Previous to his nonsense song in Modern Times, Chaplin's voice had been heard only once before on film, saying "Guten tag" in a newsreel filmed during a stop in Vienna in 1931.

Chaplin was impressed with Paulette Goddard's honesty and energy from the moment he met her. Goddard had come to pictures by way of the Ziegfeld Follies and after a stint as an accomplice for a professional card sharp working on Transatlantic ocean liners. She had been married once before to a North Carolina lumber fortune heir and was living quite nicely on a healthy divorce settlement while appearing in film bits and as a blond "Goldwyn Girl." She was introduced to Chaplin in 1932. He bought out her contract, arranged for her to take acting lessons with Constance Collier, sent her to dance and exercise classes, and convinced her to let her hair go back to its natural brunette color. Goddard fit in well with both Chaplin's personal and professional life, and after living together for several years, they were married in 1936. During the time of their marriage, she was the leading contender for the role of Scarlett O'Hara before losing the part to Vivien Leigh and she appeared in Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). They were separated that same year and divorced in 1942. She later married actor Burgess Meredith and then writer Erich Maria Remarque. Goddard's career was at its height in the 1940s. After that she worked less frequently but lived a full life, mostly in Europe, widely admired for her beauty, intelligence, exuberance, and generosity. She died in 1990.

Vivacious and outspoken, Paulette Goddard was interviewed at the time of Modern Times's release and presented by the press as highly critical of the conservatism and short-sightedness of much of the Hollywood community. Goddard noted that many of the film industry's most important people were easily swayed by fascism and would favor a move to Italy instead of dealing with increased taxation and the progressive policies of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The interviewer noted that such a scheme to relocate the industry to Italy was indeed "afoot."

Modern Times was shot by Rollie Totheroh, who had worked exclusively on Chaplin's films (29 to this point) since his third picture as cinematographer in 1915. He later shot Chaplin's The Great Dictator and Monsieur Verdoux (1947). Other than Chaplin's brother Sydney, Totheroh was the person with whom Chaplin had the longest working relationship. His final film, and one of only three without Chaplin, was Song of My Heart (1948), an obscure movie about Tchaikovsky. Totheroh died in 1967.

The other cinematographer on Modern Times was Ira Morgan, who shot more than 175 films in his 40-year career. Other than uncredited work as second assistant cameraman on The Immigrant (1917), this was his only work with Chaplin.

Several actors in Modern Times performed with Chaplin many times before, among them Henry Bergman (Café Proprietor), Stanley "Tiny" Sandford (Big Bill), Chester Conklin (Mechanic), and Hank Mann (Burglar). He would use several of them again in his later pictures, as well as Paulette Goddard as his leading lady in The Great Dictator.

In November 1935, three months before the film's premiere, the American Communist journal, The New Masses, published a translation of Soviet film chief Boris Shumiatski's Pravda article in which he claimed Chaplin had changed his ending to a more suitably anti-capitalist one on Shumiatski's urging. The story was picked up by the New York Times, causing alarm among theater owners who were planning to exhibit the new film.

Chaplin wanted critics to see Modern Times with a general audience, so there were no previews and no advance screenings.

Modern Times premiered at the Rivoli Theater in New York on February 5, 1936. The opening had been delayed by a few weeks because Chaplin felt the picture was not quite ready. He did not attend the premiere because the last time he made a public appearance in New York he "had a terrible time battling through the crowds" everywhere he went and dreaded the prospect of "being stared and pointed at as though I were a freak."

Modern Times opened in Los Angeles on February 12, 1936, and went into general US release on February 21.

Although Alistair Cooke, in his book Garbo and the Night Watchmen (McGraw-Hill, 1971), said Modern Times was one of the most popular films of 1936, it has also been reported that, at $1.5 million in domestic receipts, the film brought in half a million less than Chaplin's previous picture, City Lights (1931), and was at the time his least profitable.

Upon its release in 1936, Modern Times was banned in Nazi Germany for "communistic tendencies," although some said it was due to Charlie's resemblance to Hitler (exploited a few years later in The Great Dictator). Still others suggested the Nazis disliked Chaplin because they suspected he was at least part Jewish.

Although released in Italy, Modern Times was frowned upon by Mussolini and his Fascist government.

In Austria, censors snipped the scene of Charlie inadvertently leading the mob with a red flag.

Eleven-year-old Gloria DeHaven made her film debut in an uncredited part as one of the Gamin's sisters. Her father, actor-director-producer Carter DeHaven, is credited as assistant director on Modern Times, although some reports say he had a hand in shaping the script as well. Gloria went on to become a popular child/juvenile star and a cabaret performer in her later years. Her most recent feature film was the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau comedy Out to Sea (1997). Carter DeHaven helped produce and appeared in The Great Dictator.

Chaplin's friend and physician, Dr. Cecil Reynolds played a bit as the minister visiting the jail. Reynolds had previously appeared briefly in the Sherlock Holmes movie A Study in Scarlet (1933) and Frankenstein (1931), for which he also served as medical consultant/technical adviser.

During the run of Modern Times at the Rivoli Theater in New York, rival cinemas screened Chaplin's earlier works to compete.

Modern Times ended up costing around $1.5 million.

by Rob Nixon

Memorable Quotes from MODERN TIMES

OPENING TITLE CARD: Modern Times is a story of industry, of individual enterprise––of humanity crusading in pursuit of happiness.

TITLE CARD: Held as a communist leader, our innocent victim languishes in jail.

CHARLIE (TITLE CARD): We'll get a home, even if I have to work for it.

FROM CHARLIE'S NONSENSE SONG: Le spinash or le busho/Cigaretto toto bello/Ce rakish spagoletto/Se la tu la tu la twa...

GAMIN (TITLE CARD): What's the use of trying?

CHARLIE (TITLE CARD): Buck up, never say die. We'll get along.