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Modern Times poster

Movies that feel likeModern Times (1936)

A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...

If you loved Modern Times, the closest films we have are The Circus (1928), Limelight (1952) and City Lights (1931). All three share Modern Times' witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is I Know Where I'm Going! (1945).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Charlie Chaplinwittyplayfulcontemplativeromantictender
6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Modern Times hit the spot, these will too

The Circus poster
The Circus
1928 · dir. Charlie Chaplin
🍅 97%★ 8.1comedy · drama · romancePrime VideoMax

Charlie Chaplin directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.

Limelight poster
Limelight
1952 · dir. Charlie Chaplin
🍅 88%★ 8romance · drama · comedyMax

The same hand behind both of them: Charlie Chaplin

A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.

City Lights poster
City Lights
1931 · dir. Charlie Chaplin
🍅 95%★ 8.5comedy · drama · romancePrime VideoMax

The same two preoccupations: tramp, and black and white

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

The Shop Around the Corner poster
The Shop Around the Corner
1940 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 99%★ 8comedy · drama · romance

One thread runs through both: black and white

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

The Cameraman poster
The Cameraman
1928 · dir. Edward Sedgwick
🍅 100%★ 8comedy · romance · drama

Witty and playful in the same breath

A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.

Holiday poster
Holiday
1938 · dir. George Cukor
🍅 100%★ 7.7comedy · romance · drama

Both land stillness and romance at once

Johnny Case, a freethinking financier, has finally found the girl of his dreams — Julia Seton, the spoiled daughter of a socially prominent millionaire — and she's agreed to marry him. But when Johnny plans a holiday for the two to enjoy life while they are still young, his fiancée has other plans & that is for Johnny to work in her father's bank!

I Know Where I'm Going! poster
I Know Where I'm Going!
1945 · dir. Michael Powell
🍅 100%★ 7.4romance · drama · comedy

Tender comedy in both cases

Plucky Englishwoman Joan Webster travels to the remote islands of the Scottish Hebrides in order to marry a wealthy industrialist. Trapped by inclement weather on the Isle of Mull and unable to continue to her destination, Joan finds herself charmed by the straightforward, no-nonsense islanders around her, and becomes increasingly attracted to naval officer Torquil MacNeil, who holds a secret that may change her life forever.

Roman Holiday poster
Roman Holiday
1953 · dir. William Wyler
🍅 97%★ 8romance · comedy · drama

Drama built on wit, twice over

Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.

Sabrina poster
Sabrina
1954 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 89%★ 7.6comedy · romance · drama

Playful romance, and it commits to that

After two years in Paris, chauffeur's daughter Sabrina returns home elegantly transformed and immediately catches the attention of David, the playboy son of her father's rich employers. David woos and wins Sabrina, who has always been in love with him, however their romance is threatened by David's serious older brother Linus, who runs the family business and is relying on David to marry an heiress in order for a crucial merger to take place.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town poster
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 90%★ 7.8comedy · drama · romance

Comedy with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

Sissi poster
Sissi
1955 · dir. Ernst Marischka
★ 7comedy · drama · romance

Both lean on romance more than on drama

The young Bavarian princess Elisabeth, who all call Sissi, goes with her mother and older sister Néné to Austria where Néné will be wed to an emperor named Franz Joseph, Yet unexpectedly Franz runs into Sissi while out fishing and they fall in love.

Make Way for Tomorrow poster
Make Way for Tomorrow
1937 · dir. Leo McCarey
🍅 100%★ 8.2drama · romance

Both lean on tenderness more than on romance

The difference: Easier on the wit than Modern Times

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

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The best-reviewed films that share Modern Times’ defining feeling.