Modern Times released

By Nick Dawson

On February 4, 1936, with the release of Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin finally entered the world of the talkies. Well, sort of. Chaplin’s commentary on the effect of technology and industrialization on people’s lives was originally written as a movie with full dialogue, however early on in the filming process Chaplin decided to only use partial sound in the picture. The way that he utilized sound was in line with the theme of the film, as the spoken word is only heard through technological devices (radios, televisions, loudspeakers, etc.). And in the scene in which Chaplin’s alter ego, the Little Tramp, sings, it’s in the universal language of gibberish, with the message of the song conveyed only through Chaplin’s hand gestures. Made during and about the Great Depression, Modern Times sees the tramp, a factory worker, trying to survive in an adverse economic environment and finding hope in the love of an impoverished orphan girl (Paulette Goddard, Chaplin’s lover at the time). Though the film’s foreword declared it “a story of industry, of individual enterprise—humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness," Chaplin ultimately chose entertainment over political discourse, ditching a dark ending in which the tramp goes mad for one in which he and Goddard walk off into the sunset together. In the New York Times’ review of the film, however, it stated that allegedly “no less an authority than Shumiatsky, head of the Soviet film industry, had counseled [Chaplin] …and that Chaplin, accepting that advice, had made significant changes.” This Communist connection in Modern Times would later be used against Chaplin by McCarthyites who accused him of “un-American” activities and in 1952 revoked his re-entry permit, forcing him into exile in Switzerland.