The Great Dictator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe Great DictatorFrom 
Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search 
      The Great Dictator

Directed by Charlie Chaplin,Wheeler Dryden,Produced by Charlie Chaplin,Written by Charlie Chaplin,
Starring Charlie Chaplin,Paulette Goddard,Jack Oakie,Music by Charlie Chaplin,Meredith Willson,
Distributed by United Artists,Release date(s)O ctober 15, 1940,Running time 124 min.Country United States,
Language English,Budget $2,000,000

The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. 
Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to 
starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to 
make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin's first 
true talking picture as well as his most commercially successful film.[1] More 
importantly, it was the first major feature film of its period to bitterly 
satirize Nazism and Adolf Hitler.
At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace 
with Nazi Germany. Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial 
condemnation of Hitler, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, the latter of whom 
he excoriates in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine 
hearts".
      Contents[hide]
        1 Plot
        2 Cast and analysis
        3 The Jewish barber and Chaplin's classic Little Tramp character
        4 Making of the film
        5 Reception
        6 Score
        7 Lawsuit
        8 See also
        9 Notes
        10 Additional references
        11 External links


[edit] PlotThis article's plot summary may be too long or excessively 
      detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and 
      making it more concise. (January 2010)

The film begins during a battle of World War I. The protagonist is an unnamed 
Jewish private (Charlie Chaplin), a barber by profession and is fighting for the 
Central Powers in the army of the fictional nation of Tomainia (an allusion to 
ptomaine poisoning), comically blundering through the trenches in a tract of 
combat scenes. Upon hearing a fatigued pilot pleading for help, the private 
valiantly attempts to rescue the exhausted officer, Commander Schultz (Reginald 
Gardiner). The two board Schultz's nearby airplane and fly off, escaping enemy 
fire in the nick of time. Schultz reveals that he is carrying important 
dispatches that could win the Tomainian war. However, the plane quickly loses 
fuel and crashes in a marsh. Both Schultz and the private survive. As medics 
arrive, Commander Schultz gives them the dispatches, but is told that the war 
has just ended and Tomainia lost.
The scene cuts to victory celebrations, newspaper headlines, the hospitalization 
and release of the private, and to a speech given twenty years later by Adenoid 
Hynkel (cf. Adolf Hitler, also played by Chaplin in a double role), now the 
ruthless dictator of Tomainia, who has undertaken an endeavor to persecute Jews 
throughout the land, aided by Minister of the Interior Garbitsch (compare Joseph 
Goebbels, played by Henry Daniell) and Minister of War Herring (compare Hermann 
Göring, played by Billy Gilbert). The symbol of Hynkel's fascist regime is the 
"double cross" (compare the Nazi swastika) and Hynkel himself speaks a dramatic, 
macaronic parody of the German language (reminiscent of Hitler's own fiery 
speeches), "translated" at humorously obvious parts in the speech by an overly 
concise English-speaking news voice-over.
 
Chaplin as "The Phooey", Adenoid HynkelThe Jewish private and barber, who had 
been hospitalized for the past twenty years, having suffered memory loss from 
the plane crash, is blissfully unaware of Hynkel's rise to power and now, at 
last, returns to his barbershop in the Jewish ghetto, shocked when storm 
troopers paint "Jew" on the windows of his shop. In the ensuing slapstick 
scuffle with the stormtroopers, Hannah (Paulette Goddard), a beautiful resident 
of the ghetto, knocks both Stormtroopers on the head with a frying pan. The 
barber finds a friend and ultimately a love interest in Hannah. Soon, the barber 
is almost lynched by Stormtroopers, but is saved when Commander Schultz, now a 
high official in Hynkel's government, intervenes. Meanwhile, Schultz recognizes 
the barber (who is reminded of WWI by Schultz and therefore gets his memory 
back) and, though surprised to find him a Jew, Schultz orders the storm troopers 
to leave him and Hannah alone.
Hynkel, in addition, has relaxed his stance on Tomainian Jewry in an attempt to 
woo a Jewish financier into giving him a loan to support his regime. Egged on by 
Garbitsch, Hynkel has become obsessed with the idea of world domination. In one 
famous scene, Hynkel dances with a large, inflatable globe, while thinking of 
being Emperor of the world to the tune of the Prelude to Act I of Richard 
Wagner's Lohengrin at the end of which it suddenly pops in his hands, like a 
balloon. This seemed to be a premonition of the end of his regime and his 
unfulfilled ambitions sooner or later.
On Garbitsch's advice, Hynkel has planned to invade the neighboring country of 
Osterlich (likely a corruption of Österreich, the German name for Austria) and 
needs the loan to finance the invasion. The financier refuses, and Hynkel 
reinstates his persecution of the Jews, this time to an even greater extent. 
Schultz voices his objection to the pogrom and shows his empathy towards Jews; 
Hynkel denounces Schultz as a supporter of democracy and a traitor, and orders 
Schultz placed in a concentration camp. Schultz flees to the ghetto and begins 
planning to overthrow the Hynkel regime.
Schultz, along with the barber, Hannah, and other members of the ghetto, meet to 
discuss their subversive plot. Schultz says that in order to decide who will 
carry out this plot (which involves a suicide mission to blow up Hynkel's 
palace), a coin will be placed in one of five puddings, and the person who 
receives the one with the coin in it is to carry out the mission. However, 
Hannah, trying to make a pacifistic statement, has placed a coin in every 
dessert, leading to one of Chaplin's most comical scenes; finally, they all 
decide it is best to heed Hannah's advice not to attempt the suicide mission. 
Eventually, however, both Schultz and the barber are captured and condemned to 
the camp.
 
Chaplin with Jack Oakie as "Benzino Napaloni"Hynkel is initially opposed by 
Benzino Napaloni (a portmanteau of Benito Mussolini, Napoleon Bonaparte, and 
benzene, played by Jack Oakie), dictator of Bacteria, in his plans to invade 
Osterlich. Hynkel invites Napaloni to talk the situation over in Tomainia, 
however, and attempts to impress Napaloni with a display of military might and 
psychological warfare, and thus invites Napaloni to a military show. The show 
turns out to be a disaster, totally failing to impress Napaloni. After some 
friction and a comedic food fight between the two leaders, a deal is made. 
Hynkel immediately breaks the deal, and the invasion proceeds again. Hannah, who 
has since emigrated to Osterlich to escape Hynkel, once again finds herself 
living under Hynkel's regime.
Schultz and the barber escape from the camp wearing Tomainian uniforms. Border 
guards mistake the barber for Hynkel, to whom he is nearly identical in 
appearance. Conversely, Hynkel, on a duck-hunting trip, falls overboard and is 
mistaken for the barber and is arrested by his own soldiers.
The barber, now assuming Hynkel's identity, is taken to the Tomainian capital to 
make a victory speech. Garbitsch, in introducing "Hynkel" to the throngs, 
decries free speech and other supposedly traitorous and outdated ideas. In 
contrast, the barber then makes a rousing speech, reversing Hynkel's 
anti-Semitic policies and declaring that Tomainia and Osterlich will now be a 
free nation and a democracy. He also calls for humanity in general to break free 
from dictatorships and use science and progress to make the world better 
instead.[2]
Hannah, who was previously mistreated by Tomainian police agents looking for the 
barber, hears the barber's speech on the radio, and is amazed when "Hynkel" 
addresses her directly: "Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up, 
Hannah. The clouds are lifting. The sun is breaking through. We are coming out 
of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world, a kindlier 
world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and brutality. Look up, 
Hannah. The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to 
fly. He is flying into the rainbow—into the light of hope, into the future, the 
glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. 
Look up". Hannah looks up with an optimistic smile.[3]
[edit] Cast and analysis 
Chaplin (as the barber) absent-mindedly attempts to shave Goddard (as Hannah) in 
this image from the trailer for the film.The film stars Chaplin in a double role 
as the Jewish barber, and as the fascist dictator (or "Phooey", parodying 
"Führer") Hynkel, dictator of Tomania, clearly modeled on Adolf Hitler. The 
Jewish barber has the bowler hat, cane, and moustache of Chaplin's famous Tramp 
character, though early in the film's production Chaplin insisted the barber was 
not the tramp. Also featured in the cast are Paulette Goddard as Hannah, Jack 
Oakie as Napaloni, Reginald Gardiner as Schultz, Henry Daniell as Garbitsch and 
Billy Gilbert as Field Marshal Herring, an incompetent adviser to Hynkel.
The names of the aides of Hynkel are parodies of those of Hitler's. Garbitsch 
(pronounced "garbage"), the right hand man of Hynkel, is a parody of Joseph 
Goebbels, and Field Marshal Herring was modeled after the Luftwaffe chief, 
Hermann Göring. The "Dig-a-ditchy" of Bacteria, Benzino Napaloni, was modeled 
after Italy's Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. Benzino is played with arrogant 
buffoonery by Jack Oakie.
Much of the film is taken up by Hynkel and Napaloni arguing over the fate of 
Osterlich (Austria). Originally, Mussolini was opposed to the German takeover 
since he saw Austria as a buffer-state between Germany and Italy. The 
international community (in particular, France and Britain, Mussolini's Stresa 
front partners) did not share Italy's concern over German annexation of Austria 
and supported League of Nations sanctions against Italy, after Italy invaded 
Ethiopia. In 1936, Mussolini submitted to Hitler's will, withdrew Italian troops 
from the Brenner Pass along the Austrian border, and moved closer to Germany, as 
Hitler did not apply sanctions against Italy. This conflict is almost forgotten 
today given Italy's alliance with the German Third Reich during World War II.
The film contains several of Chaplin's most famous sequences. The rally speech 
by Hynkel, delivered in German-sounding gibberish, is a caricature of Hitler's 
oratory style, which Chaplin studied carefully in newsreels.[4] The German words 
schnitzel, sauerkraut and liverwurst (for Leberwurst) can be made out, as well 
as "Katzenjammer Kids" and English phrases such as "cheese'n'crackers" and 
frequently "lager beer", in the fake German Hynkel speaks during the rally and 
at other points in the film when he is angry (though he normally speaks 
English). Billy Gilbert as Herring is also required to improvise this fake 
German at times, and at one point (where he is apologizing for having 
accidentally knocked Hynkel down the stairs) he comes up with the word "banana". 
Chaplin is clearly taken by surprise and repeats, "Der banana?" before 
incorporating the word into his own reply. Chaplin, as Hynkel, has a tendency to 
remove Herring's medals when he gets angry. In the scene where Hynkel receives 
news that Napaloni mobilized his troops along the Osterlich border, Hynkel not 
only removed all of Herring's medals, but removed all of his buttons on his 
shirt, revealing a striped shirt with suspenders and then slaps Herring.
Chaplin, as the barber, shaves a customer in tune with a radio broadcast of 
Johannes Brahms's Hungarian Dance No. 5, recorded in one continuous shot. The 
film's most celebrated sequence is the ballet dance between Hynkel and a balloon 
globe in his palatial office, set to Richard Wagner's Lohengrin Overture, which 
is also used at the end of the film when the Jewish barber is making the victory 
speech in Hynkel's place. The globe dance had its origins in the late 1920s, 
when Chaplin was filmed at a Hollywood party doing an early version of the 
dance, with a globe and a Prussian military helmet (this footage appears in the 
documentary Unknown Chaplin).
The film ends with the barber, having been mistaken for the dictator, delivering 
an address in front of a large audience and over the radio to the nation, 
following the Tomainian take-over of Osterlich (a reference to the German 
Anschluss of Austria on March 12, 1938). The address is widely interpreted as an 
out-of-character personal plea from Chaplin.
The Third Reich's official taste in art and architecture is frequently parodied. 
The distance between the front door and Hynkel's desk is ridiculously long, and 
while a painter and a sculptor try to create his official image, the dictator 
never stays posed for more than a few seconds at a time. In the main 
thoroughfare of the capital the Venus de Milo has been "repaired" to give a Nazi 
salute, and Rodin's The Thinker still sits, but now also has his arm raised.
Some of the signs in the shop windows of the ghettoized Jewish population in the 
film are written in Esperanto, a language which Hitler condemned as a Jewish 
plot to internationalize and destroy German culture.[5]
Garbitsch, who constantly counsels and advises Hynkel, seems to be the one 
guiding him. This is an allusion to the rumors that Goebbels was the actual 
ruler and Hitler only a puppet-leader.
[edit] The Jewish barber and Chaplin's classic Little Tramp characterThere is no 
consensus on the relationship between the film's Jewish barber and Chaplin's 
earlier Tramp character, but the trend is to view the barber as a variation on 
the theme. Famed French film director Francois Truffaut noted that early in the 
production, Chaplin said he would not play The Tramp in a sound film, and he 
considers the barber an entirely different character.[6] However, Turner Classic 
Movies says that years later, Chaplin acknowledged a connection between the 
barber and The Tramp. Specifically, "There is some debate as to whether the 
unnamed Jewish barber is intended as the Tramp's final incarnation. Although his 
memoirs frequently refer to the barber as the Little Tramp, Chaplin said in 1937 
that he would not play the Little Tramp in his sound pictures."[7] In his review 
of the film, Roger Ebert says that "Chaplin was technically not playing the 
Tramp", but Ebert also states that, "He [Chaplin] put the Little Tramp and $1.5 
million of his own money on the line to ridicule Hitler".[8]
Critics who view the barber as different include Stephen Weissman, whose book 
Chaplin: A Life speaks of Chaplin here "abandoning traditional pantomime 
technique and his little tramp character."[9] DVD reviewer Mark Bourne bows to 
Chaplin's earlier statement: "Granted, the barber bears more than a passing 
resemblance to the Tramp, even affecting the familiar bowler hat and cane. But 
Chaplin was clear that the barber is not the Tramp and The Great Dictator is not 
a Tramp movie."[10] The Scarecrow Movie Guide also views the barber as 
different.[11]
However, Annette Insdorf, in her book Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, 
writes that "There was something curiously appropriate about the little tramp 
impersonating the dictator, for by 1939 Hitler and Chaplin were perhaps the two 
most famous men in the world. The tyrant and the tramp reverse roles in The 
Great Dictator, permitting the eternal outsider to address the masses..."[12] 
Similarly, in The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies, Kathryn Bernheimer writes, "What he 
chose to say in The Great Dictator, however, was just what one might expect from 
the Little Tramp. Film scholars have often noted that the Little Tramp resembles 
a Jewish stock figure, the ostracized outcast, an outsider..."[13]
Several reviewers speak of a morphing of The Little Tramp into the Jewish 
barber. In Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s, Thomas Schatz writes of 
"Chaplin's Little Tramp transposed into a meek Jewish barber",[14] while, in 
Hollywood in Crisis: Cinema and American Society, 1929-1939, Colin Shindler 
writes that "The universal Little Tramp is transmuted into a specifically Jewish 
barber whose country is about to be absorbed into the totalitarian empire of 
Adenoid Hynckel."[15] Finally, in A Distant Technology: Science Fiction Film and 
the Machine Age, J. P. Telotte writes that "The little tramp figure is here 
reincarnated as the Jewish barber".[16]
A full two-page discussion of the relationship between the barber and The Tramp 
appears in Eric L. Flom's book Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the 
Seven Talkies in which he concludes:
  Perhaps the distinction between the two characters would be more clear if 
  Chaplin hadn't relied on some element of confusion to attract audiences to the 
  picture. With The Great Dictator's twist of mistaken identity, the similarity 
  between the Barber and the Tramp allowed Chaplin break [sic] with his old 
  persona in the sense of characterization, but to capitalize on him in a visual 
  sense. The similar nature of the Tramp and Barber characterizations may have 
  been an effort by Chaplin to maintain his popularity with filmgoers, many of 
  whom by 1940 had never seen a silent picture during the silent era. Chaplin 
  may have created a new character form the old, but he nonetheless counted on 
  the Charlie person to bring audiences into the theaters for his first foray 
  into sound, and his boldest political statement to date.[17]
[edit] Making of the filmThe film was directed by Chaplin (with his half-brother 
Wheeler Dryden as assistant director), and also written and produced by Chaplin. 
The film was shot largely at the Chaplin Studios and other locations around Los 
Angeles. The elaborate World War I scenes were filmed in Laurel Canyon. Chaplin 
and Meredith Willson composed the music. Filming began in September 1939 and 
finished six months later. Chaplin was motivated by the escalating violence and 
repression of Jews by the Nazis throughout the late 1930s, the magnitude of 
which was conveyed to him personally by his European Jewish friends and fellow 
artists. The Third Reich's repressive nature and militarist tendencies were also 
well-known at the time. However, Chaplin later stated that he would not have 
made the film if he had known of the true extent of the Nazis' crimes.[1]
Chaplin also may have been inspired by a film his other half-brother Sydney 
Chaplin directed and starred in, called King, Queen, Joker (1921). Syd, like 
Charlie, played a dual role of a barber and ruler of a country who is about to 
be overthrown. According to Janiss Garza, Chaplin was sued in the 1940s over 
plagiarism problems with The Great Dictator. Apparently neither the suing party 
nor Chaplin himself brought up his own brother's King, Queen, Joker of twenty 
years before.[18][19]
Several similarities between Hitler and Chaplin have been noted and may have 
been a pivotal factor in Chaplin's decision to make The Great Dictator. Chaplin 
and Hitler had superficially similar looks, most famously their toothbrush 
mustaches, and this similarity is often commented upon. (Tommy Handley wrote a 
song named "Who is This Man Who Looks like Charlie Chaplin?"[20]) Furthermore, 
the two men were born only four days apart in April 1889, and both grew up in 
relative poverty with alcoholic fathers and ailing mothers. Both were great fans 
of composer Richard Wagner.
As Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to prominence, Chaplin's popularity throughout 
the world became greater than ever; he was mobbed by fans on a 1931 trip to 
Berlin, which annoyed the Nazis, who published a book in 1934 titled The Jews 
Are Looking at You, in which the comedian was described as "a disgusting Jewish 
acrobat" (despite the fact that Chaplin was not Jewish). Ivor Montagu, a close 
friend of Chaplin, relates that he sent Chaplin a copy of the book and always 
believed this was the genesis of Dictator.[21]
Charlie Chaplin's son Charles Chaplin, Jr. describes how his father was haunted 
by the similar backgrounds of Hitler and himself. He writes,
  Their destinies were poles apart. One was to make millions weep, while the 
  other was to set the whole world laughing. Dad could never think of Hitler 
  without a shudder, half of horror, half of fascination. “Just think,” he would 
  say uneasily, “he’s the madman, I’m the comic. But it could have been the 
  other way around.[22]
Chaplin prepared the story throughout 1938 and 1939, and began filming in 
September 1939, one week after the beginning of World War II. He finished 
filming almost six months later. The 2002 TV documentary on the making of the 
film, The Tramp and the Dictator,[23] presented newly discovered footage of the 
film production (shot by Chaplin's elder half-brother Sydney) which showed 
Chaplin's initial attempts at the film's ending, filmed before the fall of 
France.[1]
The making of the film coincided with rising tensions throughout the world. 
Speculation grew that this and other anti-fascist films such as The Mortal Storm 
and Four Sons would remain unreleased, given the United States' neutral 
relationship with Germany. The project continued largely because Chaplin was 
financially and artistically independent of other studios; also, failure to 
release the film would have bankrupted Chaplin, who had invested $1.5 million of 
his own money in the project. The film eventually opened in New York City in 
September 1940, to a wider American audience in October, and the United Kingdom 
in December. The film was released in France in April 1945.
When interviewed about this film being on such a touchy subject, Charlie Chaplin 
had only this to say: "Half-way through making The Great Dictator I began 
receiving alarming messages from United Artists ... but I was determined to go 
ahead, for Hitler must be laughed at." The documentary The Tramp and The 
Dictator provides audio of a 1983 interview with Chaplin associate Dan James, in 
which he reports that President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent his adviser Harry 
Hopkins to personally meet with Chaplin and encourage him to move ahead with the 
film.
According to The Tramp and the Dictator, the film was not only sent to Hitler, 
but an eyewitness confirmed he saw it.[1] This allegation has however, been 
denied by Hitler's architect Albert Speer.[24] According to the Internet Movie 
Database, Chaplin, after being told Hitler saw the movie, replied: "I'd give 
anything to know what he thought of it."[25] Hitler's response is not recorded 
but he is said to have viewed the film twice.[26]
[edit] ReceptionThe film was well received at the time of its release, and was 
popular with the American public. The film was also popular in the United 
Kingdom, drawing 9 million to the theatres.[27] Jewish audiences were deeply 
moved by the portrayal of Jewish characters and their plight, which was still a 
taboo subject in Hollywood films of the time.
When the film was in production, the British government announced that it would 
prohibit its exhibition in the United Kingdom in keeping with its appeasement 
policy concerning Nazi Germany. However, by the time the film was released, the 
UK was at war with Germany and the film was now welcomed in part for its obvious 
propaganda value. In 1941, London's Prince of Wales Theatre screened its UK 
premiere. The film had been banned in many parts of Europe, and the theatre's 
owner, Alfred Esdaile, was apparently fined for showing it.[28] It eventually 
became Chaplin's highest grossing film.
In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he would not have been able to 
make such jokes about the Nazi regime had the extent of the Nazi horrors been 
known, particularly the death camps and the Holocaust. While Ernst Lubitsch's 
1942 To Be or Not To Be dealt with similar themes (even including another 
mistaken-identity Hitler figure), after the scope of Nazi atrocities became 
apparent it took nearly twenty years before any other films dared to satirize 
the era.[29] Mel Brooks' The Producers (1968) mocked Nazis (though not their 
actions- Brooks would also later remake To Be or Not To Be). The television 
series Hogan's Heroes also represented later comedic takes on the era, as did 
the 1997 Italian film Life is Beautiful.
The film was nominated for five Academy Awards:
  Outstanding Production – United Artists (Charlie Chaplin, Producer)
  Best Actor – Charlie Chaplin
  Best Writing (Original Screenplay) – Charlie Chaplin
  Best Supporting Actor – Jack Oakie
  Best Music (Original Score) – Meredith Willson
In 1997, The Great Dictator was selected for preservation in the United States 
National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, 
historically or aesthetically significant".
The film was Chaplin's first true talking picture and helped shake off 
accusations of Luddism following his previous release, the mostly dialogue-free 
Modern Times, released in 1936 when the silent era had all but ended in the late 
1920s. The Great Dictator does, however, feature several silent scenes more 
in-keeping with Chaplin's previous films. To add to that, some audiences had 
come to expect Chaplin to make silent films even during the sound era.[30] Some 
audiences nicknamed him the "Silent Clown" during the height of the silent era.
American Film Institute recognition
  2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs #37
[edit] ScoreThe score was written and directed by Meredith Willson, later to 
become well-known as creator of the 1957 musical comedy The Music Man.[31] 
Willson wrote:
  I've seen [Chaplin] take a sound track and cut it all up and paste it back 
  together and come up with some of the dangdest effects you ever heard—effects 
  a composer would never think of. Don't kid yourself about that one. He would 
  have been great at anything — music, law, ballet dancing, or painting — house, 
  sign, or portrait. I got the screen credit for The Great Dictator music score, 
  but the best parts of it were all Chaplin's ideas, like using the Lohengrin 
  "Prelude" in the famous balloon-dance scene.[32]
 
Chaplin in the globe sceneWhile it is frequently noted that Chaplin used 
Wagner's Lohengrin prelude in the scene where dictator Hynckel dances with the 
globe-balloon, it is far less frequently noted that the same music is used near 
the conclusion of the Jewish barber's speech celebrating democracy and 
freedom.[33] In the first case, the music does not reach a conclusion, since the 
globe-balloon pops. In the latter case, the Lohengrin music continues to its 
final climax as the barber over the radio tells Hannah to look up at the sun, 
and promises that mankind is 'flying into the rainbow, the hope, the future'. As 
noted above, Chaplin's son has written about how Chaplin was haunted by the 
similarities between Hitler's background and his, including their common love 
for the music of Richard Wagner.
According to Willson, the scene in which Chaplin shaves a customer to Brahms' 
Hungarian Dance No. 5 had been filmed before he arrived, using a phonograph 
record for timing. Willson was to re-record it with the full studio orchestra, 
fitting the music to the action. They had planned to do it painstakingly, 
recording eight measures or less at a time, after running through the whole 
scene to get the overall idea. Chaplin decided to record the runthrough in case 
anything was usable, and "by dumb luck we had managed to catch every movement, 
and that was the first and only 'take' made of the scene, the one used in the 
finished picture".[32]
[edit] LawsuitThe film was the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit (Bercovici v. 
Chaplin) in 1947 against Chaplin. The case was settled, with Chaplin paying 
Konrad Bercovici $95,000.[34] In his autobiography, Chaplin insisted that he had 
been the sole writer of the movie's script. He came to a settlement, though, 
because of his "unpopularity in the States at that moment and being under such 
court pressure, [he] was terrified, not knowing what to expect next."[35]
[edit] See alsoLook-alike
  You Nazty Spy! and I'll Never Heil Again, a pair of Three Stooges shorts with 
  a similar subject matter, with the former being released nine months before 
  The Great Dictator.
  Der Fuehrer's Face. A Donald Duck cartoon that spoofs the severity of the Nazi 
  dictatorship and the effect it had on the people directly affected by it
  To Be or Not to Be, a dark comedy on living in Nazi-occupied Warsaw (also 
  remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks).
  Herr Meets Hare, a 1945 Bugs Bunny cartoon satirizing Hitler and Hermann 
Göring
  Janus Films and The Criterion Collection, the film's current distributer
[edit] Notes^ a b c d The Tramp and the Dictator, official BBC web site
  ^ wikiquote:Charlie Chaplin#The Great Dictator (1940)
  ^ American Rhetoric: Movie Speech; "The Great Dictator" (1940)
  ^ R. Cole, "Anglo-American Anti-fascist Film Propaganda in a Time of 
  Neutrality: The Great Dictator, 1940" in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and 
  Television, 21 2 (2001): 137 - 152. Chaplin sat "for hours watching newsreels 
  of the German dictator, exclaiming: ‘Oh, you bastard, you!"
  ^ Hoffmann, Frank W.; William G. Bailey (1992). Mind & Society Fads. Haworth 
  Press. ISBN 1560241780. , p. 116: "Between world wars, Esperanto fared worse 
  and, sadly, became embroiled in political power moves. Adolf Hitler wrote in 
  Mein Kampf that the spread of Esperanto throughout Europe was a Jewish plot to 
  break down national differences so that Jews could assume positions of 
  authority.... After the Nazis' successful Blitzkrieg of Poland, the Warsaw 
  Gestapo received orders to 'take care' of the Zamenhof family.... Zamenhof's 
  son was shot... his two daughters were put in Treblinka death camp."
  ^ Truffaut, François (1994). The films in my life. Da Capo Press,. p. 358. 
  ISBN 0306805995, 9780306805998. 
  ^ "The Great Dictator:The Essentials". Turner Classic Movies. 
  https://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=157939. Retrieved 31 December 2010. 
  ^ Roger Ebert (September 27, 2007). "The Great Dictator (1940) [review"]. 
  Chicago Sun-Times. 
  https://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/REVIEWS08/70927002/1023. 
  Retrieved 31 December 2010. 
  ^ Stephen Weissman. "Chaplin:A Life (a self-published web book by a known 
  print author)". 
  ^ Mark Bourne. "The Great Dictator:The Chaplin Collection". DVD Journal. 
  https://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/g/greatdictator.shtml. Retrieved 31 December 
  2010. 
  ^ The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide. Sasquatch Books. 2004. p. 808. ISBN 
  1570614156, 9781570614156. 
  ^ Insdorf, Annette (2003). Indelible shadows: film and the Holocaust. 
  Cambridge University Press. p. 410. ISBN 0521016304, 9780521016308. 
  ^ Bernheimer, Kathryn (1998). The 50 greatest Jewish movies: a critic's 
  ranking of the very best. Carol Publishing. p. 212. ISBN 1559724579, 
  9781559724579. 
  ^ Schatz, Thomas (1999). Boom and bust: American cinema in the 1940s. 
  University of California Press. p. 571. ISBN 0520221303, 9780520221307. 
  ^ Shindler, Colin (1996). Hollywood in crisis: cinema and American society, 
  1929-1939. Psychology Press. p. 258. ISBN 0415103134, 9780415103138. 
  ^ Telotte, J.P. (1999). A distant technology: science fiction film and the 
  machine age. Wesleyan University Press. p. 218. ISBN 0819563463, 
  9780819563460. 
  ^ Flom, Eric (1997). Chaplin in the sound era: an analysis of the seven 
  talkies. McFarland. p. 322. ISBN 078640325X, 9780786403257. 
  ^ King, Queen, Joker ; Wikipedia entry
  ^ King, Queen, Joker synopsis by Janiss Garza ; AllMovie.com
  ^ "Who Is This Man" lyrics
  ^ Review of the movie "The Tramp and the Dictator" by David Stratton, February 
  21, 2002, Variety
  ^ Quoted in https://brattleblog.brattlefilm.org/?p=98
  ^ Internationally co-produced by 4 production companies including BBC, Turner 
  Classic Movies, and Germany's Spiegel TV
  ^ German source
  ^ Trivia for The Great Dictator on IMDb
  ^ Irving Wallace, David Wallace, Amy Wallace, Sylvia Wallace (February 1980) 
  "The Book of Lists 2", p. 200.
  ^ Ryan Gilbey, The Ultimate Film: The UK's 100 most popular films. London: BFI 
  (2005): 240
  ^ Prince of Wales Theatre (2007). Theatre Programme, Mama Mia!. London (2007) 
  ^ [1] Hitler in the movies
  ^ Okuda, Ted; David Maska (2005). Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: 
  Dawn of the Tramp. iUniverse. p. 232. 
  ^ "The Great Dictator". imdb. 
  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032553/fullcredits#cast. Retrieved 2007-04-06. 
  ^ a b Meredith WIllson (1948). And There I Stood WIth My Piccolo. Garden City, 
  New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc.. 
  ^ Noted in Chapter 1 of Modern Times, Modern Places How Life and Art Were 
  Transformed in a Century of Revolution, Innovation, and Radical Change by By 
  Peter Conrad
  ^ "Law Library - American Law and Legal Information". 
  https://law.jrank.org/pages/3002/Bercovici-v-Chaplin-1947.html. Retrieved 
  2007-06-11. 
  ^ Chaplin, My Autobiography, 1964
[edit] Additional referencesChaplin and American Culture: The Evolution of a 
  Star Image. Charles J. Maland. Princeton, 1989.
  National Film Theatre/British Film Institute notes on The Great Dictator.
  The Tramp and the Dictator, directed by Kevin Brownlow, Michael Kloft 2002, 88 
  mn.
[edit] External linksWikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: 
      The Great Dictator
      Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Great Dictator (film)

  The Great Dictator at the Internet Movie Database
  The Great Dictator at Rotten Tomatoes
  *'Look up, Hannah' Speech at End of Movie in Text, Audio and Video from 
  AmericanRhetoric.com
            [show]v · d · eFilms directed by Charlie Chaplin

            Keystone Studios
            (1914)Twenty Minutes of Love • Caught in the Rain • A Busy Day • Her 
            Friend the Bandit • Mabel's Married Life • Laughing Gas • The Face 
            on the Bar Room Floor • Recreation • The Masquerader • His New 
            Profession • The Rounders • The Property Man • The New Janitor • 
            Those Love Pangs • Dough and Dynamite • Gentlemen of Nerve • His 
            Musical Career • His Trysting Place • Getting Acquainted • His 
            Prehistoric Past

            Essanay Studios
            (1915-1918)His New Job • A Night Out • The Champion • In the Park • 
            A Jitney Elopement • The Tramp • By the Sea • His Regeneration 
            (uncredited) • Work • A Woman • The Bank • Shanghaied • A Night in 
            the Show • Burlesque on Carmen • Police • Triple Trouble

            Mutual Film Corp
            (1916-1917)The Floorwalker • The Fireman • The Vagabond • One A.M. • 
            The Count • The Pawnshop • Behind the Screen • The Rink • Easy 
            Street • The Cure • The Immigrant • The Adventurer

            First National
            (1918-1923)A Dog's Life • The Bond • Shoulder Arms • Sunnyside • A 
            Day's Pleasure • The Professor • The Kid • The Idle Class • Pay Day 
            • The Pilgrim

            United Artists
            (1923-1952)A Woman of Paris • The Gold Rush • The Circus • City 
            Lights • Modern Times • The Great Dictator • Monsieur Verdoux • 
            Limelight

            Later productionsA King in New York • A Countess from Hong Kong

            See alsoCharlie Chaplin filmography • Roy Export Company 
            Establishment • The Chaplin Revue • The Freak

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator"
Categories: English-language films | 1940 films | 1940s comedy films | American 
comedy-drama films | American political comedy films | American political satire 
films | Black-and-white films | Anti-fascist propaganda films | Adolf Hitler in 
fiction | Films about fascists | Films directed by Charlie Chaplin | Military 
humor in film | United Artists films | United States National Film Registry 
films | Films set in a fictional European country
Hidden categories: Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention from 
January 2010 | All Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing 
attentionPersonal tools
  Log in / create accountNamespaces
  ArticleDiscussionVariantsViews
  ReadEditView historyActions
Search
 
 Navigation
  Main pageContentsFeatured contentCurrent eventsRandom articleDonate to 
  WikipediaInteractionHelpAbout WikipediaCommunity portalRecent changesContact 
  WikipediaToolboxWhat links hereRelated changesUpload fileSpecial 
  pagesPermanent linkCite this page
Print/exportCreate a bookDownload as PDFPrintable version
LanguagesالعربيةAzərbaycancaCatalàČeskyDeutschEspañolEsperantoفارسیFrançaisGaeilgeGalego한국어HrvatskiItalianoעבריתქართულიLatinaMagyarമലയാളംNederlands日本語‪Norsk 
  (bokmål)‬PlattdüütschPolskiPortuguêsRomânăРусскийScotsSuomiSvenskaTürkçe中文This 
  page was last modified on 8 June 2011 at 12:15.

  Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; 
  additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
  Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a 
  non-profit organization.

  Contact us
  Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimers