Modern Times

Plot Summary

(edited from Wikipedia)

Chaplin portrays a factory worker, employed on an assembly line. After being subjected to such indignities as being force-fed by a 'modern' feeding machine and an accelerating assembly line where Chaplin screws nuts at an ever-increasing rate, he suffers a mental breakdown. Chaplin is sent to a hospital. Following his recovery the now unemployed Chaplin is mistakenly arrested for leading a Communist demonstration when he was only attempting to return a flag that fell off a delivery truck. In jail, he accidentally eats smuggled cocaine - believing it to be salt. In his subsequent state he walks into a jailbreak and knocks out the convicts. He is hailed a hero and is released.

Outside the jail, he discovers life is harsh, and attempts to get arrested after failing to get a decent job. He soon runs into an orphan girl (a gamine) who is fleeing the police after stealing a loaf of bread. To save the girl he tells police that he is the thief and ought to be arrested. However, a witness reveals his deception and he is freed. In order to get arrested again, he eats an enormous amount of food in a cafe without paying. He meets up with the gamine in the paddy wagon which crashes, and they escape. Dreaming of a better life, he gets a job as a night watchman at a department store, sneaks the homeless gamine into the store, and even lets burglars have some food. Waking up the next morning in a pile of clothes, he is arrested once more.

Ten days later, the gamine takes him to a new home - a run-down shack. The next morning, he reads about a new factory and lands a job there. He helps extricate his boss out of machinery, but when workers demonstrate, he is arrested for accidently attacking a policeman.  Two weeks later, he is released and learns that the gamine is a cafe dancer, and she tries to get him a job as a singer. He becomes an efficient waiter though he finds it difficult to tell the difference between the "in" and "out" doors to the kitchen, or to successfully deliver a roast duck to table. During his floor show, he loses a cuff that bears the lyrics of his song, but he rescues his act by improvising the words in gibberish while pantomiming. His act proves a hit. When police arrive to arrest the gamine for her earlier escape, they escape again. Finally, we see them walking down a road at dawn, towards an uncertain but hopeful future.