Modern Times

Film Info

United States
1936
87 minutes
Black and White
1.33:1
English
Spine #543

Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times—though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!)—is a timeless showcase of Chaplin’s untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy.

Cast

A factory worker	Charlie Chaplin
A gamine	Paulette Goddard
Café proprietor	Henry Bergman
Big Bill and worker	Stanley J. Sandford
Mechanic	Chester Conklin
Burglars	Hank Mann
	Louis Natheaux
The gamine’s father	Stanley Blystone
President, Electro Steel Corp.	Allan Garcia
Cell mate	Dick Alexander
Prison chaplain	Dr. Cecil Reynolds
Chaplain’s wife	Myra McKinney
J. Widdecombe Billows	Murdoch McQuarrie
Billows’s assistants	Mr. Ainsley
	Ted Oliver
Juvenile officer	Wilfred Lucas
Sheriff Couler	Edward LeSainte
Turbine operator	Sam Stein
Woman with buttoned bosom	Juana Sutton
Warden	John Ince
Workers	Jack Low
	Walter James
Angry café patron	Lloyd Ingraham
Workman	Heinie Conklin
Convict	John Rand
Head waiter	Fred Malatesta
The gamine’s sisters	Gloria DeHaven
	Gloria Delson

Credits

Director	Charlie Chaplin
Writer	Charlie Chaplin
Producer	Charlie Chaplin
Photography	Roland Totheroh and Ira Morgan
Assistant director	Carter DeHaven
Art directors	Charles D. Hall and Russell Spencer
Music	Charlie Chaplin
Music arrangement	Edward Powell and David Raksin
Musical director	Alfred Newman
Music recording	Paul Neal and Frank Maher
Visual effects	Bud Thackeray
Production manager	Alfred Reeves

Disc Features

New, restored 2K-resolution digital transfer, created in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer David Robinson
Two new visual essays, by Chaplin historians John Bengtson and Jeffrey Vance
New program on the film’s visual and sound effects, with experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
Interview from 1992 with Modern Times music arranger David Raksin, plus a selection from the film’s original orchestral track
Two segments cut from the film
All at Sea (1933), a home movie by Alistair Cooke featuring Chaplin and actress Paulette Goddard, with a new score by Donald Sosin and a new interview with Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge
The Rink (1916), a Chaplin two-reeler
For the First Time (1967), a short Cuban documentary about first-time moviegoers seeing Modern Times
Chaplin Today: “Modern Times” (2003), a program with filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Three theatrical trailers
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Saul Austerlitz and a piece by film scholar Lisa Stein that includes excerpts from Chaplin’s writing about his 1930s world tour