Movie Minx

Starring: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard
Directed by: Charles Chaplin

Plot: The Tramp struggles to survive in an industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

But is it any good?

Let me start by saying that I much prefer City Lights and The Great Dictator. Those two films had me actually crying with laughter, while Modern Times merely conjured up the odd smile/snort.

But what makes this film memorable is its context. For one thing, it was 1936 when it was made. So why is there no dialogue? Well, you probably know that Chaplin struggled with the concept of talkies since mime/slapstick was his forte and introducing sound would change everything. But times change, and Chaplin was under studio pressure to do exactly that. Apparently he did actually film the first scene with dialogue, but was so unhappy with it he decided to go back to intertitles (you know, “What is your name?” between shots etc).

But there is talking in the film – it just doesn’t come from Chaplin. We hear words via technology, as it’s Chaplin’s point that we’re dehumanising ourselves and being overrun by machines (as illustrated when The Tramp goes for a little ride in the cogs of one, or when the factory boss considers a “feeding machine” to eliminate workers’ lunch breaks). The words come from radios or giant screens, not from the mouths of people. And at the end of the film, in the famous scene where it looks as though The Tramp might speak for the first time in 20 years on screen, instead he sings a bizzare little ditty in a weird mish-mash of words that may or may not be European languages.

Thus what makes this movie so special is that it’s a bittersweet end of an era for Chaplin. The world is indeed changing, and he must bow out as The Tramp (and of course the rest of his career would soon languish after being accused of communist activities). Yet his strength is that he can combine humour, and a really rather feeble plot, with strong messages about class division and modernism without seeming too preachy.

And there are humourous moments, even if some of the jokes have dated from endless copying. The scene where he’s rollerskating blindfolded in the shopping centre; the scene where he sprinkles some coke on his prison gruel; bascially any scene where he’s waddling innocently down a street and moments away from getting caught in some mayhem.

Silent films may have gone but slapstick humour hasn’t, and the film’s central message about technology coming first is still significant (she writes, spending precious summer weekend hours inside at the computer). The Tramp was a lovable character who’s become a part of cinematic history, and I don’t think anyone would dispute the fact that Chaplin was a comic genius. But I still found Dictator and City Lights funnier.

IMDB’s rating: 8.5/10
My rating: 7.5/10

Next movie to be reviewed: Alien