Track 1: Hello and welcome to Left at the Projector. I am your host, Evan,

Track 1: back again with another film discussion from the left.

Track 1: This week on the show, we are discussing the 1936 film Modern Times,

Track 1: directed and starring Charlie Chaplin.

Track 1: And with me to discuss, I have Molly Raspberry, who you may know from,

Track 1: at least I know from Twitter or X. Thank you for joining me today, Molly.

Track 2: Thanks for having me.

Track 1: Of course. And I guess since we were just saying before, as I usually send out

Track 1: like a list of films, and I know you pretty quickly chose Modern Times.

Track 1: But I guess in addition to saying maybe why you chose that, feel free to,

Track 1: I don't know, share any background or context as to maybe what led you to pick

Track 1: that and, you know, anything you're working on or anything like that.

Track 2: Well, funny thing is that I took a class in grad school and it was on historical

Track 2: materialism, which I'm sure the Marxist studies people are just like,

Track 2: they're perking up their ears like, what?

Track 2: What just just like yeah

Track 2: and our professor my professor who actually

Track 2: he used to i'm not sure if he still does former professor

Track 2: he he called himself an anarcho

Track 2: syndical syndicalist marxist and

Track 2: well a marxist anarcho syndicalist and

Track 2: he chose two films one was pierre paulo

Track 2: pasalini's film Medea which is Maria Callas's

Track 2: only acting role non-opera role

Track 2: and it's fantastic I highly recommend it

Track 2: it's on the Criterion channel if you have that and

Track 2: the other film we watched was Modern Times which I

Track 2: thought which I was already a fan of since high

Track 2: school because I had been a fan of Charlie Chaplin he

Track 2: was probably the first silent film star I became a huge fan of

Track 2: I loved the great dictator i love the circus i

Track 2: love the gold rush and of course i

Track 2: love modern times and i was like this is interesting that we're gonna do this

Track 2: one i can understand with the automation but i was like oh this goes even further

Track 2: with that even though modern times was kind of the one he's like that's the

Track 2: lazy pick i chose because he liked more of pasolini style the more subtle subtle.

Track 2: And he thought Chaplin didn't go far enough, but we'll get into that as well,

Track 2: because I also have some discussions with some thoughts on that process.

Track 2: But yeah, that's my, that was how I got into it.

Track 1: Awesome. Yeah. And as a, as a disclosure for this, I think is the first,

Track 1: this is definitely the first Charlie Chaplin film I've done on this show.

Track 1: And one of the only films I think from this era, the only earlier silent film

Track 1: I think I did was the original Nosferatu and like a Dracula episode combining

Track 1: a few different versions.

Track 1: So this is definitely it you know

Track 1: i maybe i you picked the you are i guess the

Track 1: perfect person to uh to reign in

Track 1: my uh or not reign in because i don't have much knowledge

Track 1: on it to uh to add expand expand on uh kind

Track 1: of the thoughts on this movie and it's it's one of those ones when

Track 1: i think of like the work of charlie chaplin i

Track 1: think of other ones he's done you know prior this

Track 1: one feels i mean it's funny you said like it's like a slam dunk

Track 1: or it's kind of like a obvious pick for

Track 1: that kind of class i mean as far as like the legacy and watching it in 2025

Track 1: now you know almost 100 years 85 years since it came out i mean how poignant

Track 1: would you say it would be you know discussing this now i mean it's and.

Track 2: Also how he didn't even go that far with with the with the fordism line the

Track 2: factory lines like because when you look in those scenes like you're just now

Track 2: you're like I'd rather work in there than the Amazon is assembly.

Track 1: Line because.

Track 2: This is way worse now that it

Track 2: was back then so it's just like and even

Track 2: then he was depicting it and it's just clean it's nice the guys are not as grubby

Track 2: as you imagine it's not like Upton Sinclair's the jungle which I do need to

Track 2: bring up Upton Sinclair a little bit later for some historical context so so

Track 2: as you're looking it's like he didn't even depict it like,

Track 2: as miserable as he could have or as what it really was and that was fascinating

Track 2: to me to learn about and yeah.

Track 1: I hadn't even considered that it does make it seem you know you have the the

Track 1: like i don't know what you would call him like the foreman or or one of the

Track 1: the the person that like the ceo is talking to on the little cool uh future

Track 1: future yeah he's like no shirt on he's just like just kind of hulking around like.

Track 2: A soviet poster.

Track 1: Poster boy yes no.

Track 2: Shirt just like a model just right there.

Track 1: Yeah and then you yeah and then it's just like when you

Track 1: i mean i guess i mean for anyone who hasn't seen this you should definitely

Track 1: go check it out you can you can watch it i watched it on the criteria and i

Track 1: have the also have the blu-ray but i'm sure you can watch it other where you

Track 1: might be able to do it on canopy i don't know if it's yeah probably on there

Track 1: and your local library has it too it's a easy first.

Track 2: 15 minutes so.

Track 1: The most.

Track 2: Discussed part so.

Track 1: Yes and i mean yeah there's no i mean the

Track 1: no uh no don't have to shy away from spoilers but just as like the general i

Track 1: guess you could call it plot this is sort of the final film in charlie chaplin's

Track 1: like the tramp persona that he uses in this and it kind of retires it and as

Track 1: you said like the The opening of this film is basically him working on an assembly line.

Track 1: The boss, the CEO is barking orders through like futuristic TV devices where

Track 1: it's, you know, as you said, you mentioned Amazon.

Track 1: It's hard not to think about, you know, Amazon probably, I don't know,

Track 1: watching you through a million cameras at your factory and everything.

Track 1: And it feels so, so, so obvious that this is the thing that you would see.

Track 1: And it's it's interesting that he critiqued it that way, because I don't know

Track 1: how strict like the Ford line would have been then. You know, I don't know.

Track 2: It was apparently stricter.

Track 1: Oh, wow. OK.

Track 2: So, yeah, it was. So, yeah.

Track 2: And it's not subtle how it opens because it opens up with like Eisenstein would have been proud.

Track 2: It seems like it was even it's basically an intellectual montage when the first

Track 2: shot you see a sheep coming in and then it dissolves to the workers coming through

Track 2: the subway. And then you get that image of just like, oh, humans are sheep.

Track 2: And which is funny because one critic is just like, oh, that's so obvious and so on the nose.

Track 2: And you're just like, but Animal Farm is pigs and that's not on the nose.

Track 1: So, yeah, I mean, it's there are a lot of I think about films where like things

Track 1: are on the nose like that.

Track 1: But I don't know when I when you would have seen this in 1936.

Track 1: I don't know if the average person necessarily was thinking about it in such

Track 1: an obvious way. Right. I mean, no, the context of it.

Track 2: Exactly. Exactly with that.

Track 2: And then, and of course, with the assembly line, he's doing a monotonous task.

Track 2: He's basically, they're making him a part of the machine right there, which is a part of that.

Track 2: It basically makes you into automaton right there when you're doing just the bolts.

Track 2: And that's what he does, does. And, and it's interesting because it cuts to

Track 2: the, the head guy, the head of the factory.

Track 2: And he has time to do a puzzle he has

Track 2: time smoking right on his desk and his

Track 2: entire job is just to tell the foreman with the shirtless adonis

Track 2: foreman to be tell them to go faster right now

Track 2: and then to just keep track of charlie because charlie because the tramp he

Track 2: can't even swat a fly off his face because he has no time to do it which also

Track 2: for i love lucy fans yes the scene inspired the chocolate factory scene where

Track 2: just like in the chocolate and there's like more sprayed.

Track 2: And that was directly inspired by Charlie Chaplin scene with this.

Track 2: And it's humiliating because just like swat the fly, just like,

Track 2: can't even do that. You don't have leisure time for that.

Track 2: And he goes, he even has to clock out for a smoke break.

Track 1: Yes.

Track 2: I thought was, which is actually very accurate.

Track 2: Apparently I had a coworker whose mom worked at Walmart

Track 2: and she could not smoke unless it was on her lunch break she was not allowed

Track 2: to go out like like that and yeah he just goes to the bathroom bathroom and

Track 2: then the television screen right behind him with with the head of the factory

Track 2: who is given a voice through this technological component,

Track 2: component to say hey get back to work get back

Track 2: to work it's like oh he can't even finish his cigarette he there's no

Track 2: leisure time with that because and i feel like chaplain was making a point that

Track 2: the privileged class has this time to do this and that and it's interesting

Track 2: because in the film he is the outlier he is the one who is making a mess of

Track 2: this he is the odd one out and so and,

Track 2: If you're watching something like an Eisenstein film, the person who's an outlier,

Track 2: others join them to join the masses.

Track 2: In fact, Chaplin, the original title of this film was going to be called The Masses.

Track 2: And that didn't happen, of course. But the workers side with the foreman.

Track 2: They side with their boss trying to get him out. And they even say,

Track 2: he's crazy because he can't do this job properly.

Track 2: So you can have a leftist perspective of the scene where people say,

Track 2: oh, this machine drove him crazy and made him basically a robotic and an automaton

Track 2: and literally part of the machinery in that famous scene where he's going through

Track 2: the conveyor belt and he's inside it.

Track 1: I love that.

Track 2: It's so good. I love the set piece for it. And they had to bring it back.

Track 2: And then you have the right viewing it and say, well, everybody else was doing

Track 2: the right thing. So the only reason why he failed wasn't because the dehumanization of capitalism.

Track 2: It's because he's just a screw up. So he can't get this right.

Track 2: So and I think that's why there's these interpretations with that and why this

Track 2: film is more ambiguous than some other Marxist films that you would see at this

Track 2: time, especially Soviet cinema.

Track 1: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that, again, goes to your point of the film

Track 1: doesn't go, you know, as far as it could.

Track 1: I mean, it does show another one of my favorite scenes in that opening in the factory.

Track 1: One, I want to mention the president works at Electro Steel Corp,

Track 1: which is sort of, I think it's just a funny title for their company.

Track 1: But then they bring in the group from some other company that's going to get

Track 1: them like the automated feeding machine, which I think is also one of my favorite scenes.

Track 1: I mean, there's lots of incredible scenes in this, but I learned in the making

Track 1: of the film is that he was controlling the little, like the soup and the different

Track 1: things underneath the little thing with a hand crank.

Track 1: And that, yeah, I mean, it's just it's crazy that they're they're showing you,

Track 1: you know, well, you can get your people to work more and eat during their lunch

Track 1: hour and they don't even get the smoke break.

Track 2: Yes. It's just like we're going to automate everything. And it also brings up

Track 2: that that that's the only machine in that in that scene that actually messes

Track 2: up and also is so impractical because everybody has to look down to see what

Track 2: they're doing. And you can't do that with the feeding machine.

Track 1: Yeah.

Track 2: And so beyond just messing up and just like flopping the soup on his face and

Track 2: just like smashing his face with the sponge, he can't even see what his hands are doing.

Track 1: Yeah, all of that.

Track 2: It's just so impressive.

Track 1: I like when they put the bolts down onto the little, I guess, the feeding...

Track 1: But every platform and it comes around and eats the bolts and

Track 1: it's like yeah you can't this isn't a practical and actually

Track 1: even the boss like sends them away being like oh yeah this even

Track 1: this oh yeah i mean i i've created this and the other thing that i saw because

Track 1: i think you mentioned uh like a ford automation it seemed that from what i heard

Track 1: or had read is that the president i guess who's played by um al garcia was supposed

Track 1: to was like looked very similar to,

Track 1: forward and so it's like intent like a good way to make him have that almost

Track 1: one-to-one comparison but i don't know i i wonder like if maybe you know the

Track 1: answer to this like was he constrained in the ability to take things further

Track 1: it was his own restraint you think that just kind of put it i.

Track 2: Think it was that chaplain he actually believed

Track 2: there was a goodness to machines but that he could

Track 2: he also believed that they could they could

Track 2: go out of control really easily i mean he even spoke

Track 2: to mahatma gandhi about him gandhi was strictly against

Track 2: machinery as a form of automation automating capitalism he and char and chaplin

Track 2: was surprised with that when he was discussing this with him yeah chaplin actually

Track 2: did have conversations with gandhi and so and so it was so that's why.

Track 2: I think Chaplin would disagree with the assumption, or at least there's that

Track 2: ambiguity there that, yes, machinery can actually be a good thing,

Track 2: but it also can make us into automatons.

Track 2: I mean, even his great dictator speech is like, you are not machines,

Track 2: you are humans, fight back, is related to that.

Track 2: He does not demonize it like a lot of Marxist people would, especially at the

Track 2: the time, Upton Sinclair very much was against these ideas.

Track 2: And it was fascinating because before this film, he actually sent in a lot of

Track 2: money to Upton Sinclair's California campaign.

Track 2: And Upton Sinclair was a true bona fide socialist.

Track 2: He wanted to bring the tax level up so high that health insurance,

Track 2: food, all this stuff would be paid for, for the masses, for people like that.

Track 2: And that would come from the very top and people like Ford, other,

Track 2: other and other big, big baron CEOs did not want that.

Track 2: So that's why he didn't, he wasn't elected, but that put Charlie on.

Track 2: They're nice because Charlie actually helped campaign for Upton Sinclair before this film.

Track 1: That's interesting because some of the things I was reading about,

Track 1: you know, obviously there's what people didn't, you know, the call,

Track 1: you know, as far as him being blacklisted as part of like the,

Track 1: you know, having given money to the, what's it called?

Track 1: The 10 blacklisted directors and actors.

Track 1: He had donated money to their legal funds and all that.

Track 1: But from what I understand is that Chaplin was definitely saw a lot of these

Track 1: things, but he was described as like a humanist capitalist or a humanistic capitalism.

Track 1: It's like he still favored the idea of capitalism. He just wanted it to be reasonable for people.

Track 2: And he did, in the 20s, pretend to be a communist.

Track 2: And he also, that, of course, he felt that one of the most universal men in

Track 2: perspective were the hobos, who basically were the gig economy's people of the day.

Track 2: And they had to travel to different places for work, and that's where the tramp came in.

Track 2: And and it was funny that was in

Track 2: his biography he actually met one of his heroes who would who

Track 2: this hobo who wrote about his travels and the hobo basically called him out

Track 2: and saying he's a pantomime of of us and i think that really because chaplain

Track 2: he had a great job he he had his own studio unite artist so so and but.

Track 2: Yeah, it's fascinating because any man who succeeds in Hollywood,

Track 2: I don't think could be a full Marxist.

Track 2: I don't think there's a possibility of that. You can criticize capitalism,

Track 2: but there's there's just no way if you're making millions of dollars.

Track 2: So, but yeah, and of course he was sympathetic.

Track 2: He grew up on the streets of, he grew up in the streets of England.

Track 2: His mom was institutionalized against her will.

Track 2: He was separated from his brother for years and he lived on the streets for

Track 2: quite a while. So he was the common poor.

Track 2: He was, he was that before coming up and, and having America be his new homeland

Track 2: after, after, after all that.

Track 2: So you could see why he would sympathize with the common folk and why he always

Track 2: went back to the tramp and saw him as the universal man, which is also why I

Track 2: believe he didn't want to speak.

Track 2: Because if he spoke, then he would be giving a voice to a character that had

Track 2: a universality. And also he's British.

Track 2: So I think he wanted his character to be American or to sound American.

Track 1: Well, it's interesting because in this film, there's no talking with the exception

Track 1: of the boss. So, like, the CEO is the only person, I believe, that talks on screen.

Track 1: There's some of the, like, the song near the end, which isn't on screen.

Track 1: And then a couple of those, like, the boss through the, you know,

Track 1: video camera surveillance. And I think that also.

Track 2: You get the instructions through the gramophone. It's not even a real person

Track 2: doing it. It's just a record of someone speaking, too.

Track 1: Oh, for which one?

Track 2: The one to discuss how that machine works.

Track 1: Yes, right, right, yes. Yeah. So like, so really the only voice in this is like

Track 1: that of the capitalist essentially.

Track 1: And I think having him, you know, decide since this is his last, you know, fully, um,

Track 1: before having a film, the, his next one being the great dictator,

Track 1: it like, it, it makes, it's like the, it almost seems like, uh,

Track 1: the right film and the right kind of, uh,

Track 1: plot, like plot line to go through for him to not have a voice in this versus

Track 1: the capitalist who is the one.

Track 1: That's dictating everything and then in the next one he comes in he's the great

Track 1: dictator and it's like almost like the opposite it's skewering fascism exactly.

Track 2: Exactly and the people the person who speaks the most in those films are usually

Track 2: the common folk except for napoloni.

Track 1: Because you were talking about like him being kind of as this every man and

Track 1: the you know or Or no, sorry, his upbringing of kind of making it from pretty much nothing.

Track 1: And I think one of the aspects of this film that was very interesting,

Track 1: I don't even think I might have put it in the notes even,

Track 1: is kind of the idea of the American dream and much of the idea for the film,

Track 1: again, as you mentioned, his going on tour for meeting Gandhi and all these

Track 1: leaders and thinking of making this film.

Track 1: And there is very much his...

Track 1: Persona of the tramp like trying to make it trying to needing to get a.

Track 2: Job like the strike end and it goes.

Track 1: Back to work and he he feels like he needs to do the thing you're.

Track 2: Supposed to.

Track 1: Do as like a good american like get a good job.

Track 2: And it's um.

Track 1: I think it's portrayed pretty well i don't know what you thought about that.

Track 2: I thought it was at parts and it's interesting because there

Track 2: was one film where the tramp does reach reach a

Track 2: success and actually gets the real ideal

Track 2: of the american dream to be rich and famous and that's the

Track 2: gold rush where he found the gold but in this

Track 2: one his dream he has a very humble

Track 2: dream in fact he wants to be with the gamine

Track 2: played by his then wife pauline godard godard and actually have a home with

Track 2: her and and it's kind of funny how exaggerated some of the scene is because

Track 2: like it's even like he wants it's like this leisure time sort of thing which

Track 2: capitalism takes away from,

Track 2: where, oh, he gets to be at the house, but then also his wife cooks him dinner,

Track 2: Paulette Godard, and then he actually has a cow that serves him milk,

Track 2: and the cow, he doesn't even need to use the energy or labor to actually milk the cow.

Track 2: He just puts the glass under the udder, and the cow just goes,

Track 2: and you don't even hear it.

Track 2: You just imagine it imagine it just like just like pissing milk right into right into it.

Track 2: And of course there's a peach tree right near

Track 2: the house and just like this is actually a

Track 2: pretty humble goal all things considered except for the cow like like no cow

Track 2: would be like that and and it's a fantasy fantasy so so it's just like oh we're

Track 2: gonna we're gonna be real citizens we're gonna have that house and all that so.

Track 1: And meanwhile like the next house that they have is

Track 1: that little like shack by the by like the water that has

Track 1: the falling you know everything is falling and is

Track 1: that's the i really love the dream

Track 1: scene also because one thing i was seeing is that they decided not

Track 1: to use any sound effects for any of like the cow or everything it's completely

Track 1: just because it was meant to be a dream it's like you have to almost imagine

Track 1: these things and then the very next scene i think or very soon after that is

Track 1: when they're in that kind of ram that little shack and there are the sound effects that.

Track 2: Every single time he enters it a beam just like boop hits him on his head and

Track 2: you hear and you hear a thunk sound one is a few sound effects as well.

Track 1: The chair goes through the table falls down the the roof caves in the palace

Track 1: i think he falls into the water because the door is off the hinges and uh yeah just i don't know oh.

Track 2: Then he dives into it like a bass like he thinks it's gonna be a bass but it's

Track 2: low tide so he just like poo right in the mud.

Track 1: But but all of those it's it's like the

Track 1: seeking that like you said like a modest american dream

Track 1: and then initially they have this kind of very you

Track 1: know uh more than modest you could say just practically nothing and all the

Track 1: things they have they've now had to steal like she has the ham that she is slicing

Track 1: into the drinking tea from the cans and it's uh yeah i know i don't know what

Track 1: else to make of it than than like the attempt to the dream the.

Track 2: Slice in the bread i always forget just like when was sliced bread invented

Track 2: i'm like it was invented it was invented after betty white was born i do remember

Track 2: that but i think sliced bread was not very common still.

Track 1: And it was like huge and it was super thick he couldn't take a bite of

Track 1: it because it was like the slices were too big i think and

Track 1: he like takes the one slice off and i don't know i just that had

Track 1: me that was very very funny and it's uh yeah and

Track 1: for any for any listeners who like maybe isn't as familiar like i am with uh

Track 1: with charlie chaplin like his like comedic genius like it's just genius like

Track 1: all these scenes like it's hard to uh to describe uh any of these like we're

Track 1: describing like things falling and all these things but you just have to really just see it.

Track 2: Have to watch it for yourself as well to really get the genius because they

Track 2: have to be so much blocking, so much attention to detail, so much, so much

Track 2: rehearsal time because especially with the silent

Track 2: film and and apparently he had to direct his cinematography

Track 2: it'd be like you need to under under crank this much

Track 2: this scene has to be a fast-paced scene and

Track 2: just like or no you have to over crank because we're going to go in a little

Track 2: bit of slow motion but mostly it was under cranking was the thing and apparently

Track 2: it's it was so much that the cinematographer almost just quit because he's such

Track 2: perfection because traveler was just such perfections with this with this style wanted it's.

Track 1: Almost hard to imagine him doing all the things he's doing on camera while also

Track 1: directing like to that great degree it's not it's one thing like obviously people

Track 1: direct films they're in all the time but this just seems like next level of

Track 1: uh you know as you said control over everything and yeah.

Track 2: Yeah of course it was his own studio was with Douglas Fairbanks and Myri Pickford, United Artists.

Track 2: So this was his money coming out of it, too.

Track 1: That's true, yeah. And I think one thing I saw, too, is that Paulette Goddard

Track 1: in, I guess, the only other film they did after this was The Great Dictator.

Track 1: I think it led to their breaking up because of how cruel, apparently,

Track 1: he was on the set for that film, whereas in this...

Track 2: He was also a bit like this, too, apparently, because this was the first role she did for him.

Track 2: For him and she also was

Track 2: very rich by this time she got a good annulment so nobody

Track 2: was thinking to themselves oh she's a gold digger trying to go after

Track 2: chaplain like there was thoughts of that but no she was already very independently

Track 2: wealthy and she was already already starting to art collect and she was loved

Track 2: history which is how she got to got if got married to eric remarsh remarsh who

Track 2: wrote all quiet on the western front after after chaplain,

Track 2: I think like one husband after Chaplin Chaplin and she comes to the set and

Track 2: she's in full makeup like she thinks like she's going to be a big star.

Track 2: And he also Chaplin forced her to read both redye her hair back to brunette

Track 2: because she grew up brunette,

Track 2: but she dyed it blonde so she could be in these reviews and platinum blonde

Track 2: was Jean Harlow was the thing. And that's what she was for so long.

Track 2: And Chaplin said, no, you have to go back to brunette.

Track 2: And he wanted her to go back to brunette anyway during it. And she comes on

Track 2: the set and she's got this full makeup, like glamorous Joan Crawford style.

Track 2: And he dumps a bucket of water on her for her as the game.

Track 2: And he said, you are not supposed to be fabulous. You are an orphan.

Track 2: This is how we do the scene.

Track 2: And she still looks gorgeous.

Track 2: When you first see her, when she's got the banana and she's got the knife between

Track 2: her teeth, when she's cutting out the banana, she's still gorgeous without all

Track 2: that head of makeup. I think she was at least allowed to have some mascara.

Track 2: But otherwise, no, she's not as glamorized as most of the Hollywood starlets were at the time.

Track 2: But that's just the side of the control that Chaplin wanted,

Track 2: especially to control her image.

Track 1: Yeah, I didn't know that. But you're saying like, even in that scene where she's

Track 1: got like the black streaks, you know, in the first few scenes of like dirt on her face.

Track 1: And it also, they had a bunch of, at least from what I heard,

Track 1: again, I've only seen a few of his films. But apparently, like,

Track 1: the close-ups of her is, like, wasn't, like, a common thing for him to use in some of his films.

Track 1: And, like, also the scene, like, later in the department store when she's lying

Track 1: in the bed is, like, a big close-up of her.

Track 2: Yes, with the mink coat.

Track 1: Yeah, it's, like, I mean, it's, like, you can see...

Track 2: Idealization of being the true the

Track 2: biggest american dream of being the rich

Track 2: rich housewife who can have all these mink coats

Track 2: and be on this luxurious bed which i

Track 2: feel was also george romero took from took from

Track 2: for dawn of the dead where they all got to wear fur

Track 2: coats they all got to be in this got to pretend to be part of the upper classes

Track 2: so it's interesting to me how both these films use department stores slash malls

Track 2: malls to critique on capitalism and hyper capitalism and upper class living i.

Track 1: Never thought of those as a comparison i love that i mean i love pretty much

Track 1: all those romero movies but yeah i did um yeah i think we i guess we i mean

Track 1: we was a couple of scenes i want to like touch on but the thing you're talking

Track 1: about where you know he's able to get a job at a department store as like.

Track 2: The night watch night.

Track 1: Watchman and yeah so and then it probably has like the most famous scene.

Track 2: Using that using that letter of letter of recommendation for the prison warden

Track 2: even after he lost the job at the shipyard for screwing up the wedge which enough

Track 2: some other right-wingers would be like see capitalism is not the issue it's

Track 2: just the one individual the one bad apple yes.

Track 1: Yeah well actually that maybe that's a good maybe that's a good segue just to

Track 1: go back so he if he so chaplain gets arrested or the tramp gets arrested for

Track 1: supposedly being part of, you know, a, I guess it's a, he gets the flag off

Track 1: the ground. Yeah, the communist rally.

Track 2: Union rally, but it's supposed to be a red flag, which you could kind of tell.

Track 2: So you're like, oh, there's some communism sort of things going on there. But yes.

Track 1: Yeah. So he's put into prison and the prison scenes too are also just phenomenal.

Track 1: And the one other, like there's a bunch of funny scenes in there,

Track 1: but the one where they like refer to like the nose drugs.

Track 1: I don't know how they, I think that's how they called it. Yeah,

Track 1: cocaine. And like, I almost can't believe they were able to get away with doing that scene.

Track 2: I know, especially after the Hays Code, because this was post-Hays Code,

Track 2: because the implementation of it was 1934.

Track 1: Yeah, and that scene is just, you know, he becomes all, he accidentally puts

Track 1: it onto his food, and then it leads to his, you know,

Track 1: wandering around, and then the scene with the jail door just absolutely smashing

Track 1: people in the head. with yeah smashing.

Track 2: Smashing the people who are trying to take over the jail themselves in the head

Track 2: and becoming an accidental hero and also here in the gunshots one of the few

Track 2: also sounds you get with the gunshots to show how powerful those are and how

Track 2: there actually is a danger there.

Track 1: Yeah and it's it's also it's i

Track 1: mean you said like an accidental hero but he's also siding with you know the

Track 1: police force like he could have if he wanted to he could have let all the prisoners

Track 1: go and run away but instead he like oh yeah you know and then he ends up getting

Track 1: the little reprieve and the letter from the warden to to be released it's he remains like.

Track 2: Can i just stay a little longer and they're like no i think you'll be a great you'll make good.

Track 1: Well i mean that's almost like to say you'd want to stay is almost because you're you're

Track 1: You're guaranteed food.

Track 2: Yeah, you're guaranteed food and housing. You have a bed.

Track 1: Yeah, it's crazy to think that someone at that time would, you know,

Track 1: most people probably wouldn't make that same.

Track 2: There are some cases. I know there was a man who robbed a convenience store

Track 2: of just like 20 bucks so he could be arrested so that an operation he needed

Track 2: would be paid for because he didn't have any health insurance.

Track 2: There was nothing he could do so he was just like i'm going

Track 2: to go to jails and that happened in real

Track 2: life so and of course then it leads to the

Track 2: shipyard where he screws up trying to find a wedge and he ends up destroying

Track 2: the luxury and the this great rear projection scene where where the unfinished

Track 2: ship just like goes and drowns into the water right behind him after he got

Track 2: the wrong wedge And then it goes to an angel of determined to go back to jail.

Track 1: Well, I also like just the look of all of the workers at the shipyard as the

Track 1: ship is going away and just like, see you later, puts on his coat,

Track 1: buttons it and just like walks away.

Track 2: Yeah. Like, time to go back to jail.

Track 1: Yeah. And then he does, you know, multiple times, like get caught up,

Track 1: you know, the police. Yeah, he's well, this is I guess.

Track 1: Well, those are later because he's doing it to save Paul Enquadard.

Track 2: Well, at first he thought like, oh, I can definitely get this because if I steal

Track 2: this, because if I say I steal the bread, I'll go to jail.

Track 2: Even though she stole the bread for her sister and her dad, dad,

Track 2: who then who is killed in a union in a riot, unfortunately, in a later scene.

Track 2: And it's just like, that doesn't work. So he just goes into a restaurant,

Track 2: gets all this food, and then he eats it.

Track 2: And then he taps on the window right before he goes to the register and be like,

Track 2: please come here. Just be like.

Track 2: I have no money. I can't pay this. Arrest me. It's so perfect.

Track 1: My favorite part of that, too, is right after when he goes to the newsstand

Track 1: and gets the cigar while the police is talking on the phone.

Track 1: And he gives the kid some things.

Track 1: And then he does a little smoke gag where it comes out of his head.

Track 1: And goes back to jail.

Track 1: Well, then he's in the squad car. And that's when he escapes from the...

Track 2: Yeah and that's when he he gets back with the gamine i mean and they're together.

Track 1: Yeah i think that's where they end up having the little that's like the

Track 1: dream sequence and then they go to the little house and he then gets

Track 1: the job at the at the night night watchman and

Track 1: then actually you had you had sent me that picture i hadn't

Track 1: watched the image about it yet but like one of

Track 1: the maybe the most maybe the most famous scenes from

Track 1: this film is probably like him roller

Track 1: skating in the one of the levels of the department store

Track 1: it's just uh the whole department store like

Track 1: part i don't know it's a good 15 minutes it's just it's just incredible you

Track 1: mentioned yeah the idea of the kind of this capitalist excess you know of the

Track 1: the department store and he's stealing food for her downstairs and they go upstairs

Track 1: to the toy department and they're roller skating and yeah and.

Track 2: Then he puts on the blindfold and he's rolling and

Track 2: it looks like it's the edge but it's a glass panel in

Track 2: front of the camera that's in the perfect shape

Track 2: of of a blank canvas right

Track 2: behind it so it looks like it's the bottom it's like the second floor right

Track 2: there so it's precariously on the ledge and she's trying to get over there to

Track 2: skate but she doesn't know how to skate she's like come back come back it's

Track 2: just it's just it's one of the best special effects and and during that time.

Track 2: It's just, oh, it's so good.

Track 1: Yeah, in the behind the scenes, they have a little maybe a 10-minute,

Track 1: a video with a couple of like more modern um sound

Track 1: effects and like special effects people like

Track 1: who looks a lot of these weren't like written down like this was

Track 1: more of a time when you don't want anyone to know how you did these things like

Track 1: this is like secret of the trade and so they kind of figured out how it was

Track 1: done was able to they apparently watched the scene i guess um frame by frame

Track 1: and there's one moment where his skate like is off it's like not visible and So they figured it out.

Track 1: But the other thing that made it so good is that there's like a spot where they

Track 1: put a piece of wood that goes from the real set to the fake set.

Track 1: And it just, you can't, it's, yeah, it's hard to believe you think of like the

Track 1: crappiest special effects in movies now that just look horrible. And like, this is just.

Track 2: I know. And they did this with a matte painting in a glass panel just right in front of the camera.

Track 1: Yeah and that's another thing we didn't mention as far

Track 1: as like since you're talking about the special effects is all of

Track 1: the scenes in the uh factory like at

Track 1: the beginning and then i guess later on when he goes back the second

Track 1: time and also one of the yeah a second factory a second

Track 1: factory he you know they have these the way they

Track 1: built them was they created little models that then put the

Track 1: perspective of the camera so it looked like they were

Track 1: walking past these giant you know factories but or machinery

Track 1: when it was really just like a little you know

Track 1: five foot model which is yeah it's incredible

Track 1: what they could do in 1936 to

Track 1: make it look so good i think a lot of these they said were like based around

Track 1: things from um uh like metropolis like they set the like the standard for these

Track 1: kind of matte paintings and uh everything but yeah just this me rambling on

Track 1: about how just the effects are just.

Track 2: Yes and it's fascinating how in comparison to metropolis the machinery literally

Track 2: eats workers well for this one it does too but the workers survive they're pretty

Track 2: unscathed which in real life would have killed them.

Track 1: Killed them so.

Track 2: It's a great comedic stuff especially with the with his new boss he gets he

Track 2: gets where the boss is just in the machine and his head is sticking out it's

Track 2: like it's lunchtime you have to feed me we need to get this done and so we're

Track 2: just feeding him from up above above there.

Track 1: It like pops the egg in his mouth and he like spits it out and the yeah the

Track 1: i guess tea or coffee like through a funnel and everything yeah all of those that whole,

Track 1: bit of like the i it seems like a a bit that's used in like more modern joking

Track 1: kind of it's where the uh there's like the what is it like a press or like a yeah.

Track 2: The pressing machine.

Track 1: And it presses the guys the boss's watch and it's like the and his jacket and

Track 1: his jacket i don't know that again like this is one of the things where we can

Track 1: i can describe it but you just need to uh you need to see it.

Track 2: And i do love it it's so big in his head he's just like he's checking to see

Track 2: if it still ticks and like no no no so i was like sorry.

Track 1: Yeah that that whole that bit is i mean i think from um and i think just like

Track 1: purely going by like the the plot i think after that once he leaves the um once

Track 1: he gets i guess kicked out or leaves the i know they go back on strike right yeah they go.

Track 2: Back on strike we're going back on strike and at first he's upset about it's

Track 2: like i have this job it's like nope so.

Track 1: Well that's another thing too like they they use strikes as you mentioned before

Track 1: like one of them was like a union which then is kind of cross-tied with communism

Track 1: and like that you know you're obviously if you're in a union you're a communist

Track 1: And I guess leads later to, you know,

Track 1: more other than like The Great Dictator.

Track 1: I can't think of any films in like the this time and then into the 40s that

Track 1: was like so overtly anti-fascist, like referring to communism.

Track 1: But in this, they're kind of like talking smack about it a bit like,

Track 1: oh, you know, you're always on strike. You're never working.

Track 1: You produce these idiots like The Tramp. I don't know.

Track 2: It's fascinating because this is still during the Great Depression.

Track 2: A lot of people couldn't afford to go on strike because that was all they had. It's fascinating.

Track 2: He brings these up with these characters.

Track 2: I think there is sympathy for these strikers.

Track 2: I think there is, but which other forms of media I don't think would have had

Track 2: as much interest in showing them, or at least humanizing them.

Track 2: Or, well, if you compare this to a film like Strike with Sergey Eisenstein,

Track 2: where the mob actually becomes a mob mentality and they do go for violence,

Track 2: But the film actually approves of that violence because that's what they believe the only way to really,

Track 2: really get fair and equitable treatment was through those parts.

Track 2: Well, with this one, the strikers are very calm. They're nonviolent for the most part.

Track 2: And so it's just so you can tell that Chaplin wanted to humanize these people,

Track 2: even if they're kind of the masses.

Track 2: So yeah and that's what i appreciate with this film and what he was trying to

Track 2: do with do with that but also it's kind of like the a lot of people couldn't

Track 2: afford to have this time to go on strike because if you if you didn't work you

Track 2: died so yeah yeah i mean literally.

Track 1: I mean literally you think of the uh like a means like father who had been laid

Track 1: off and the the siblings who end up getting you know taken away and they they

Track 1: like what does she have She brings home, like,

Track 1: the bananas from the dock, and, like, that's all they have to eat,

Track 1: and they're living in amounts to, you know,

Track 1: one room, maybe a two-room, like...

Track 1: You know tiny place and if he doesn't get his job back at the factory they literally

Track 1: will well he dies but more of an accidental.

Track 2: Yeah trampling.

Track 1: I guess it was.

Track 2: Um but.

Track 1: It's yeah it's like it's kind of heartbreaking when you see that perspective

Track 1: of the uh what most people were probably living through at the time the.

Track 2: Rate depression like that's the that was the common.

Track 1: Uh you know view of most people.

Track 2: And it's and it's interesting to me because i

Track 2: think there was at the time at first there was there was

Track 2: i think it wasn't just just um this ambiguity

Track 2: of whether machines were actually good or not the automation because because

Track 2: right because the president who was overseeing the great depression when it

Track 2: first happened and didn't actually help with it was herbert huber who was originally

Track 2: an engineer who designed machinery.

Track 2: And that was the idea that he would create this great prosperity.

Track 2: And no, he didn't. And they actually had ghettos, they call them Hoovervilles,

Track 2: that a lot of these poor people lived in.

Track 2: And that's what they live in. And the shack is kind of a Hooverville.

Track 1: And I couldn't also help, one

Track 1: of the first things I was thinking of as I'm watching the you

Track 1: know the the feeding machine and all of

Track 1: these improvements of what the capitalists

Track 1: believe will help them do things more quickly

Track 1: like it'll replace humans like i can't help but think of just you know now we're

Track 1: in the age of you know ai and these things they're supposed to make people's

Track 1: lives better but the the actual the reality is it's not going to help the average

Track 1: working person is going to either displace you and then...

Track 1: Not let you work less. It's just going to make it so you don't have a job.

Track 2: Exactly. It basically is that idea. And also trying to promote the idea that

Track 2: AI is something that can replace real human art.

Track 2: But it can't because it doesn't have a soul.

Track 2: And it just reproduces what other people make.

Track 2: And of course, it takes a lot of energy. which we're already seeing the effects

Track 2: of with the california wildfires with with climate change so.

Track 1: Yeah i saw something just today as

Track 1: to the number of like gallon i know i think it was something it wasn't ai

Track 1: i think it was elon musk built some like

Track 1: a refinement facility in cal in

Track 1: texas and it said it takes like 16 gallons

Track 1: per like you know i don't i don't

Track 1: remember the exact but something obscene and like it's in a

Track 1: place where like they have to have time showers because there isn't enough

Track 1: water and like you just think of these finite resources that

Track 1: are being uh you know wasted on like someone's horrible like i don't know if

Track 1: you saw the that video that was going around of someone making like a ai car

Track 1: chase scene from a film and it's like the worst thing you've ever seen in your

Track 1: life and like look how cool this is it's.

Track 2: Just like it's just it doesn't It's just the idea of creating surplus value,

Track 2: but without actually paying for the labor for it.

Track 2: And because that's what surplus value is, the idea is that is the work that

Track 2: a labor that a labor puts in to make a product that's going to be sold.

Track 2: But that product is going to have more money than what the laborer is paid for.

Track 2: And that's surplus value.

Track 2: And that goes to the capitalists, the person who owns the means of production.

Track 2: And that's people like Elon Musk.

Track 2: That's the person like the factory owner in the beginning of the scenes.

Track 2: Scenes and and those are

Track 2: the people who have so much leisure time that they can tweet almost every hour

Track 2: like elon muskhead that's why when people are being like billionaires earn their

Track 2: money it's just like no they really don't they they have way more time than

Track 2: a lot of other working class people do.

Track 1: Like literally doing a puzzle at the beginning of this film reading

Track 1: the newspaper i mean it's it's kind of amazing the uh you

Track 1: know literally nothing has changed other than the fact that you know in this

Track 1: film or like the reality of that time ford was a billionaire or whatever his

Track 1: wealth is and now it's just magnified because they've you know commodified everything

Track 1: they possibly can and um exactly we'll see i think i was gonna this is one of

Track 1: the things that i was gonna we'd.

Track 1: We kind of went past it but it kind of gets into the like the

Track 1: workers and everything and you're talking about like they don't have free time and

Track 1: all of this and it just the one of the things i noted down

Track 1: was just like the alienation of the worker

Track 1: and you have you can see how the other

Track 1: people who are in the in the factory at the beginning that

Track 1: are like he's doing like the turning of the with the

Track 1: wrench and then someone else is hammering it and then someone else

Track 1: is doing other small little bits but each of these people like they don't

Track 1: even may not even know what they're building or

Track 1: like what this is for they're all completely disconnected from everything

Track 1: it's just they're just pressing buttons and

Track 1: they're like this cog in this machine and like it's the

Track 1: they don't see any fruit of their labor and then they

Track 1: take away it further using automated feeding machines

Track 1: and you know i don't know making them wear diapers on

Track 1: you know like or whatever the these horrible

Track 1: stories yeah exactly and

Track 1: it's just um yeah i mean we're maybe beating i don't mean to say we're like

Track 1: beating a dead horse but i think it's it's incredible what even in his restrained

Track 1: film as you had said like it's still so uh pretty overt in the uh the message of all of that.

Track 2: Yes very much so very much so and it's and of course it of course leads to the

Track 2: funny gag where he starts wrenching buttons that.

Track 1: Look like.

Track 2: It because he has no idea what he was doing in the first place

Track 2: so he was just told wrench these screws and

Track 2: so everything that looks like them becomes is something he's like i need to

Track 2: turn it i am a machine that can't stop and of course it goes to a woman who

Track 2: has these buttons that look like it on on her skirt which is near her butts

Track 2: and then he does the just the donkey ear jackass,

Track 2: thing which is like really riskaged in there and of course it then goes to a

Track 2: woman with similar stuff on her breasts where her areolas are and you're like,

Track 2: Whoa, this is going really, really risque right there.

Track 1: I kind of couldn't believe that they could get away with any of those three

Track 1: like bits almost pretty, you know, unexpected for the a lot of those bits in

Track 1: this are like kind of surprisingly allowed.

Track 1: Oh, I remember you mentioned before, I know you mentioned Upton Sinclair and

Track 1: his support from Charlie Chaplin when he was running for us.

Track 1: But I think you mentioned also you were going to mention the jungle.

Track 1: I don't know if that, if you already got past that part.

Track 2: Yeah, the jungle, of course, well, changed everything, which is interesting.

Track 2: Well, it changed everything, but not in the way Upton Sinclair suspected,

Track 2: because he wanted it to promote a socialist cause to bring up that alienation,

Track 2: how capitalism dehumanizes the worker.

Track 2: But he described the factory floors and all the non-safety precautions so accurately

Track 2: that everybody became disgusted.

Track 2: So and that led to the Food and Drug Administration so that all of all the food

Track 2: and everything was tested because they were just so gross and disgusting, those factories.

Track 2: And I think Upton Sinclair even said said I I was hoping to hit the hit the

Track 2: audience's heart, but instead I hit their stomach.

Track 1: So well i mean i guess i guess the idea is that instead

Track 1: of it the it doesn't actually the because these big corporations and places

Track 1: that were probably the ones doing all of the uh the the had the horrible business

Track 1: practices probably paid the least amount of taxes and it probably went to all

Track 1: the working people who were getting like sick and ill from it and dying yeah.

Track 2: And if people like ford they hated fdr because fdr had to sign in the new deal

Track 2: deal and that brought in a lot of government regulation on a lot of these factories

Track 2: and corporations to make sure they hired people, that they paid them enough,

Track 2: all this stuff that they, that work that capitalists got away with and they

Track 2: would union bust against because they didn't want those concessions to people.

Track 2: They wanted to take as much value from the worker as possible while giving them

Track 2: the least amount of money for it and that's what we're still doing today today

Track 2: it's just it gotten worse because ceo pay has gone even higher yeah and minimum.

Track 1: Wages have remained.

Track 2: Stagnant and the price of everything.

Track 1: Is uh is magnified yeah and it's yeah the the there i mean i guess you could say,

Track 1: I don't know, maybe going to the kind of like the one of the maybe the one of

Track 1: the last scenes of the film is when that can mean gets a job singing and dancing

Track 1: at like, I guess it's like a club,

Track 1: club restaurant type of place and eventually gets a job for the tramp to have

Track 1: also be a waiter and then a singer,

Track 1: which is also one of the most hysterical scenes like the bringing the food out and the.

Track 2: He said, I forgot the words. I forgot the words. He's just like,

Track 2: I'll write them on your cuff.

Track 2: And of course, that has to go wrong because he immediately starts dancing and he's like, whew!

Track 2: And the cuffs just like fly out. He's like, oh.

Track 2: And he's just like, doot, doot, doot, doot. And he's looking for the lyrics like, nope, not there.

Track 2: He's just like, make something up.

Track 2: So he does. And it's this made up language that no one's that has no that is just great.

Track 2: And so it keeps that universality with the tramp tramp, because he's not American.

Track 2: He's not European. He's not blah, blah, blah.

Track 2: So and that's why that works well and still is really funny.

Track 2: And we still connect with him. We don't feel distant from him.

Track 1: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's he's still like, yeah, he's entertaining and he's giving,

Track 1: you know, the people uh you know it's not i mean it isn't

Track 1: maybe a fancy place i mean i guess the guy is ordering like a nice bottle of

Track 1: liquor and a big duck and everything but yeah he's still like uh you know he's

Track 1: he needs this job to survive like and then eventually when the gamine gets uh

Track 1: is going to be arrested for being what like a vagrant is that what they say

Track 1: they're going to arrest i don't.

Track 2: Oh oh yeah like a vagrant see gummy and also because she's i'm not sure if a lot of people,

Track 2: Well, the resources I talk about do not really bring this up,

Track 2: that the gamine is technically underage, and she's with this adult man.

Track 2: And I think there are some, it is definitely related to Chaplin's real life,

Track 2: because as many people know, he did date women who were much younger than him and his final wife.

Track 2: It was interesting because he was afraid to marry Paulette for a long time because

Track 2: apparently a Romani woman did his fortune. He said he would have three divorces,

Track 2: but his fourth marriage would last. And Paulette was his third marriage.

Track 2: And then later on, he married Una Chaplin when she was a teenager,

Track 2: even though I think she was 18, 19, against her father's wishes.

Track 2: And she was disowned because of that. Well, Una O'Neill.

Track 2: So, and the part of the O'Neill clan.

Track 2: So so yeah so i think that was a part of that that not only was it a plot relevancy

Track 2: thing because she can't really be emancipated because she's awards of the state.

Track 1: But also.

Track 2: Because chaplain did date teenagers very problematic it's it's very problematic

Track 2: but i feel like if we didn't bring it up somebody would say hey you're ignoring

Track 2: this issue and it's just yes.

Track 1: I agree.

Track 2: It is very problematic it is it's wrong then it was wrong now but but yeah.

Track 1: Yeah i don't think yeah i don't think by having

Track 1: not said it and mentioning it doesn't say where

Track 1: yeah we're not neither of us we're not condoning these kind of things and

Track 1: it's no separate from the film i think you can separate

Track 1: those things and still say that he had some questionable behavior

Track 1: as probably 75 of the people

Track 1: you know in directors and all these people

Track 1: you're gonna do not just from that period from any period

Track 1: of time there's gonna have some very true you know i've

Track 1: done films with i don't know um you know

Track 1: with kevin's like a kevin spacey movie like you know he's

Track 1: not not a good person but uh but anyway

Track 1: the uh the yeah but then so i guess i think

Track 1: i was just leading to the final moment where they kind of have to

Track 1: make their escape and they you know just uh you know and this is kind of the

Track 1: typical at the end like the tramp is kind of walking away alone but in this

Track 1: like he finally has like a a companion and then he's also now kind of retiring

Track 1: this uh this persona the the tramp and so it's,

Track 1: it i don't know it feels like the most perfect way to end his silent you know

Track 1: silent air for him Yeah. The character.

Track 1: I don't know. It's just like a perfect bow. I don't know.

Track 2: Going into the sunset that there is hope. Fuck up. We'll make through.

Track 2: Which is why I think he did still have hope for Pony.

Track 2: The american dream even if he had a

Track 2: lot of issues with it and it's fascinating because originally

Track 2: the ending there was a different ending where the gamine does

Track 2: get caught but she joins and she joins a convent and she becomes a nun yeah

Track 2: and he visits her and she wishes him well but she wants to stay stay there and

Track 2: so he wanders off alone again which is usually the ending for the tramp But this time he changed,

Track 2: but he changed it and they did this instead, which I feel actually really does well.

Track 2: And he has a companion with him and they can make it.

Track 2: And you kind of, and you do believe in the helpful with the song Smile playing

Track 2: that he co-composed and also became famous through Michael Jackson.

Track 2: Adding with added lyrics that Michael Jackson sang, which Janelle Monae also covered.

Track 2: So you see Charlie Chaplin's influence in a lot of places, and he is the universal

Track 2: man. It is very universal.

Track 2: There's a famous actor, Raj Kapoor, from India, who actually created his own

Track 2: version of the Tramp character for two famous films,

Track 2: Avara and Shree 420, that also talked a lot about social issues with Indian society over there.

Track 2: And I recommend them. Please watch them.

Track 2: Watch them. But so, yeah, and you could and just perfect ending. I'm rambling.

Track 1: No no you're and it's funny this when i was thinking about the ending i actually

Track 1: i haven't i did this movie a while back but i hadn't considered like i'm thinking

Track 1: of all now all the influences of like scenes in this i think i just saw some

Track 1: video where they were comparing a scene from this and a scene from like a modern

Track 1: movie but i think of like the ending of um,

Track 1: god now i can't remember uh is it dogma where they

Track 1: like stand silent bob walk away with like the monkey like down

Track 1: the street it's like it's the same ending in this in the same sense

Track 1: it's like the walking off into the sunset and uh you

Track 1: know definitely uh you know kevin smith not the

Track 1: same caliber necessarily as i mean

Track 1: i don't think anyone would say that as uh as uh charlie chaplin but it's like

Track 1: the everything about this film and so many of his is like the influences are

Track 1: just uh you know too many to count yeah yeah i mean so i guess that's i guess

Track 1: that's it was there any um,

Track 1: notes you had on the film or anything we left out that you wanted to add in before we finish up?

Track 2: I think I just got about mostly everything. I didn't want to get too complex

Track 2: for what we were discussing because I was just like, oh, we're not in a grad

Track 2: school lecture. Let's go that far.

Track 2: Let's not alienate the audience too much.

Track 1: Yes yeah or yeah i i might have alienated me

Track 1: here no no i i think it's uh it's it's um i think we hit all of like the main

Track 1: points that i was thinking of and kind of the the ones that i had read and everything

Track 1: like that but i don't know uh any again anyone who hasn't um you know seen any uh

Track 1: chaplain movies i don't know maybe this is the best first one to watch i don't

Track 1: know uh what would you say if you're like it's telling so like they wanted to

Track 1: get into watching some of these era films what would you recommend to them i.

Track 2: Think this is a this is a good first watch but i think if you want something

Track 2: a little more tender just to just to kind of sink your feet into,

Track 2: either the kid or city lights i think would be best what best ones to go with for first chaplain.

Track 1: I think that the first one I ever saw was The Great Dictator,

Track 1: which I actually don't think was maybe the best first one because it's a talky

Track 1: film, so it's not kind of like your typical...

Track 1: Tramp uh kind of charlotte chaplin movie so i would say yeah this one would

Track 1: be uh could be one of those first ones but um i know we did so we so i skipped

Track 1: it over at the beginning i was going to ask you your favorite film of 2024 but

Track 1: i'm going to change it since we've already well maybe i'll still ask you that or or if you.

Track 2: Don't want to say.

Track 1: Your favorite 2024 film i'm curious if you have any just a film you might recommend

Track 1: to someone outside of the the chaplin universe just uh you know something you've

Track 1: seen you could you can dealer's choice on what what you'd want to.

Track 2: Recommend or share well i think my faith my favorite

Track 2: film in 2024 which kind of sort of

Track 2: is related in a sense is the beast by

Track 2: bernard bonello with leah sadow and

Track 2: george mckay because it actually is about

Track 2: this woman who is going through this procedure through this company

Track 2: to erase her past lives so that she

Track 2: won't feel any emotions so she can function better in

Track 2: the society society she is so basically becoming

Track 2: sort of a robot to actually fit in with everyone else

Track 2: and to fit the masses masses and

Track 2: it goes back in time to her

Track 2: past lives with this man that she was in love with and and

Track 2: this man exists still in her present time

Track 2: present time and they are starting to

Track 2: reconnect and it's fascinating that she's trying to be trying

Track 2: to say should i still go through this procedure to remove

Track 2: these emotions so i basically will become a robot and to

Track 2: fit into the society to function to work work

Track 2: and and it's fascinating how we still have these films that will bring up these

Track 2: ideas that people have to become automatons to function that they have to be

Track 2: not individuals but instead part of the masses to make the society function

Track 2: as it's supposed to be, this capitalist world.

Track 2: And I love...

Track 2: Love The Beast for that. I love how it goes into that.

Track 2: I love how it adapts to Henry James short novelette, even though it adds a sci-fi element.

Track 2: And I think it does relate to modern times. It's got very similar themes about

Track 2: that and keeping your own individuality when the world around you is trying

Track 2: to crush it out to make you fit into this tiny socket, this part of the machine.

Track 1: Yeah this has been on my watch as i need to i'm like

Track 1: catching up on some of the ones from the i haven't seen and

Track 1: that's been sitting on my criterion uh like watches

Track 1: i need to to watch that um i

Track 1: think the last time i think i shared in my in a previous

Track 1: episode recently that i think my favorite film

Track 1: for 2024 at least on my current ranking i'm

Track 1: gonna do like a like a episode on just with a couple other people we just go

Track 1: through our top 10 but i think it was kneecap but because i've already said

Track 1: that i'm gonna say one of my other favorite films from the year which i think

Track 1: i think it technically came out in 2023 but it was released in the u.s in 2024 was red rooms,

Track 1: which was a which is really an incredible film i mean i think some other content warning.

Track 2: It's french it's french canadian though for people who are scared of that.

Track 1: Yes it's it's definitely yeah it's um it's

Track 1: not a film that's maybe for the faint of

Track 1: heart it's it's it's weird i i actually recently explained

Track 1: it to someone as it's um uh oh

Track 1: gosh the non-flanking on the film the oliver stone movie from

Track 1: like the 90s that was uh natural i think of it as that but like good and i always

Track 1: say that because like that movie kind of had like the over-the-top attempt to

Track 1: like show you the evils of like uh you know violence and and the and all of

Track 1: these things and this is like a much more restrained version of that, but like,

Track 1: very very good and i know maybe that's a terrible comparison for someone uh listening but i.

Track 2: Mean i just compared modern times and the beast.

Track 1: Okay so yeah so there's nothing is off limits but i think it's a it's a really

Track 1: good uh a good film i don't know if you can watch it anywhere i.

Track 2: Know that you can rent it for about four dollars on amazon.

Track 1: And i.

Track 2: Think it's well worth the rental.

Track 1: It is yes i.

Track 2: I paid $4.

Track 1: So I saw it in the theater when it was like, they were doing like a screening

Track 1: of, and I think I just actually bought the, the Blu-ray, which was maybe a gutsy

Track 1: decision of, of that film.

Track 1: But I thought, you know what? I think I want to, but yeah, that would,

Track 1: that would be one of my top films to watch for anyone.

Track 1: I don't think I've recommended on this show, but yeah.

Track 1: So Molly, thank you so much for coming on

Track 1: and talking about modern times and uh i

Track 1: guess comparing it to the beast we've uh almost 100

Track 1: years apart so that's that's yeah yes and

Track 1: um yeah and so you can i guess i'll i'll share where you can people can follow

Track 1: you on on the internet and you can listen to this podcast wherever you listen

Track 1: to it actually right now since you're listening to it you can just follow uh

Track 1: there or at left of the projector dot com. And so thank you again, Molly.

Track 2: Thanks for having me again.

Track 1: Of course. And we will catch you all next time.