MUBI

Timely take on the social impact of massive bank failures and financial panic. Dark humor.
Filled with great moments:
-physical comedy (flipping through pages, offering flowers to the grand dame, hiding from William Frawley at the party, etc.)
-documentary clips that must have been compelling at the time (Hitler, unemployment, bank runs, etc.)
-some exacting visual design (staging, the train wheel device, etc.)
And it is an amazing satire on a topic that we could all get something from now, in “these times.”
Perhaps it’s the dated pacing, or Chaplin’s own melodramatic score, or the episodic nature of the story – but the film didn’t land the overarching political point I think it was aiming for. Rather, it felt like a series of set pieces, many of which are brilliant, and some of which plod.
Interesting Orson Welles connection, I didn’t know they collaborated.