Monday, November 26, 2007

Chaplin's "Modern Times"

I just watched the 1936 film Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin - the first Chaplin film I've watched. All I really knew of Chaplin was the silly mustache and the waddling walk, but he was an incredible performer - expressive facial expressions, brilliant comedic timing, and a physical grace that is really startling. His character is painfully awkward, yet once in a while he'll do a beautiful roller-skating routine, or spin around in a cocaine-induced frenzy, and you realize that he couldn't do all these things so elegantly if he weren't a brilliant actor and dancer.

Here is the climactic scene, in which Chaplin throws away the words and has to sing nonsense. It's worth checking out the recently re-mastered version on DVD, which is much higher quality.

1 comment:

Jason Heath said...

I love this movie.