The Great Dictator

Name: The Great Dictator
Genre: Comedy, War
Released: 1940-10-15
Duration: 2 h 5 min
Rating: 8.4
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell

Once again - the whole world laughs!

The Great Dictator (1940)

Timing: 2:5 (125 min)

8.4/10
296 232

—
no scores

8.3/10
3811

8.4/10
259000

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All about film

Video 15

Photo 79

Actors and characters

Watch film The Great Dictator — THE GREAT DICTATOR Trailer (1940) - The Criterion Collection

2:28

Photo 79

Release date

1940-10-15

Country

United States

Production

United Artists, Roy Export Company Establishment, Charles Chaplin Productions

Genre

Comedy, War

Budget

$2 000 000

Revenue

$5 017 147

Website

Director

Charlie Chaplin

Actors

Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Billy Gilbert, Grace Hayle, Carter DeHaven, Maurice Moscovitch, Emma Dunn
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Operator

Composer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Willard Nico
All team (20)

Short description

Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed and stars in this 1940 comedy set in the fictional nation of Tomania. He plays two roles: Adenoid Hynkel, the country's ruthless dictator, and a Jewish barber who is his physical double. The barber, who lost his memory after a plane crash in the First World War, lives in a ghetto and is protected by Commander Schultz, a man whose life he once saved. As Hynkel pursues power and persecutes the Jewish population, the two men's resemblance sets up a case of mistaken identity, with the barber eventually caught up in events far beyond his control.

The film was Chaplin's first full sound feature, his eighteenth of twenty-two as director and his first after Modern Times. Paulette Goddard plays Hannah, while Jack Oakie appears as Benzino Napaloni, the dictator of neighbouring Bacteria, alongside Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell and Billy Gilbert.

Made for about two million dollars, it returned roughly five million worldwide. Audiences rate it highly, at 8.4/10 on IMDb from around 259,000 votes and 8.3/10 on TMDB from a far smaller sample, while critics are more enthusiastic still, with an average of 9/10 across 52 reviews.

What's left behind the scenes

To emphasize his superiority, Hinkel attempts to sit higher than Benzino Napaloni. They then compete in the barbershop – who can sit higher in the rising chair. The idea for the scene came about during Chaplin's meeting with the King of Belgium, who also intentionally sat on a chair with legs higher than Chaplin's.
The Jewish audience was touched by the depiction of Jewish characters and their loyalty to duty, which was taboo in Hollywood at the time. In his autobiography, published in 1964, Chaplin wrote: "Of course, if I had known then about the true horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made 'The Great Dictator,' I could not have laughed at the Nazis, at their monstrous mania for destruction."
The film premiered in France in April 1945, after the liberation of Paris.
The film's creation coincided with growing international tensions. Rumors circulated that this film, like some other anti-fascist films, would not be released to avoid damaging the neutral relations between the USA and Germany. However, this did not happen because Chaplin was financially and creatively independent of other studios. Furthermore, refusing to release the film would have bankrupted Chaplin, as he had invested a million and a half dollars in it.
The film was shown in London during the Battle of Britain and was reportedly helpful in boosting morale.
When journalists later asked Chaplin about creating a film with such a sensitive plot, Chaplin replied: "During the making of the film, I began to receive anxious letters from 'United Artists'… however, I was determined to finish this film because Hitler had to be ridiculed."
Filming began in September 1939, a week after the start of World War II. The film was mostly shot at Chaplin's "Chaplin Studios" and in the vicinity of Los Angeles. By the time filming ended six months later, France had already been captured by the Nazis. The speech at the end of the film was introduced into the script during filming, and was written by Chaplin under the impression of events in Europe.
According to the memoirs of Marshal Mereckov, during the Great Patriotic War, the film was proposed for release in the USSR, but after a private screening for government members, Stalin gave a low assessment of the film's artistic qualities.
"The Great Dictator" was the last film in which Chaplin used the image of the Tramp.
The film was well received after its premiere and was popular with the American public. Critics' reactions were mixed, with many criticizing the speech at the end of the film. Many also considered the portrayal of the stormtroopers in the film to be inaccurate.
The names of Hynkel's associates are similar to the names of Hitler's associates. Garbitsch (which sounds like the English "garbage"), Hynkel's right-hand man, resembles Joseph Goebbels, and Marshal Herring was clearly copied from Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring. There is also no doubt that Benzino Napaloni was a parody of Benito Mussolini.
The idea for the film arose from the similarity between the "Tramp" (Chaplin's character in many films) and Hitler, primarily due to their mustaches. There were other points of similarity between Chaplin and Hitler: both were born in April 1889 (Chaplin was only four days older than Hitler) and grew up in poverty. Chaplin was also concerned about the growing persecution of Jews in Europe in the 1930s, about which he learned directly from his European Jewish friends and colleagues. Chaplin worked on the screenplay throughout 1938 and 1939.
According to the documentary film "The Tramp and the Dictator" (2002), the film was sent to Hitler, and Hitler himself saw the film (this fact is confirmed by witnesses). Chaplin, upon hearing that Hitler had watched the film, said: "I would give anything to know what he thinks of it."
The film ends with a scene of the barber, mistaken for a dictator, delivering a speech at a rally concerning Tomania's seizure of Osterlich (a clear reference to the Anschluss of Austria by Germany on March 12, 1938). This speech is often interpreted by critics as an expression of Chaplin's own views. This controversial speech, full of political motives, is often seen as one of the reasons for Chaplin's exile from the United States during the McCarthy era.
This film was Chaplin's first truly sound film (although the era of silent cinema had already ended in the 1920s), and it also helped Chaplin dispel accusations of Luddism that had been leveled against him after the release of the silent film "Modern Times" in 1936.