Richards Favorite Videos

the mirror maze sequence from the circus (1928) by charlie chaplin

Clip from the 1936 silent film, Modern Times, where The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) unknowingly puts cocaine on his food in the prison mess hall and then saves the day.

A scene from the 1921 movie The Kid starring Charlie Chpalin. In this scene, Chaplin and the kid are on their daily scams to make a living.

The Riddler and his felonious fimmaking cronies (Pauline, C.B., Von Bloheim and Wolf) interrupt a silent film festival of a famous silent film collector Mr. Van Jones dressed as Charlie Chaplin and The Keystone Cops (much to the disgust of Van Jones, who believes the act takes all the attention from the movies!), and steal the box-office receipts! Batman and Robin trace Riddler via one of his Riddles to Mother Gotham’s Bakery, where he not only plans to pilfer its payroll, but film the whole robbery in the style of an old film comedy. The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder rush to the bakery, only to be greeted by its unconscious bookeepers (put to sleep by Riddler’s pies topped with sleeping cream!) and another Riddle left by the already departed King Of Conundrums. This new Riddle leads them to The Baker Street Branch of The Gotham Library (closed on Wednesdays due to lack of funds!), where they are hit over the head by a huge tome–which is also captured in its entirety on camera by The Riddler!

As Riddler and his celluloid comical cohorts view and enjoy the day’s rushes involving their adversaries in an abandoned cutting room of a bankrupt movie studio, The Dynamic Duo speed back to The Batcave to analyze the tome; it contains yet 2 more Riddles which lead our Duo to a Temperance Party (where the only refreshment served is lemonade) being given by Mr. Van Jones. As The Boy Wonder waits outside, The Caped Crusader enters to find that The Riddler has spiked the lemonade with Temper Tonic, causing the goodnatured party to turn into a hot-tempered free-for-all! Once again The Riddler’s ever-present camera crew catches the action. Meanwhile, back at The Batmobile, Pauline, The Riddler’s moll, disguises herself as Little Bo Peep and gasses The Boy Wonder to sleep, kidnapping him and taking him to the abandoned Gotham Lumberyard, where in a matter of minutes a giant buzzsaw threatens to slice him in two!

The soundtrack of a clip from Charlie Chaplin’s film “Modern Times” made of Atari game sounds. Awesome

Opening of the movie. Modern Times is a 1936 comedy film by Charlie Chaplin that has his famous Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin’s view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization. The movie stars Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Stanley Sandford and Chester Conklin. It was written and directed by Chaplin, and marked the final screen appearance of the iconic Tramp character.

In 1989, this film was deemed “culturally significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Modern Times is often hailed as one of Chaplin’s greatest achievements, and it remains one of his more popular films. The iconic depiction of Chaplin working frantically to keep up with an assembly line inspired later comedy routines including Disney’s Der Fuehrer’s Face, an episode of I Love Lucy titled “Job Switching”, and most recently, an episode of Drake & Josh.

This was Chaplin’s first overtly political-themed film, and its unflattering portrayal of industrial society generated controversy in some quarters upon its initial release.

It is important to note that in this Chaplin film, Modern Times, that all the sounds in the film only came from and through machines such as a television or display (Boss yells at him through this device), a phonograph, radio, and machines (sounds of machinery). The reason this is important because all these sounds are used to dehumanize the main character, a factory worker. Also, this film gives us an aspect of how the average factory felt like in those times, because you see how the main character is put under immense pressure (by the head boss and his supervisor) to perform his duties, far beyond his physical abilities.

Hynkle addresses his loyal crowd or brainwashed robots. Charlie Chaplins wonderful World War 2 satire.

The film ends with the barber, having been mistaken for the dictator, delivering an address in front of a great audience and over the radio to the nation, following the Tomainian take-over of Osterlich (an obvious reference to the German Anschluss of Austria on March 12, 1938). The address is widely interpreted as an out-of-character personal plea from Chaplin. Chaplin’s controversial speech, seen as an overtly political speech, may have contributed to the litany of reasons he was ultimately denied reentry in the United States during the McCarthy era (see the article on Charlie Chaplin for further detail). The speech was also denounced by the American Communist movement as Stalin had signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler before the release of the film.

Whats happening here?: General Schultz and the barber escape from the camp wearing Tomainian uniforms (featuring the double cross in parody of the Nazi swastika). Border guards mistake the barber for Hynkel (with whom he shares a remarkable resemblance, to the point that, if not for his clothes, he would be an absolute duplicate). Conversely, Hynkel, on a duck-hunting trip so that people will not expect an invasion, is mistaken for the barber and is arrested by his own soldiers. The barber, who has assumed Hynkel’s identity, is taken to the Tomainian capital to make a victory speech. Garbitsch, in introducing “Hynkel” to the throngs, decries free speech and other supposedly traitorous and outdated ideas. In contrast, the barber then makes a rousing speech, reverting Hynkel’s anti-Semitic policies and welcoming in a new era of democracy. The text of the speech can be read at Wikiquote.

Hannah, despondent over the recent events, hears the barber’s speech on the radio, and is amazed when “Hynkel” addresses her directly: “Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up! Look up, Hannah! The clouds are lifting, the sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness and into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their greed, their hate, and their brutality. Look up, Hannah!” The film concludes with Hannah indeed looking up, with a renewed sense of optimism.