Modern Times: Charlie Chaplin’s silent stand against sound

Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character has arguably never been more hilariously pathetic than he is in the 1936 masterpiece, Modern Times. Here the shabby everyman finds himself getting literally ground up in the gears of the industrial age: He suffers a nervous breakdown, gets mixed up in labor riots, gets sent to jail, and even inadvertently does coke. When he can’t find work once he’s released, the poor schlub becomes so desperate that he tries to get himself locked up again—but he can’t get arrested!

(Maybe you’re thinking we should have dropped a spoiler warning in there, but trust us when we say that we’ve only given you a little taste of this very busy film. We haven’t even begun to tell you about the tramp’s stint as a singing waiter, or how he gets force-fed by a scary robot.)

The film virtually marked the end of the silent era; Chaplin was the last major holdout against sound, convinced as he was that the tramp character would lose his universal appeal if he spoke. There are some sound effects, music and little snatches of dialogue, but Chaplin’s silence speaks volumes. While the politics have dated somewhat, there is something worryingly current in this tale of a coked-up, perennially unemployed, recidivist felon with a heart of purest gold.

Modern Times is a very local product, largely shot on Terminal Island and written by Chaplin on his boat docked off Wilmington. The film will screen this week at Long Beach’s Museum of Latin American Art, along with the short, Por Primera Vez. This 1967 documentary follows the people of a Cuban village as they watch Modern Times, the very first film they have ever seen. Of course it comes as a revelation to them—but we’re betting it’s no less amazing to you.

MODERN TIMES DIR. CHARLIE CHAPLIN | UNRATED | AT THE MUSEUM OF LATIN AMERICAN ART | SCULPTURE GARDEN | 628 ALAMITOS AVE | LONG BEACH 90802 |562.437.1689 | MOLAA.ORG | FRI 8PM | $10-15

Tags: charlie chaplin, Long Beach, molaa