Charlie Chaplin (1951)

"Modern Times" 253 York opening on February 5, 1936, led to some revisions. Its New York reception was mixed. The critics welcomed back the well-loved figure and paid tribute to his undiminished pantomimic skill, but found the film uneven. On the whole, the critical reception may be called a case of damning with faint praise. As Chaplin's foreword characterizes it, " 'Modern Times' is the story of industry, of individual enterprise — humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness." Its opening suggests satire on modern mass production, its regimentation, and the cruelty of machinery to man. Unemployment and other problems of the day are touched on. It starts off with hints of social satire but these promises are not quite fulfilled. It soon gets back to the old Chaplin comedy pattern. There is fuzziness in the form, drag in the pace, breaks in the continuity, and lack of climax. The last two-thirds of the picture is a sort of an anticlimax to the opening idea. In this reversion to type, Chaplin produces a sort of Chaplin anthology, as he works his celebrated gags over again. It is a nostalgic repetition of a great tradition, in disconnected episodes involving oil cans, threatening cops, roller skates, waiters' trays, swinging doors, etc., done this time with little of the old inspiration. The only new element was his song to the tune of "Titina," which he accompanies with genuinely amusing pantomime, a song mixing all languages and gibberish and, perhaps, symbolizing the confusion of our times. "Modern Times" has several clever and moving scenes, but not enough to bring it up to "The Gold Rush" or "City Lights," in comedy or pathos. Some critics perceived a failure to keep up with the general advance in films. This may have been due to his attempt to merge his old technique with a little of the new. There is an excessive number of sub-titles, some clearly unnecessary. There is even the title "Dawn." The silent technique