# Modern Times (1936) Review: Chaplin Versus the Machine > Modern Times is Charlie Chaplin's Depression-era comedy in which the Tramp battles factory machines, hunger and the law, and 90 years on it is still hilarious. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/modern-times-1936-review/ Published: 2026-07-23 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 4.5/5 ## Verdict Yes. It is one of the great screen comedies, short, inventive and warm-hearted, and an ideal first silent-style film for newcomers and families alike. ## Is Modern Times worth watching? **Yes. Modern Times is among Charlie Chaplin's finest films, a brilliantly engineered comedy about a little man crushed by the machinery of industry that is still funny, touching and pointed today.** Its set pieces, from the assembly line to the department store, are some of the most famous in cinema for good reason: they play beautifully to an audience that has never seen a silent film. The only real reservation is structural, since the film moves as a string of episodes rather than a single driving story. ## What is Modern Times about? [Modern Times](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/modern-times-1936/) opens with Chaplin's Tramp working on a factory production line, tightening bolts at a speed that keeps rising until his body and mind can no longer keep up. What follows is a sequence of misadventures in a Depression-era America of strikes, unemployment and suspicion: hospital, jail, a string of jobs that never last, and repeated run-ins with the police. Along the way he meets a spirited orphaned young woman, a gamine played by Paulette Goddard, who is also struggling to survive on the streets. The two dream of a modest home together, and the film follows their efforts to build one in a world that keeps knocking them down. Chaplin wrote, directed, produced and scored the film, which runs 87 minutes. It is an American production, released in 1936, when talking pictures had long since taken over. Chaplin's answer was to make a largely silent film with a synchronised music track and sound effects, using title cards for dialogue. ## Comedy built from the factory floor The opening factory sequence is still a marvel of timing. The Tramp's twitch as he keeps tightening imaginary bolts after the shift ends, the demonstration of a machine designed to feed workers so they need not stop for lunch, and the famous image of Chaplin carried through giant gears are both jokes and arguments. Chaplin never lectures about automation; he simply shows a man turned into a component, then lets the absurdity speak. What makes these scenes endure is how physical they are. Chaplin was a dancer as much as a clown, and a later sequence of him roller-skating blindfolded along the edge of a drop in a department store is a small miracle of grace and nerve. Each set piece builds in careful stages, adding complication until the laughter becomes almost unbearable. ## Sound as a joke on the talkies Modern Times is also a sly commentary on the arrival of sound. The only voices heard clearly come through machines, loudspeakers and recordings: the factory boss watches his workers through a screen and barks orders at them, and a sales pitch arrives from a phonograph. Chaplin had resisted dialogue for years, and here he turns his refusal into satire, suggesting that speech in this new world belongs mainly to power and commerce. His own score, meanwhile, does a great deal of emotional work, and its main romantic theme later became the popular standard Smile. ## Paulette Goddard gives the Tramp a partner Goddard is the film's other great asset. Her gamine is quick, defiant and funny, far from the fragile heroines of some earlier Chaplin films, and she meets the Tramp as an equal. Their fantasy of domestic comfort, played out in a scene that imagines a suburban house where food simply appears, is both a lovely comic sketch and a sharp portrait of what poverty makes people long for. The weakness is that the plot is loose to the point of being episodic. Several sequences are there mainly because they are funny, and the pace in the middle stretch sags a little between high points. Given how good those high points are, few viewers will mind. ## Who should watch Modern Times? It suits almost everyone: families, first-time silent-film viewers, comedy fans and anyone interested in film history. At 87 minutes it is an easy watch, and the humour is gentle enough for children, though the backdrop of poverty and unrest gives adults plenty to consider. It is also a good film to watch with a group, since its slapstick plays best with shared laughter. If it wins you over, explore these next: - [City Lights](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/city-lights-1931-review/), Chaplin's previous feature and perhaps his most perfect blend of comedy and heartbreak. - [The Great Dictator](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/the-great-dictator-1940/), his next film, in which the satire turns directly on fascism. - [The Apartment](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/the-apartment-1960/), Billy Wilder's comedy about a little man inside a big corporate machine. ## The verdict Modern Times is a great comedy that also happens to be one of the sharpest films ever made about work and poverty. Its episodic shape keeps it a notch below perfection, but its set pieces, its warmth and Chaplin's genius for physical comedy make it essential viewing at any age. **Rating: 4.5/5** ## Related title - [Modern Times (1936)](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/modern-times-1936/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)