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Classics aren't called classic for nothing. At least that's the case with Charlie Chaplin's 1936 "Modern Times," one of the most poignant -- and still timely -- films ever made about the human effects of industrialization and the Depression. It's also one of the funniest. It will screen at the Rafael at noon on Nov. 29, for free.

The Rafael plans to continue presenting a free quarterly series entitled "Everybody's Classics." The exact titles haven't been chosen yet, but the audience at "Modern Times" will be able to vote on films ranging from favorites such as "Casablanca" and "Singin' in the Rain" to the more recent "All the President's Men" and "The Princess Bride." Write-ins will also be encouraged.

But back to "Modern Times." The film is remembered most for its early scenes, set in the factory where Charlie, in his last performance as "The Little Tramp," tightens nuts on a faster-and-faster-moving conveyor belt and becomes a guinea pig for the "Bellows Feeding Machine," by which workers are fed lunch without stopping work. The shots of giant cogwheels and other mechanisms are stunning graphic art all in themselves.

But it's not until The Little Tramp is laid off that his adventures really begin, starting with his arrest for leading a Communist demonstration (he didn't) to his meeting with a beautiful barefoot orphan, played by Paulette Goddard (whom Chaplin either was or wasn't married to). All along, Charlie is only looking for work, and dodging the cops when things don't pan out. Scenes in a department store and a restaurant (where Charlie sings a song in mock-Italian gobbledygook) stand out.

"Modern Times" has sound effects and music -- composed by Chaplin -- but no spoken words, other than the above-mentioned song. Though the silent era had passed some years earlier, Chaplin didn't think that speech would work for his Little Tramp. He was right.

Instead, apparently immune to gravity, he dances, climbs, slides, leaps ... He was the paramount comic actor of his day and among the greatest actors of all time. No wonder that, for decades, Charlie Chaplin was the most widely recognized person in the world.

Not rated. 1 hour, 27 minutes.

— Renata Polt

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