The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator • 2h 5m
Directed by Charles Chaplin • 1940 • United States
Starring Charles Chaplin, Jack Oakie, Paulette Goddard
In his controversial masterpiece THE GREAT DICTATOR, Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish “Tomainian” dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie and Paulette Goddard in stellar supporting turns, THE GREAT DICTATOR, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.’s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin’s famously impassioned speech.
Up Next in The Great Dictator
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Alan Cumming on THE GREAT DICTATOR
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THE GREAT DICTATOR Commentary
The following audio commentary, recorded in 2011, features performer and author Dan Kamin and silent-film historian Hooman Mehran.
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The Tramp and the Dictator
Directed by Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft • 2002 • United Kingdom
This 2002 documentary by Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft parallels the lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler, from their births the same week to the start of production on THE GREAT DICTATOR a week after Hitler’s invasion ...
