Hollywood has gone through many тιтanic shifts throughout its long history, but one comedy movie from the 1930s changed things forever. Only a few decades after the motion picture was invented, the American film industry began standardizing many of the techniques and tropes that have become common practice in filmmaking today. Hollywood industrialized the process of making movies, and allowed the U.S. film market to dominate the burgeoning art form around the globe. However, Hollywood films have also changed quite a lot throughout history, with major shifts in tone and style coming every few decades or so.

Early films were silent, but the advent of sound in the late 1920s ushered in the Golden Age of Hollywood. For decades, films were made the same way, before the collapse of the studio system caused major changes in the 1960s and ’70s. The New Hollywood era brought in a crop of young and talented creators who had studied filmmaking in college, and the true blockbuster was born. However, before all that happened, one iconic director and actor had influenced filmmaking in innumerable ways, and his 1936 film marked the end of an era all its own.

Modern Times Brought Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp Era To An End

The 1936 Classic Was The Last Hurrah For Old Hollywood

By 1936, Charlie Chaplin was already more than two decades into his filmmaking career, and had helmed five critically-acclaimed features and dozens of short films. His character, the Little Tramp, had appeared in all but one of his features up to that point, and it was impossible to separate Chaplin from his onscreen persona. Modern Times was his most ambitious film to date, and saw the return of his beloved character as he tried to survive the rapidly industrializing world around him. Though loose on plot, Modern Times was a platform for Chaplin to explore heady themes.

Without giving the character much fanfare, Modern Times was also the end of the Little Tramp era, and all Charlie Chaplin films after would focus on new characters. It was fitting that the Tramp would go out in Modern Times, because the film is also largely a comment about the myriad of changes that had made modern life unrecognizable to what it was even a few years earlier. Shortly before the outbreak of WWII, Chaplin saw the world moving in a direction that made him uncomfortable, and he used humor as a way to examine the issue.

The devastation of the Great Depression was still raging, and Chaplin’s Tramp was there to laugh along with the audience at the absurdity of contemporary events. Modern Times is also a commentary on the industrialization of filmmaking, and the Hollywood studio system was in full force by 1936. Chaplin had been in Tinseltown for decades, but the freedom he needed to express his art was slowly being crushed beneath the proverbial wheels of industry, much like the Tramp himself in the factory scenes. It was clear that the Little Tramp couldn’t continue in the world that Chaplin foretold.

By the year Modern Times was released, the sound era was in full force, and almost every movie coming out of Hollywood had dialogue. Though Chaplin’s film does have synchronized sound, he still tells the story largely without dialogue, and the Tramp himself never talks. The film succeeded despite not conforming to contemporary production methods, but it was uncertain how long Chaplin could continue to make silent movies in the sound era. Since a large part of the Tramp’s appeal was his silent humor, he couldn’t be part of the next phase of Chaplin’s career.

It’s Difficult To Overstate The Little Tramp’s Impact On Hollywood

Few Characters Are As Instantly Recognizable

While the importance of early Hollywood has diminished somewhat as each new epoch causes upheaval in popular culture, Chaplin’s signature character has remained. The Tramp is the embodiment of old Hollywood, and his silent films are popular even today. Media has changed significantly in the more than 100 years since Chaplin began appearing onscreen, but the Little Tramp is a universally beloved figure who still manages to entertain in the modern day. It’s unusual for a character that was so popular in the past to remain iconic well into the next century, and plenty of early Hollywood figures have faded.

Though Chaplin’s performances are intricately tied to contemporary problems, there is a universal quality to the Tramp that has not lessened. The issues facing the Tramp in the ’20s and ’30s are still around in some form today, and his works are never dated. Many likable comedy protagonists have been modeled after the Tramp, and nearly every film market has their own version, whether it’s Mr. Hulot in France, or Cantinflas in Mexico. They all share a few traits in common, mainly that the тιтle character represents the everyman, and that they are often subjected to forces beyond their control.

The Tramp is also a nostalgic figure, even back when he was still new. He always represents the world as it was, and he’s often a step behind the modern day. There is an element of idealism to his life, and he’s always looking for the best even though things couldn’t get much worse. Hollywood movies are known for their idealized philosophizing, and the Tramp is the personification of that rosy vision of the world.

Did Charlie Chaplin Make Another Little Tramp Movie 4 Years After Modern Times?

His Iconic Film The Dictator Is Often Thought To Be A Little Tramp Movie

There is some confusion regarding the character of the Little Tramp, and whether he appeared in Chaplin’s 1940 film, The Great Dictator. The director’s first true talkie saw him pull double duty as a Jewish barber and a fascist dictator who was modeled after Adolph Hitler. The barber bears a striking resemblance to the Tramp in the way he looks and acts, but the setting suggests he isn’t actually the same figure. Of course, there’s really no indication that the Tramp is the same character in every film, but more of a variation on the ideas expressed in Chaplin’s works.

It’s important for Chaplin’s barber character to seem like the Tramp, because of what the Tramp ultimately represents. He is an outcast from society, and that was especially important in the political satire of The Great Dictator. It’s generally accepted that The Great Dictator is not a true Little Tramp movie, though that’s an entirely subjective point. When Chaplin was crafting his classic comedy movies, he was more focused on the themes than the continuity of his character.