Modern Times (NR, 1936)

MODERN TIMES is about two people struggling with the isolation of the industrial era. Charlie Chaplin (simply called "A worker" in the credits) is an assembly line worker who loses his job after a work accident. Sonn he finds himself leading a communist parade while just trying to return a red flag to a man who dropped it, and is sent to prison. When he comes upon an attempted escape, Chaplin captures the prisoners and releases the guards, and is pardoned because of his heroism. Chaplin soon is determined to go back to jail, and finds his chance when he sees a poor girl (Paulette Goddard) stealing bread, and confesses that it was he who stole it. But a witness identifies Goddard. After a series of missteps and trips through jail, Chaplin and Goddard eventually walk off into the sunset together.

Viewers have to remind themselves how prescient this movie was. To us, it may not be surprising that the boss watches the workers on screen, but this was before the invention of television -- and more than a decade before the publication of Orwell's 1984. Interestingly, it was several years after the invention of the talkies. But Chaplin wanted to make a silent movie, and silent this one is, except for a few words, some sound effects, and a gibberish song.

Children will adore the slapstick in this movie, especially the scenes where Chaplin tries out the feeding machine and when he experiments with roller skates at the department store.