Review of Modern Times (1936) by Nate W — 27 May 2012
"Modern Times", the last of Chaplin's silent films (despite indulging in sound effects, momentary dialogue, and an original musical score of Chaplin's own composition), covers as his thinly veiled protest against the advent of talking pictures, which had all but made obsolete the silent cinema by the mid-thirties.
Chaplin only embraces sound and music to the extent of presenting it as an unrelenting cacophony with which the march of technological progress has infected a once simpler world. We only ever hear talking through machines like radios and records - the agents of noise.
As with his preceding masterpiece "City Lights" five years earlier, the theme of good people falling on hard times during the Depression plays prominently. While replete with Chaplin's trademark brand of always charming physical comedy, some gags do grow repetitive at times, but seldom enough that the film remains a fleet and enjoyable farce.
This review of Modern Times (1936) was written by Nate W on 27 May 2012.
Modern Times has generally received very positive reviews.
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