Master Rank #18

Modern Times

1936

GCML Total9.4640% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Charlie Chaplin

CastCharlie Chaplin · Paulette Goddard

USAEnglishDrama / Comedy87 minG
Sight & Sound; IMDb Top 250; AFI 100Narrative FeatureBrisk pace
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

The Little Tramp takes exhausting factory work and is repeatedly overwhelmed by machines, unemployment, and social authority. His friendship with an orphaned young woman gives their struggle for food, shelter, and dignity a shared direction.

Why it belongs

Assembly lines, feeding machines, roller skates, and Modern Times's resilient Tramp make industrial discipline visible through meticulous, humane physical comedy.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Chaplin defines assembly lines, feeding machines, roller skates, and police encounters as physical comedy whose timing exposes industrial discipline, while the Tramp's nearly wordless resilience preserves tenderness without softening the social critique.

Major award wins

No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.

Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20

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