Modern Times (1936)

Why it's here:
Hailed as the last great silent film, this is an interesting piece. It is not exactly silent. There are sound effects and some minimal dialog. The film utilized "sound" but it did not showcase it. It is made like a silent film -- with a silent ethos and a visual comedic style. And it is a masterpiece.

Specs:
Hour and a half, black and white, silent (sort of)

Our family's average rating (on a scale of 1-10):
8.0

More about the film and our reaction to it:
First of all and most unexpected was the amazing Paulette Goddard - who is impossibly beautiful. I'd heard of her before but never seen her in anything. She has a modern look, expressions and movements, and reminded me palpably of Courtney Cox, only more beautiful. She is an extremely appealing co-star, but ultimately, the film is Chaplin's.

He is simply remarkable in this wonderful story of the down and out Tramp -- his last screen appearance as such. Chaplin was loathe to enter the sound era and did so only grudgingly. He made this film years after everyone else had given up the ghost of silents. But in holding on and in releasing this, he made me realize why everyone should have been loathe to give up the silent era. This type of comedy may not ever be seen on a large scale again, but it is superb and is still extremely watchable.

Chaplin's Tramp starts out the film as a worker in a factory assembly line on funny machinery doing funny maneuvers to the machine parts. Through various mishaps he is in and out of jail and various other jobs for the rest of the movie, linking up part way through with a spunky poverty stricken girl trying to make the best of life for herself and her little sister. Chaplin and Goddard do manage to achieve a great measure of success and togetherness, and slink off into the sunset together, but not before Chaplin performs the funniest song ever.

Interestingly, though this is a "silent" with little dialog and though Chaplin does not speak in the movie, he does sing. His song is the first time his voice had ever been heard on camera! The routine is a nonsense song accompanied by pantomime and it's hard to describe why, but is very very funny. We watched and re-watched the scene on Youtube more times then I'd care to know.

Iconic shot:
The banner image gracing the top of this website is the most iconic shot from the movie. So, for this post, I'll share one of Goddard.