Criterion
Modern Times
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Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times—though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!)—is a timeless showcase of Chaplin’s untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Restored 2K-resolution digital transfer, created in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Audio commentary from 2010 by Charlie Chaplin biographer David Robinson
- Two visual essays, by Chaplin historians John Bengtson and Jeffrey Vance
- Program from 2010 on the film’s visual and sound effects, with experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
- Interview from 1992 with Modern Times music arranger David Raksin, plus a selection from the film's original orchestral track
- Two segments cut from the film
- All at Sea (1933), a home movie by Alistair Cooke featuring Chaplin and actress Paulette Goddard, with a score by Donald Sosin and an interview with Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge
- The Rink (1916), a Chaplin two-reeler
- For the First Time (1967), a short Cuban documentary about first-time moviegoers seeing Modern Times
- Chaplin Today: “Modern Times” (2003), a program with filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- Three theatrical trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Saul Austerlitz and, for the Blu-ray edition, a piece by film scholar Lisa Stein that includes excerpts from Chaplin’s writing about his 1930s world tour