Modern Times, directed by Charlie Chaplin (1936)

When was the last time you watched a Charlie Chaplin movie? Have you ever seen City Lights, Gold Rush or any of the other seventy-one films he directed and starred in between 1914 and 1957? If you decide to take the plunge and reinvestigate what made Charlie Chaplin one of America’s most recognized icons, we recommend his classic comedic masterpiece, Modern Times, from 1936.
As Hobo magazine’s first film review it’s only fitting that the Little Tramp’s final quest for freedom and individualism would be our feature attraction. Modern Times is Chaplin’s final silent film albeit with the pointed intrusion of sound as a commentary on the inevitable changes in the film industry and Chaplin’s romantic belief that silence is the language of love, and cinema. The Little Tramp no more had a place in the world of ‘talking pictures’ than he did in the mechanized assembly line of Fordist America in the 30’s.
Starting with the opening montage comparing industrial workers to sheep through to the final sequence as the Little Tramp and the Gamin make their final exit – walking the open road into the sunset – Modern Times showcases the magic of Chaplin as both comedian and social commentator. His body language as poetic expression of freedom from class structure – his manic behaviour a direct result of his fierce independence.
Set during the depression, the Little Tramp begins his journey as an assembly line worker who is literally fed into the machine he’s serving. Institutionalized after exposure to the Deluxe Feeding Machine, he is jailed three times, works brief stints in shipyards and department stores before becoming a singing waiter and finally turning his back on a society that values rules and authority over humanity, love and individuality.
Watching Modern Times today is to see a comic masterpiece by one of cinema’s quintessential hobo’s and to recognize a world that continues to surrender ideals of justice and beauty for the speed and power of machinery and corporate imperialism. Whether we recognize its influence in the chocolate factory sequence from I Love Lucy or the manic and dystopian vision of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Modern Times is not only the first and only time we hear the Little Tramp speak (expounding gibberish as the Singing Waiter) but an amusing reminder of the rebel, tramp, clown, hero and hobo in all of us. In the immortal words of the Little Tramp himself: La juanta sur la seta, Je le tu le tu le waah!...