Charlie Chaplin made several films rightly considered classics, and if you’re a fan of silent cinema, you’ve probably got them on DVD already. But if there’s a gap in your collection, you may want to pick up one of the new releases from Artificial Eye, and the latest in that collection is Modern Times, considered one of his best.

For those unfamiliar with it, Modern Times may not be exactly how you imagine a Chaplin film. For starters, it’s not entirely silent. Made later in his career, and preceding his first proper ‘talkie’ The Great Dictator, this film blends silent and sound filmmaking, mostly focusing on Chaplin’s physical pratfalling but with some incursions of sound, most notably when he’s forced to improvise a song and dance number and spouts a masterwork of gibberish known as the “nonsense song”.

Secondly, the story’s no light-hearted romp. After losing his factory job, Chaplin’s ‘Little Tramp’ character goes through a series of jobs, desperately trying to hold onto work so that he can he can keep himself and his orphaned girlfriend off the streets. This may sound like a bit of a downer, and indeed Chaplin doesn’t pull his punches in his critique of the oppressive industrial society and the struggles of the unemployed.

But don’t think the film’s at all as downbeat as this theme – you come to Chaplin for the physical comedy, and Modern Times provides that in bucketloads. Every job the Tramp tries out is hampered by a mixture of incompetence and bad luck, providing a regular stream of moments that will make even the most skeptical of old cinema laugh out loud. From letting a massive ship float off to sea to getting his mechanic boss stuck between the cogs of an enormous machine, via roller skating around a department store, perilously close to a high drop, this guy can’t seem to get anything right. Look out, too, for the brilliant scene in which the factory owners test out a new ‘worker feeding machine’ on him, a ludicrous contraption that looks like Wallace and Gromit crossed with 1984.

Modern Times will surpass your expectations; blending unrelenting social critique with the buffoonery of one of the twentieth century’s greatest comedians, it’s genuinely worthy of the term ‘masterpiece’.

Also included on this disc is The Idle Class, a half-hour film from 1921 in which Chaplin’s Tramp wanders onto a golf resort and gets up to his usual trouble. Plus there’s BTS look-back Chaplin Today, an introduction, trailers, and deleted scene. These extras aren’t new – Chaplin Today first appeared on a 2003 release – so may not warrant a re-purchase from established Chaplin fans, but will more than suffice to indulge the curiosity of newcomers.

Special Features: The Idle Class / Chaplin Today / Introduction / Deleted scene / Trailers

MODERN TIMES / CERT: U / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE CHAPLIN / STARRING: CHARLIE CHAPLIN, PAULETTE GODDARD / RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 24TH