at home right now (The Wild Bunch and this one), I picked the shorter one of the two. This was only 1 hour and 27 minutes long.

I definitely knew of Charlie Chaplin, but when I read a blurb about this movie, I had no clue who they were referring to as a Tramp. Chaplin's famous character, with the bowler hat, cane, clown shoes, and goofy walk/waddle, was the Little Tramp. Charlie knew this character wouldn't survive in the non-silent films that were taking over, so Modern Times was done stubbornly as a "silent" film. "Silent" is in quotes because there are some spoken lines, and the Tramp even sings toward the end.

Surprisingly (to me), there are pretty funny moments. I laughed out loud when he followed this girl with the buttons on her coat. It's insanely impressive to me that a 75-year-old movie can make me laugh, but this film also had more serious messages. The idea that progress and industrialization isn't always necessary or better and the the truth of how difficult it is for less fortunate Americans to keep up are just a bit of what Chaplin was trying to say. I like his style of stringing together entertaining skits, but having underlying deeper messages that I didn't even realize until after the movie was over.

One of the main songs in the movie is the original, instrumental version of "Smile Though Your Heart Is Aching." The lyrics weren't added until decades later, but the words are well suited for the last scene of the movie, when the main characters get themselves up off the ground and try again.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard (Chaplin's wife at the time)

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