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The last film to feature Charlie Chaplin's beloved comic creation of The Tramp, this is an elegant swan song that also reveals his tremendous empathy with the downtrodden, says James Oliver.

At the height of the (first) great depression, Hollywood chose to ignore the grim economic realities. Charlie Chaplin demurred; he placed his little tramp right in the thick of things, beset by poverty, by dehumanising working practices and political radicals. And, what's more, he made them funny.
 
The story is typically loose: after an unsuccessful spell working in a factory, the tramp falls in with a young lady (Paulette Goddard), then tries to make enough money to sustain them both. Within this, Chaplin fashioned a succession of brilliant gags – the tramp getting (literally) lost in a machine, an accidental drug binge and some dazzling roller-skate acrobatics amongst them.
 
Chaplin's sympathy with the working classes was never greater than it was here, showing terrific solidarity with those folks struggling to keep their head above water. Modern Times was the last film he made as his signature character – the tramp belonged to the silent era and Chaplin was belatedly accepting sound. But it's an elegant swan song, testament to the tremendous humanity of its creator.

 

James Oliver on 26th July 2010
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