The Great Dictator
Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Billy Gilbert, Carter DeHaven, Grace Hayle, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner
Release Date: Thursday 21st August 2003
Running time: 126 minutes
Charlie Chaplin's first 'talkie' The Great Dictator remains an engrossing treatise, a searing satire on fascist politics, which what it lacks in subtlety makes up for in sheer force of comedic personality. As well as directing, Chaplin plays the two central parts – Adenoid Hynkel, the Great Dictator of the title, the vicious, rather pathetic leader of the fictional country of Tomainia. He also plays a nameless Jewish barber who bears an uncanny resemblance to the despotic ruler of the country.
The barber served in the First World War but has returned to his old job to discover that his shop and neighbourhood is now controlled by soldiers, intent on consolidating Hynkel's power. Yet a series of unlikely coincidences means that the Jewish barber has an opportunity to influence the future of his country beyond his wildest dreams.
An audacious movie for its time (1940), The Great Dictator revels in its innate silliness, as Chaplin never misses a trick to show why fascism is built on principles which are fundamentally absurd. It's a successful ploy - as echoed in the scene where Hynkel outlines his idealistic vision for his state after the removal of Jews and er, brunettes. While the diabolical deeds of the likes of Hitler and Mussolini ensure that there's a macabre subtext to The Great Dictator, as a specific satire, The Great Dictator never loses sight of its targets.
