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Charlie Chaplin's famous Tramp once again finds himself in the midst of industrialization. Having already fought his way through the pitfalls and turmoil of the modern mass city in City Lights (1931), he now has to prove himself as an assembly line worker in a maximally efficiency-oriented factory, where he has to do monotonous work all day long. His mental breakdown is pre-programmed in this working environment...

Charlie Chaplin takes on industrialization with many slapstick interludes. In doing so, he addresses a serious topic with a great deal of humor: people are worn down in the work process between maximum efficiency and monotony and become more and more alienated from themselves and their fellow human beings. An intentional or unintentional escape from this alienation is pursued and punished by the police. Chaplin remained true to himself and his subject matter. With a feeling for the perceived professionalization of Hollywood, which was progressing through sound technology, he once again refused to use sound in Modern Times: for long stretches, Modern Times is a silent film in the midst of the era of sound films that had long since begun. And with great mimic fireworks, Chaplin contrasts microphones as a form of expression with one of the classics of film history, which is at least as worth seeing today as it was 90 years ago.