In 1936, a silent comedy film hit American theaters that was written and directed by the legendary Charlie Chaplin. In the film, his legendary Little Tramp character works in a factory and struggles to survive in the new industrialized and modern world that he’s found himself in. The film’s purpose was to serve as a comment on the desperate financial conditions and unemployment that people were facing during the Great Depression. In Chaplin’s view, the conditions were created by the “efficiencies” of modern industrialization. Although a comedy, the film is a harsh indictment of what was going on at the time.
In addition to Chaplin, the movie starred Paulette Goddard, Tiny Sandford, Henry Bergman, and Chester Conklin. As for Chaplin, the film is notable because this was the last time that he played the Little Tramp character. “Modern Times” is a classic and because of this, the film was one of 25 films selected to be preserved by the Library of Congress in its National Film Registry. Like other preserved films, it was seen as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The plot of the film centers around Chaplin’s Tramp as a factory worker who worked on an assembly line. While working, he was subjected to countless indignities.
For example, the Tramp is force-fed by a malfunctioning “feeding machine.” He also had to work inside a piece of machinery where he screwed nuts onto pieces of machinery at an ever-increasing rate. The summer after I got out of high school, I worked in a factory and I can attest to the fact that not much has changed since Chaplin made his film. At one point, the Tramp has a nervous breakdown and goes slightly mad. He even got stuck inside one of the machines and threw the entire factory into chaos, after which he’s sent to a hospital.
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While recovering, the now unemployed Tramp finds himself in all sorts of predicaments, including getting mistakenly arrested for being suspected of practicing communism. While in jail, he accidentally manages to ingest smuggled cocaine that he mistook for salt. It’s just one thing after another. The most epic of all is the familiar and often seen factory scene. Relive this masterpiece below.
