Charlie Chaplin's last outing as the Little Tramp puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times — though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!) — is a timeless showcase of Chaplin's untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the Great Depression — conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization.

This movie is notable for being the first time Chaplin's voice is heard on film. In 1989, Modern Times was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  Fourteen years later, it was screened "out of competition" at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.