CHARLIE CHAPLIN FILM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22412, 7 May 1936, Page 14

CHARLIE CHAPLIN FILM

" MODERN TIMES"AT REGENT After an absence of nearly fivo years from tho screen Charlie Chaplin will be seen again in "Modern Times," to commence at the Pegent Theatre tomorrow. Tho picture has had remarkably enthusiastic receptions and record audiences overseas. Critics call it the funniest film in the comedian's career. In a world full of changes Chaplin remains constant to tho character that has been synonymous with his name for 20 years. He is still the funny little tramp with a microscopic moustache, a battered Derby bat, turned-tip shoos and a bamboo cane. Even more noteworthy is the fact that Chaplin makes only a few concessions to screen audibility. Ho breaks his silence only once, and that is during a scene in which he sings a song. However, the film is synchronised with musical and sound effects. As in all Chaplin's comedies, the story is simple, having to do with the struggle- fou existenco 011 tho part of two characters, a tramp and an equally bedraggled waif whom he befriends. Starting as a factory hand Chaplin is driven frantic by tho monotony of tho routine and almost wrecks tho plnce by pulling .levers and misplacing equipment, Dismissed from hospital after a nervous breakdown, ho is again plunged into tho struggle of whirling civilisation. He becomes involved in an industrial crisis, 11 radical demonstration and a prison riot. Subsequently when ho is released from gaol ho meets the street gamin, played by Pauletto Goddard, and further adventures, pathetic and hilarious, ensue before their final futile attempt to get away from workaday hardship as they walk down a country road into the dawn. "Modern Times" is prodigiously funny and demonstrates that Chaplin's genius as an entertainer is as strong as ever.