Modern Times
With Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Chester Conklin.
US, 1936, 35mm, black & white, 87 min.
Chaplin’s last silent film, produced in the middle of the sound period, (with his own music including "Smile"),takes on the inequities of the Great Depression and the modern experience. The final shot is among Chaplin’s most famous and poignant. Ultimately encompassing the tyranny of machine over man, this cinematic masterpiece has as much relevance today as when it was made. The film ends as Chaplin’s Charlie the Tramp, unable to find a place in the industrial metropolis, walks away from society towards an uncertain future. Modern Times is the last in the series of films that featured Chaplin’s endearing everyman Charlie, who became internationally renowned with the director’s earlier successes, The Circus, The Gold Rush and City Lights. Modern Times is The Tramp’s final departure from the Chaplin world.