The Great Dictator

The Great Dictator

Director: Charles Chaplin

Year: 1940

Starring: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard and Jack Oakie

     There is a lot of significance surrounding The Great Dictator. Not only was it Chaplin's first "talkie" (a full 13 years after sound was introduced), and it became one of the most controversial films of Chaplin's career. Starting with his previous film, Modern Times, Chaplin became very political in his film making, and many consider it to be the greatest contributor to his eventual decline in popularity, and subsequent exile from the United States. Nevertheless, the film is still one of Chaplin's best works. 

     The film is a very thinly disguised satire of the Nazi Regime, and Adolff Hitler. Chaplin's character, Adenoid Hynkel, is a caricature of Hitler, and it helps that the two sported the same toothbrush mustache.   Germany is replaced with Tomania in the film, and Italy is replaced with Bacteria. Even Benito Mussolini gets ridiculed, and is played by a very talented Jack Oakie. 

     The film also sees Chaplin playing the role of a Jewish Barber, who had lost his memory following the First World War. There are many that believe this character to be Chaplin's Tramp character he played in his silent films, but Chaplin himself stated on many occasions that the Tramp would not appear in a talkie, and this was a completely different character. Whether or not it is the Tramp character is really up to the viewer. The film follows the barber as he returns to the Ghetto, unaware of Hynkel's regime, and the treatment of Jewish citizens of Tomania. Chaplin was unaware of the horrors of the holocaust at the time, and even said had he know, he would have never made the film. He believed these conditions were the worst the Jewish citizens were going through, but in his defense, so did the rest of the world. 

     The film has all the characteristics of a typical Chaplin silent comedy. There is plenty of slapstick moments, and it all feels familiar, yet fresh. Chaplin was worried that adopting sound would ruin the magic of his film making, but the many humorous scenes show that he could have had a thriving career in the sound era. Chaplin's gags always relied on the physical side, and it's proven during these many scenes when the Jewish Barber character doesn't talk during the funny moments. It leaves you wondering what could have happened had Chaplin kept his career going. 

     The film, while controversial in it's time, has become a classic of Chaplin's career. It is a genius satire at the Nazi regime, and it still holds up today. The final six-minute monologue given by Chaplin's Jewish Barber character (who is mistaken for Hynkel) is one of the most powerful monologues in film, and it's rather ironic it comes from a man who made a career not making a sound on camera.