Review of Modern Times (1936) by Ross M — 12 Dec 2009

Classic silent comedy (well, there are some genius uses of sound, which was always available to Chaplin but decided to put off using, for the good reason of keeping his comedy funny) that is one of the funniest and best made of all time.

In the final Little Tramp film, Chaplin shines in all his areas of work. Writing, acting, directing and scoring. One of the best and most suited scores of all time is used to acompany the slapstick humour whilst lttile sections of digetic sounds are employed to exploit some very funny ideas.

Chaplin plays the tramp as an adorable character with traces of a child-like persona and a grown up one too, especially in his scenes with Paulette Goddard. This mix allows for entertaining viewing and comedy at its most effective to come into play. Paulette Godard is a good supporting character to the Tramp, helping to make some of the scenes even better, as I have just mentioned. She has some very great lines too in Chaplin's wonderful, deep screenplay, which is full of more than just slapstick humour. It is an analogy on industrialism and authoritve roles in society.

Modern Times is without a single doubt one of the best comedies ever devised and transferred to the screen. It fills you with a happiness that won't die down for a good couple of hours after watching it.