Modern Times

Modern Times: A story of industry, of individual enterprise — humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness.

By 1929, silent movies were finished. Charlie Chaplin, however, went on to make the last movie to feature the Tramp, and essentially, the last silent movie. This movie, released in 1936, is “Modern Times”, and we are delighted to announce that it is the subject of Modern Robot’s next show.

Don’t think that “Modern Times” is some kind of dying gasp of the era — it’s brilliant, staggeringly brilliant. I counted 29 staggers in the introduction alone. It’s one of the best filmmaker ever at his peak.

The first scene could have come from Metropolis. An relentless assembly line is driven faster and faster by a company president who sits and watches the factory using yet-to-be-invented video cameras. Our hero Chaplin is left twitching and unhinged, and if you’ve read anything about Shenzhen, the place in China where all your electronic stuff is made by millions of assembly line workers, this is eerily familiar.

The misadventures continue. Communists, cocaine, the beautiful gamine girl, several trips to jail, several escapes. It’s packed!

So — join us as we play an adventurous, live, musical accompaniment to “Modern Times”.

8pm * All ages * $3-5 donation