Saturday, July 12, 2014

Movie review - "Modern Times" (1936) ***1/2

By 1936 sound in movies was completely entrenched but Charlie Chaplin still fought against it by making this mostly silent film (he does sing and there are some sound effects). The plot is mostly a series of comic set pieces, centering around the adventures of the Tramp in the modern world: working on the factory, arrested out of belief he is a communist, accidentally ingesting cocaine (this was a shock to see!), escaping from jail, working in a department store, etc etc.

Chaplin's physical prowess is a delight to watch but for mine he was outshone by Paulette Goddard, who is gorgeous and a lot of fun as the Gamin; other parts aren't that large. It's sweet, occasionally funny and felt long.

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