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Director: Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Genre: Comedy Satire
I knew that Charlie Chaplin often took on social issues in the films he wrote, directed and starred in. But I had no idea that this film was so potent....all while being so funny.
The opening act, set in WWI was fun in a comical way. At that point I thought the movie would be just, fun prat falls, but then the film takes a serious turn after Hynkel rises to power as dictator of Tomania.
Chaplin the writer/director puts the viewer at ease with the simple WW1 scene. Then when we are off guard and expecting a fun little movie, Chaplin throws the seriousness of Nazism squarely in our faces. And that is something that was needed in America in 1939, as it was all too common to turn a blind eye to what Hitler was doing in Europe at the time.
Hollywood itself at the time refused to make films that took a stand against the rising threat of fascism. In the years before WWII Louis B. Mayer head of MGM studios actually conferred with the Nazi Consulate, showing them films and agreeing to remove scenes that the Nazi's found objectionable....all so MGM could sell the movie rights to Germany. I mention that to show what kind of personal courage Charlie Chaplin had to make The Great Dictator, a film he paid himself to have made, as no studio would finance him.
I wasn't prepared myself for how serious the film is. Amid the antics of Chaplin, we see the fate of the German Jews who are being targeted by the Storm Troopers. Even more ominous than the action scenes are the 'quieter' speeches, that speak volumes of the real horrors to come:
I was chilled to the bone when Henry Daniell as Garbitsch (based on Joseph Goebbels) tells the Dictator...."We've just discovered
the most wonderful poison gas. It will kill everybody..."
I mean wow, talk about a prophetic script. The movie pulls no punches, it clearly lays out Hynkel/Hitlers evil plans:
We'll invade Osterlich(Austria) first.
After that we can bluff.
The nations will capitulate.
The world will be under your thumb
Chaplin tried to warn the world of the threat at hand, but America was complacent until after Pearl Harbor. Chaplin's effort alone makes this the most important movie in this Hof and one, if not the most important movie I've seen.
What touched me most was the speech at the end of the film given by the Jewish Barber, who's been mistaken for Hynkel the Dictator. As I looked at Chaplin's face and listened to the words he had wrote, I realized I wasn't watching a character in the movie anymore...I was hearing Charles Chaplin's own plead to the world to stop the madness and embrace humanity and kindness.
The Great Dictator (1940)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Genre: Comedy Satire
"Dictator Adenoid Hynkel (a spoof of Adolf Hitler) tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime."
I knew that Charlie Chaplin often took on social issues in the films he wrote, directed and starred in. But I had no idea that this film was so potent....all while being so funny.
The opening act, set in WWI was fun in a comical way. At that point I thought the movie would be just, fun prat falls, but then the film takes a serious turn after Hynkel rises to power as dictator of Tomania.
Chaplin the writer/director puts the viewer at ease with the simple WW1 scene. Then when we are off guard and expecting a fun little movie, Chaplin throws the seriousness of Nazism squarely in our faces. And that is something that was needed in America in 1939, as it was all too common to turn a blind eye to what Hitler was doing in Europe at the time.
Hollywood itself at the time refused to make films that took a stand against the rising threat of fascism. In the years before WWII Louis B. Mayer head of MGM studios actually conferred with the Nazi Consulate, showing them films and agreeing to remove scenes that the Nazi's found objectionable....all so MGM could sell the movie rights to Germany. I mention that to show what kind of personal courage Charlie Chaplin had to make The Great Dictator, a film he paid himself to have made, as no studio would finance him.
I wasn't prepared myself for how serious the film is. Amid the antics of Chaplin, we see the fate of the German Jews who are being targeted by the Storm Troopers. Even more ominous than the action scenes are the 'quieter' speeches, that speak volumes of the real horrors to come:
I was chilled to the bone when Henry Daniell as Garbitsch (based on Joseph Goebbels) tells the Dictator...."We've just discovered
the most wonderful poison gas. It will kill everybody..."
I mean wow, talk about a prophetic script. The movie pulls no punches, it clearly lays out Hynkel/Hitlers evil plans:
We'll invade Osterlich(Austria) first.
After that we can bluff.
The nations will capitulate.
The world will be under your thumb
Chaplin tried to warn the world of the threat at hand, but America was complacent until after Pearl Harbor. Chaplin's effort alone makes this the most important movie in this Hof and one, if not the most important movie I've seen.
What touched me most was the speech at the end of the film given by the Jewish Barber, who's been mistaken for Hynkel the Dictator. As I looked at Chaplin's face and listened to the words he had wrote, I realized I wasn't watching a character in the movie anymore...I was hearing Charles Chaplin's own plead to the world to stop the madness and embrace humanity and kindness.