The Great Dictator (1940)'s comments

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dchauvin

I think people who treat this as a comedy miss the point. To me it's a serious satire with a message that remains potent to this day, thanks to the incredible speech at the end. The gags are somewhat secondary, but charming nonetheless. To make such a film at the time that he did speaks volumes about Chaplin's boldness as a filmmaker.

Having only seen Chaplin's earlier silent work I thought it was a real joy seeing him talk - he does so in such an endearing manner that it never at all seems out of place, and even fits naturally with the more slapstick scenes.

I also happened to think this is one of Chaplin's best aged pieces, but perhaps that's just me.

12 years ago

WhiteSox1

Obviously not his best comedic film, but still love that speech at the end. Funny how it still completely resonates today, yet no one is listening.

13 years 1 month ago

twistedthursday

To think that Chaplin was initially against synchronized sound in film! His speech at the end wouldn't be possible without it.

9 years 9 months ago

criscoJovan

...the comic finds he has to step outside his customary persona in order to speak the truth. -J.R.

Didn't really know what I was in for, assuming it was going to be a regular, good laugh. There was some of that, though, everything in the middle was so-so. But by the end -- the speech. Charlie Chaplin's attempt to draw the humanitarianism out from the audience - that is what makes it a solid film.

12 years ago

Let The Flames Begin

The first Chaplin movie I ever saw. I really loved his speech at the end. If only people would have listened...

13 years ago

nadasj

talk about braveness and standing up for ones own believes by making such a movie with such message at such time indeed Chaplin changed the world with his ingenious art of film making... it made me close my eyes for a moment and wonder what was the world like in 1940 .. really powerful !

10 years 9 months ago

FernandaR

The entire movie was great, but the ending gave me the chills. One of the most beautiful things I've ever watched.

12 years 7 months ago

Siskoid

The Great Dictator proves Charlie Chaplin could do wordplay, and Chico Marx-type shtick, in addition to being one of the great slapstick comedians. But his first speaking film is a lot more than that. What immense BALLS to use one's facial hair resembling that of Hitler to make fun of him, IN 1940! Chaplin is in a dual role, playing both a Jewish barber and a dictator very much like Adolf, in a black comedy that takes the Fuhrer down in an amazing number of ways. Hitler is at once disrespected by followers and allies, a clumsy and silly oaf, a political hypocrite, shown to look exactly like the Jews he hates by casting, and his demagoguery is argued into irrelevance by the final, blazing - and sadly still relevant - speech. There's nothing that's not calculated to act as an answer to the Nazis' words and actions. It's funny and it has grit. It seemed ahead of its time then, and it's still somewhere ahead, waiting for us to catch up.

5 years 5 months ago

danisanna

It's quite a powerful movie. Beneath all of the laughs, hilarity, puns and visual comedy, there's a strong sociopolitical message. I think it was quite a ballsy move to make this movie, mocking Hitler and his politics, at the time of his rising. Tremendous film, it makes you laugh ... and think about the world's affairs.

9 years 12 months ago