In his final performance as the Little Tramp,Modern Times 1936 Charlie Chaplin’s
Little Tramp strives to survive in the contemporary,
industrialized world in the 1936 American part-talkie social comedy Modern Times.
Modern Times has received numerous accolades and awards.preserved in the American National Film Registry because it was “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Plot
In the film’s most well-known sequence, The Tramp is shown working on the enormous machine.
The Tramp, played by Charlie Chaplin
The Tramp labors on an assembly line, where the pressure and pace of the repetitious task cause him immense suffering. He finally experiences a nervous breakdown, goes crazy, becomes trapped inside of a machine, and causes mayhem in the workplace. He is then taken to the hospital. After being restored to health, the Tramp, who is now jobless, is unintentionally detained at a Communist protest. He unintentionally consumes smuggled cocaine while in custody, and in the ensuing delirium, he manages to avoid being returned to his cell. When he comes back, he comes across a jailbreak and knocks the prisoners out of it, for which he is praised as a hero and accorded special treatment. He unsuccessfully argues that he prefers life in jail when told that he will soon be released as a result of his heroic deeds.
After being freed, he applies for a job at a shipbuilder but quits after getting into an accident. Soon later, he encounters Ellen, an orphaned girl who has just stolen a loaf of bread and is trying to get away from the police. The Tramp claims to be the thief and wants to be imprisoned, determined to return to jail and prevent her from being arrested. However, a witness discovers his deception, and he is released. He subsequently consumes a significant amount of food at a cafeteria without paying to get arrested, and after being placed in a paddy wagon, he once more runs into Ellen. But it soon crashes, and she persuades him to flee with her. The Tramp then accepts a position as a night watchman at a department shop, where he runs into three burglars who are being guided by “Big Bill,” a factory coworker who explains that they are starving and in need of food. After having drinks with them, the next morning during business hours, he awakens and is jailed once more for failing to report the burglars to the police and for scaring a customer and the storekeeper by sleeping in the store’s clothes on a desk.
Days later, Ellen moves him into a dilapidated cabin. He discovers a job as a mechanic’s helper the following morning after reading about an ancient factory’s reopening. The other employees then abruptly decide to walk off the job and instruct the Tramp to accompany them. He mistakenly throws a brick at a police officer outside the factory, which results in another arrest.
Two weeks after being freed, he finds out that Ellen is now a café dancer. She arranges for him to work as a singer and waiter, but he performs his tasks awkwardly. He misplaces the cuffs that had the lyrics to his song while performing on the floor, but he still manages to save the act by pantomiming and improvising new lyrics. The two are forced to flee once more as police show up to arrest Ellen for her prior escape. Ellen feels hopeless about their efforts, but the Tramp reassures her. They proceed down the road in the early morning light into an uncertain but hopeful future.
Cast
Charlie Chaplin in The Tramp, a manufacturing worker
Ellen Peterson “The Gamin” was portrayed by Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman was the café’s owner, and Stanley “Tiny” Sandford played Big Bill.
As a mechanic, Chester Conklin
Al Gamin’s father, Stanley Blystone, Ernest Garcia, the CEO of Electro Steel Corp., and Richard Alexander, Gamin’s cellmate
Murdock MacQuarrie as J. Widdecombe Billows, the inventor; Cecil Reynolds as the minister; Mira McKinney as the minister’s wife; Wilfred Lucas as the juvenile officer; Edward LeSaint as Sheriff Couler; Fred Malatesta as the café’s head waiter; Sammy Stein as the turbine operator; and Hank Mann as a thief with Big Bill.
Big Bill and Louis Natheaux as burglars
As the woman with the buttoned bosom, Juana Sutton
Gloria Delson played Gamin’s sister, while Gloria DeHaven played Billow’s helper.[3]
Worker Bobby Barber
Worker Heinie Conklin
On a phonograph record, Fred Shields is the speaker, while Harry Wilson is the worker.
Paul Schwegler played football.[4]
Football player Nate Barragar[4]
As a football player, Ernie Smith[4]
