…this moment in Modern Times is near perfection. For those that don’t know what’s going on in the scene, he had the lyrics to the song he was supposed to sing on his cuffs, which you will notice fly off almost immediately.
One thing interesting about the song Chaplin sings is that it is the first time you hear the Tramp’s voice as he sings “Je cherche après Titine” in French/Italian gibberish but his actions lead the audience to understand what he is supposed to be singing about entirely.
If you are yet to familiarize yourself with Chaplin or are looking for a refresher course on April 16 TCM is set to run 10 Chaplin films in a row including Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), A Dog’s Life (1918), A Day’s Pleasure (1919), The Kid (1921), Pay Day (1922), A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), A King in New York (1957) and three Chaplin Shorts including A Dog’s Life, Shoulder Arms and The Pilgrim.
I am not some kind of Chaplin biographer having only seen City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator and The Gold Rush but there is certainly something to his films that makes them damn near impossible not to enjoy.
Oh, and if you need another reason to watch just give Modern Times a once over and notice how striking Paulette Goddard is even as she is playing a street urchin. What a pretty face on that woman.
