50 years ago: Modern Times, Chaplin's masterpiece farewell to the silent era, released

Modern Times Released: February 25, 1936 Studio: United Artists Genre: comedy, drama, family Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 0.16 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 5.80 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Charles Chaplin Screenwriting: Charles Chaplin Starring: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman Review: In this “consistently hilarious, and unforgettable” LM “Chaplin masterpiece” VD he says farewell to his “beloved character The Tramp.” MSN “This social protest film was also Chaplin’s final great effort in the silent era, as the talkies overtook silent films. The film was made between 1932 and 1936, with Chaplin writing, directing, producing and scoring it.” MSN It is “a ‘mostly silent,’ funny and poignant comedy/satire in which Charlie Chaplin bids farewell to silent comedy.” FS Modern Times “perfectly captures Chaplin: naive, but ever so heartfelt.” TV It is a comic nightmare of mass production, runaway capitalism, the police state – all of which helped get the film (and its star) labeled Red.” TV Chaplin is a factory worker “in the Depression era of poverty and unrest” FS slaving “on a dehumanizing automated assembly line” FS overseen by his “‘Big-Brother’ tyrannical boss who spies on employees with a giant TV monitor and demands greater speed and efficiency.” FS Chaplin “quickly has a nervous breakdown [and] goes insane.” FS “After several trips to the hospital and jail, ultimately finds happiness with a kindred soul.” A07 “He meets and falls in love with an orphaned street waif and fellow vagabond The Gamine (Goddard), and the two dream of a contented, suburban existence.” FS The movie “includes some utterly stunning sequences” TV such as “his trip through the cogs of a factory.” TV “In one of the ‘sound’ sequences, the Tramp impersonates a singing waiter.” FS “The feeding-machine sequence is priceless.” FS The “final shot is among Chaplin’s most famous and most poignant.” LM It is “a touching ending – a final farewell to the Little Tramp character.” FS Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 0 Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leonard Maltin Guillermo del Toro First posted 6/4/2023.

 

50 years ago: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, a silent movie masterpiece, released

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans Released: November 4, 1927 Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox Genre: drama/romance/silent Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: -- Worldwide: -- Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: F.W. Murnau Screenwriting: Carl Mayer Starring: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston Review: This is “considered a silent movie masterpiece,” MSN “an artistic, poignant, brilliantly-filmed, expressionistic, landmark.” FS It was actually “the first movie to use synchronized sound-on-film with a musical score.” MSN It was overshadowed at the box office because it premiered just days before the release of The Jazz Singer, the first talkie. MSN The screenplay, based on a story by Hermann Suderman, tells a “fable-like story” MSN “of redemption and forgiveness.” A07 A married farmer (O’Brien) is tempted by “a vampish seductress (Livingston).” FS He plans to drown “his pure, innocent wife (Gaynor)” FS but “realizes his love for his wife and can’t complete the act.” FS The “attempted murder is only the start; two thirds of the movie is actually about a couple making up.” T95 On their way home in the rowboat, “a storm looms up and takes her from him – a seemingly-just punishment from Fate itself.” FS “A cavalcade of urban images and horrific storms almost destroy the farmer when he thinks his wife is lost at sea in this expressionistic masterpiece.” A07 “The tension is allowed to drop in a glorious jazz-age city sequence, and then twisted into breaking-point as a journey of murderous rage is repeated. But its dreamlike realism is also to be enjoyed: when lovers appear to walk across a crowded city street, into (superimposed) fields, and back to kiss in a traffic jam, you have an example of True Love styled to cinema perfection. Simple, and intense images of unequaled beauty.” T95 This is a “triumph of direction, camerawork, art direction, and performances, all hauntingly beautiful.” LM “The poetic cinematography by Oscar-winners Karl Struss and Charles Rosher makes Janet Gaynor’s feat in ascending above a thankless role all the more amazing, and puts a definite thrill into George O’Brien’s transformation from homicidal lout to reborn romantic.” ML Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” ML Movieline (Dec. 1995). “100 Best Movies Ever Made” by Virginia Campbell and Edward Margulies MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 3 – Unique and Artistic Picture (a second ‘Best Picture’ Award), Best Actress (Gaynor), and Best Cinematography Nominations: 4 – including Best Interior Decoration Other Lists/Honors: "> Critics’ Picks: Francis Ford Coppola Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin First posted 6/3/2023.