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| Charlie Chaplin apparently flabbergasted at the prospect of world domination on this delightful poster for his The Great Dictator |
A simple Jewish barber in the (fictional) country of Tomaine experiences the grim persecution that the country's dictator gives rise to, the 'great' Hynkel, who wants to own the entire world, but through a strange coincidence, the two opposites share a striking physical resemblance ...
The Great Dictator is written and directed by English master filmmaker Charles Chaplin (Chase Me Charlie (1918)), who also produced, co-scored and stars in the film's two lead roles.
This is Chaplin's sincere, deeply courageous and incredibly impressive protest against Germany's Nazi madman Adolf Hitler, and it is a fantastic film. Often very funny and full of iconic scenes, - the globe-dancing scene in particular, - and marvelous comedy, especially between Chaplin's Hynkel and Jack Oakie (Rise and Shine (1941)) as the fellow dictator character (obviously) molded after Italy's fascist tyrant Benito Mussolini.
The Great Dictator is an extraordinary film in many ways, though in parts, in the knowing hindsight gained shortly after WWII, it is a pleasure with a bitter taint to it, because one clearly gathers that the multi-talented creator himself here was not fully aware of the overwhelming horrors of Nazism, which were carried out as the film was released and met audiences the world over. Had Chaplin known of the death camps and extinction plans, The Great Dictator would have never come to be. It is also the master's first sound picture, and it is a little strange to witness him speak. He remains at his funniest mute and in physical comedy scenes.
Related post:
Charlie Chaplin: City Lights (1931) - Chaplin's acclaimed, sentimental tomfooleries
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 4.4 mil. $ (North-American rentals alone + re-releases after 2000)
= Uncertain - but certainly a success
[The Great Dictator premiered 15 October (New York) and runs 124 minutes. Chaplin saw Leni Riefenstahl's legendary propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1935) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, laughed uproariously at it and was inspired; he watched the film several times to learn to mimic Hitler's speech and mannerisms. Chaplin was disliked by the Nazi leadership in Germany even before the film: A 1934 anti-Semitic publication in the country described him as "a disgusting Jewish acrobat"; Chaplin, not even Jewish, may have devised the film as a means of retaliation. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, reportedly running from September 1939 - February 1940, beginning six days after the onslaught of WWII. The New York Times' Bosley Crowther in his review called the film "perhaps the most significant film ever produced". It was the 2nd highest-grossing film of 1940 in North America, after Boom Town. 9 mil. paid admission in the UK, at war with Germany when the film was released. In France it was not released until 1945, becoming the year's most popular film with 8 mil. admissions. It was banned in several Latin-American countries that sympathized with Nazi Germany. Its actual world gross is regrettably not known. A refugee from the Nazi Ministry of Culture asserted that Hitler saw the film twice, alone both times, and Chaplin remarked that he would give anything to know what he had thought of it. Much discussion has gone into whether the Jewish barber character is, in fact, Chaplin's famous little tramp character, but it has been made clear that, despite similarities, this is not the case. Chaplin paid 95k $ in a plagiarism settlement in 1947, which then ascertained that he was the film's sole author. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actor to James Stewart in The Philadelphia Picture, Supporting Actor (Oakie) to Walter Brennan in The Westerner, Original Score (Chaplin and Meredith Wilson) to Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and Ned Washington for Pinocchio, Picture to Rebecca and Original Screenplay to Preston Sturges for The Great McGinty. It won 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #55 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between Memento (2000) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Chaplin wrote in his 1964 autobiography that he could not have made The Great Dictator, if he had known about the Nazi concentration camps. Chaplin returned with Monsieur Verdoux (1947), also his next foray as an actor. The Great Dictator is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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