Rating: 
Summary: Serio-comic masterpiece---Hitler saw this one twice!
Review: This film is an excellent piece of anti-axis propaganda in the guise of a hilarious satire of totalitarianism. Chaplin portays two characters who's resemblance to one another is merely coincidental. One is a Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania with a jewish name, the other a Jewish barber with impeccable instincts for sussing out trouble. Overall, "The Great Dictator" attempts to demonstrate the idiocy of war. By turning the key players into buffoons, it portays the war machine as a circus. This film is much more than a lampoon of the Nazis, however. The silliest characature of all is of Benito Mussolini. Jack Oakie's portrayal of the Dictator of Bacteria, Benzino Napaloni, is the highlight of the film. He's like a stereotype of one of those "larger-than-life" tourists who bluster with absolute authority wherever he goes. It is really hard not to picture him in the loudest hawaiian shirt know to man. It is really obscenely funny. The interaction between the two dictators provides the most sustained lunacy in the film. Their attempts to one-up one another are just brilliant."The Great Dictator" does have an extremely serious side. There is an attempt to portray the plight of the displaced Jews with care and much pathos. It works, more or less. The Jewish Ghetto is given enough attention that the viewer develops a connection with them as they attempt to get on with their lives. Maurice Moscovitch as Mr. Jaeckel is particularly effective. Paulette Goddard plays Hannah as a rather dim, dreamy stumblebum. She's cute, but occasionally annoying. Sometimes, it feels like Chaplin has transported Hannah back to the Wizard of Oz--she speaks in that same half-whimpering, dreamy manner as Judy Garland's Dorothy. Finally, this film certainly transcends any single political agenda. The only agenda one can associate with it is the aim to bring laughter to a world torn asunder by the vagaries of milatary posturings. It seems telling (to me, at least), that Adolf Hitler viewed this film twice. I have always been curious as to what his thoughts were on this total classic send-up of the great men of the Blood-Axis in their own time. Perhaps by the end of the first viewing, he perceived that Mussolini got the worst of it. Then he watched it again--this time with pleasure. If you can't laugh at yourself...
Rating:
Summary: Chaplin at his best...
Review: This film starts of a bit slow, but grows stronger
as it builds towards the ending, contains some great
comedic routines, and uses for good effect some small
plot devices (amnesia and mistaken identity). Most importantly,
Chaplin had the courage to confront the situation of fascism
and his final speech was a grand statement and vision during
incredibly troubled times. Also important is the 2nd CD, which includes an excellent documentary on the making of the film
in the context of its historical setting.
Rating:
Summary: A POWERFUL, HILARIOUS AND DRAMATIC MASTERPIECE
Review: This has to be one of the funniest, stirring, dramatic, shocking and timeless satires ever made. Everything in it works and builds to an emotional climax that will move you if you have a beating heart. This should be required viewing if you have an interest in World War 2 or comic timing.
Rating:
Summary: Chaplin at his funniest best!
Review: This is a hilarious parody of Adolf Hitler("Adenoid Hynckel"!) and the entire Nazi hierarchy .Chaplin portrays the bumblingly self-important Feuhrer to a T while concurrently playing the role of a Jewish barber ("the tramp") who is constantly hounded by the stormtroopers .This is slapstick at its finest! Goering is played by the suitably rotund "Marshal Herring" while Goebbels is lampooned as "Herr minister Garbage"! There is even a cameo role for Mussolini (senor Napolioni of "Bacteria").Especially funny are Chaplin's spoofs of Hitler's speeches____all ticks and mannerisms included! I don't want to give away the end of this movie( which is sobering) but can tell you that after seeing it you will never be able to watch one of those WW-II documentaries without getting a chuckle out of them!
Rating:
Summary: The funniest movie ever. Chaplin at his best.
Review: This is a very funny movie. Wartime propaganda and spoof of Adolf Hitler cast Chaplin as Adenoid Hynkel, evil dictator of Tomania, and a jewish barbar. Very funny stuff. Jack Oakie is equally funny as Benzini Nappolini, dictator of Bacteria. The more I watch it the more I like it. Together with SHOULDER ARMS this is my all time favourite movie. See it and you may agree.
Rating:
Summary: The best Chaplin film I've ever seen.
Review: This is an outstanding Chaplin film and like it there's no other. He plays two role; one as a dictator to beat Napolean to invading Ostervich and then taking over the world, and one is a barber in the Ghetto, where he meets a girl he likes (as usual). No matter how serious it gets, there's at least 3 funny things every minute. But it'll probably take you a good 5 or 7 times watching to actually understand the entire subject of the film. After the barber Chaplin becomes a soldier and helps Commander Schultz escape in his plane, they crash and the war has long been over, Chaplin's side losing. When he is fully recovered from his mental disorder, he returns home to his barber but starts fighting storm troopers. Soon they try to hang him when he meets with Commander Schultz. Meanwhile, the dictator is trying every which way to invade Ostervich with his two helpers, Garbage and Herring. When they find out that Napolean wants to take over Ostervich, too, the dictator invites him to Tomania to talk things out. And as soon as they do, the dictator takes over Ostervich. But the storm troopers got hold of the wrong Chaplin so the barber is the one that has to make the speech. I'm sure Chaplin fans will love this. You will see that there are funny parts everywhere, like Chaplin tripping, holding the dirty baby, slapping Herring, modeling for a statue and painting, ripping up papers in anger, the German speech in the beginning, and many, many more. So no matter who you are (well, actually it does matter), you will love this funny but dramatic classic film.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Masterpiece
Review: This is one of my favorite movies ever!!! It's so fabulous. With the hilarious fake german and the acting is perfect. A sure must own!
Rating:
Summary: Sheer comic brilliance
Review: This was Charles Chaplin's first all-talkie. His spoof of Der Fuhrer Adolf Hitler as Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania is extremely clever and funny. This is a brilliantly concocted comedy which also has its serious side in alerting the world to the consequences it could face if the military actions of dictators were left unchecked and allowed to metastasize. Chaplin gives a stirring, emotionally-stimulating speech near the end that in real life was broadcast throughout imprisoned Europe by the BBC during World War II. This is one film that deserves to be included in the category of classics.
Rating:
Summary: A Timeless Message for us all!
Review: Usually, I've found Chaplin to be more interesting than funny. That is also true for this film. However, the message of it makes it necessary to be seen by ALL. The balance of tragedy and comedy in the persecution of the Jews of "Tomania" is a lesson for the unsubtle so-called "satirists" of recent times. You will smile and cry. While faimiliarity of the era and historical events helps in one's appreciation of this film-the overall message is timeless-the struggle between freedom versus tyranny and persecution. Chaplin's speech at the end is a classic piece of literature on its own. One thing that is a tad curious-how did a nice and sensible guy like Shultz (who turns against the film's Hitler caricaturein this film) join up with someone like "Adenoid Hynkel" in the first place?
Rating:
Summary: smart thinking
Review: When Great Dictator was originally made, it was 1937 before the world became familiar with the atrosities of Adolf Hitler and the danger that he would be. Great Dictator seems to foreshadow future events of the Holocaust and Germany's attempts to take over Europei in an attempt to get people ready for things to come. Chaplin does an excellent job of mimiking the life of Adolf Hitler. The movie itself was really well done and helped to show what Chaplin was capable of doing.
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