198. THE GREAT DICTATOR, 1940
A profoundly timeless affirmation of humanity in a world gone mad
One of cinema’s most extraordinary achievements, “The Great Dictator” stands in a class of its own. Funny, fearless, touching, and entirely engrossing, Charles Chaplin’s masterwork was made to shine a light against the darkness of fascism, tyranny, and despair, and more than eighty years later, it remains every bit as entertaining and moving with a message as urgent as ever. Seamlessly blending satire, pathos, and slapstick, Chaplin created a film of remarkable warmth and humanity — one that continues to inspire hope, and remind us of the power of kindness and compassion.
Praised by The New York Times as “perhaps the most significant film ever produced”, “The Great Dictator” earned five Academy Award nominations — including Best Picture, and has only grown in stature over the decades. It's been named one of the greatest comedies of all-time by The Guardian, the BBC, and the American Film Institute, and the 24th greatest film ever made by Cahiers du cinéma. Rarely has a motion picture been so richly entertaining, emotionally affecting, and enduringly meaningful.
The film tells the story of two identical-looking men: an unnamed, kind Jewish barber; and “Adenoid Hynkel”, the tyrannical ruler of Tomainia. It jokingly opens with: “Note: any resemblance between ‘Hynkel’ the Dictator and the Jewish Barber is purely co-incidental”.
The story opens amid the chaos of World War I, where the barber heroically saves the life of "Commander Schultz” before suffering amnesia from a plane crash. When he finally awakens and returns to his barbershop in the Jewish Ghetto, he believes only a few weeks have passed, but twenty years have gone by, and the world he once knew has disappeared.
In his absence, “Hynkel” has seized absolute power, abolished freedom, and turned the Jews into convenient scapegoats, all while dreaming of creating an Aryan empire with himself as its supreme ruler. Sound familiar? There was little doubt at the time that “Hynkel” was Adolf Hitler and Tomainia was Nazi Germany. Eventually, fate causes the two lookalikes to be mistaken for one another with deeply moving consequences.
Yet the true wonder of “The Great Dictator” lies not in its plot, but the genius with which its writer, producer, director, and star, Charles “Charlie” Chaplin, brings it to life. Blending dazzling visual comedy, heartbreaking humanity, and fearless political satire, he created not only one of cinema’s funniest films, but one of its most profoundly enduring.
A global silent film superstar and one of cinema's few genuine geniuses, Chaplin used his first fully talking film to create something far greater than just a comedy. Blessed with a gift at creating deeply compassionate comedies that reflected the world around him, he infused his films with an emotional truth that keeps them timeless — and "The Great Dictator" is a case in point. Playing both the sweet Jewish barber and the tyrannical “Hynkel”, Chaplin quietly suggests that beneath titles and ideologies, all people are fundamentally alike, with a capacity for both good and evil. He brilliantly uses humor to reveal the oppression, cruelty, and absurdity of authoritarianism.
As the embodiment of the ordinary individual (albeit a slightly absentminded one), the barber is decent, dignified, and determined to do what's right. His innocence beautifully exposes the senselessness of oppression when he returns to his shop completely unaware of the anti-Jewish laws enacted during his absence. He has no idea who "Hynkel" is, why he is expected to salute him, or why anyone has the right to paint "JEW" on his storefront. When a stormtrooper does exactly that, the barber innocently wipes it away. He responds to demands to salute "Hynkel" with puzzled sincerity, and even asks a second stormtrooper to arrest the first for assaulting him.
What should be a terrifying scenario becomes uproariously funny through Chaplin’s uncanny timing and deadpan earnestness. Also ingenious is how the laughter never diminishes the horror beneath the surface, using comedy to make tyranny look both cruel and absurd at the same time — exposing the madness of dictatorships and the unwarranted anguish they create.
In one of the film’s most iconic sequences, “Hynkel” becomes intoxicated by the idea of absolute power and does a balletic pas de deux with a giant globe. Envisioning himself ruler of the world, he tosses the globe with diabolical glee from hand to hand, bounces it on his head, kicks it with his boots, and knocks it with his butt as if the world was his tiny, powerless plaything. Without words, this graceful scene is as emotionally chilling as it is beautiful.
Perhaps the film's most famous scene is its final speech, which I’ll discuss in the TO READ AFTER VIEWING section, so I don’t spoil anything for first time viewers.
Chaplin uses his stellar comedic talents for levity and laughs, be it the hilarious way the barber dances after being hit on the head with a frying pan, how swiftly he can dive into a window, barrel, or chest, or how perfectly he can shave a customer to the rhythm of Brahams’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5”. There’s also the animal snorts “Hynkel” makes when aroused, his childish tantrums over writing utensils, his limp-wristed salute, the savage like close-ups of his face when he spews hate, or his risibly frustrated attempts to outdo fellow dictator “Benzino Napaloni”.
There’s also Chaplin’s inventive use of German-sounding gibberish whenever “Hynkel” speaks Tomanian, particularly during his anti-Semitic tirades. Though we don't understand the words, “Hynkel’s” expressions and the reactions of the crowd make his meaning unmistakable, rendering it all the more frightening. It's a striking reminder of the power of visual storytelling, something Chaplin always believed transcended dialogue. Amusingly, in the gibberish, one can hear numerous food-related words and phrases, like “cheese and crackers,” “baloney”, “bananas”, “Wiener schnitzel”, “sauerkraut”, and more.
Because of the film’s light, breezy tone and the effortless brilliance with which Chaplin entertains, tells stories, and provokes thought, it's easy to take his remarkable artistry for granted, but his achievement here did not go unnoticed. In addition to a Best Picture nomination, “The Great Dictator” earned Chaplin Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. His performance also won National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, and other awards.
Many roads led Chaplin to “The Great Dictator”. One of the reigning kings of silent cinema, after entering films in 1912, he achieved worldwide fame by 1915 with his beloved “Tramp” character — the most recognizable figure on Earth at the time. After portraying the “Tramp” in roughly sixty films (including shorts), Chaplin suddenly found himself at a crossroads when sound burst onto movie screens with 1927’s “The Jazz Singer", transforming movies from silent to talking. He was now faced with a daunting conundrum: should he embrace sound or continue making silents? Because he never spoke, the “Tramp” had universal appeal, speaking everyone's "language" through gestures and expressions. As Chaplin pointed out in his autobiography: “I mused over the possibility of making a sound film, but the thought sickened me, for I realized I could never achieve the excellence of my silent pictures. It would mean giving up my tramp character entirely. Some people suggested that the tramp might talk. This was unthinkable, for the first word he ever uttered would transform him into another person”.
By 1930, studios stopped making silent films, but Chaplin stuck to his guns, releasing “City Lights” in 1931 with the “Tramp” still silent, accompanied only by music and sound effects. It was a smash hit and artistic victory, and when he traveled to England for the European premiere, he stayed in Europe for sixteen months, visiting with politicians, royalty, and great thinkers like Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and H.G. Wells.
It was during this time that the hardships of the Great Depression left a profound impression on Chaplin. He witnessed rotting food and unsold goods amid hunger, unemployment, strikes, and growing fears that machines were replacing people. These experiences prompted his 1936 film “Modern Times”, a humorous and compassionate portrait of the machine age and the struggles of ordinary people. Though the film included some dialogue, the “Tramp” remained silent, except for singing a song in gibberish. A major success, it co-starred Paulette Goddard, whom Chaplin hoped to showcase in his next film.
As Chaplin later recalled, “Another war was brewing and I was trying to write a story for Paulette; but I could make no progress. How could I throw myself into feminine whimsy or think of romance or the problems of love when madness was being stirred up by a hideous grotesque, Adolf Hitler?”. It was then he recalled a suggestion from director Alexander Korda to make a film about Hitler built around mistaken identity since Hitler and the "Tramp" shared the same toothbrush mustache (which many believed Hitler adopted to exploit the “Tramp’s” enormous popularity and worldwide fame). Now intrigued by the idea's potential, Chaplin pursued it.
Chaplin recalled: “Then it suddenly struck me. Of course! As Hitler I could harangue the crowds in jargon and talk all I wanted to. And as the tramp I could remain more or less silent. A Hitler story was an opportunity for burlesque and pantomime. So with this enthusiasm I went hurrying back to Hollywood and set to work writing a script. The story took two years to develop”.
Though the Jewish barber closely resembles the “Tramp” (he even dons the little man’s bowler hat, cane, baggy pants, and oversized shoes in one scene), he is generally regarded as a separate character, albeit one with the “Tramp’s” gentle disposition.
Audiences knew “Adenoid Hynkel” was a parody of Adolf Hitler. Referred to as the “Phooey” (echoing Hitler’s “Führer”), “Hynkel” invades neighboring countries, longs for racial purity, persecutes Jews, and even shares Hitler’s love of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” (which “Hynkel" dances to in the famous globe scene). To imitate his mannerisms, Chaplin studied newsreels of Hitler giving speeches.
Interestingly, Chaplin and Hitler were born just four days apart, yet one became a symbol of laughter and humanity, the other of hatred and destruction. The two shared a surprising number of similarities: devotion to their mothers; alcoholic fathers who died when they were young; periods of extreme poverty; and leaving their native countries to achieve worldwide fame abroad. Both became dictators of a sort — one politically and the other on a movie set.
Making “The Great Dictator” was an act of remarkable courage. The Nazis, who mistakenly believed Chaplin was Jewish, hated him and his immense popularity, banning his films in Germany and calling him a “disgusting Jewish acrobat” in their book “The Jews Are Looking at You" (which Chaplin read). Italy’s dictator, Benito Mussolini, also despised Chaplin and banned his films. This hostility is thought to have helped spur Chaplin to make this film, which he announced in late 1938, just before Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), when Nazi leaders unleashed a campaign of anti-Jewish violence and terror across Germany and parts of Austria — an event alluded to in the film.
Many urged Chaplin to abandon the project. Jewish Hollywood producers feared it would worsen conditions for Jews and damage American foreign policy. Britain warned it would ban the film for fear of provoking Hitler, the Hays Code office threatened censorship problems, and even Chaplin's own New York office advised against it. Undeterred, Chaplin financed the film's $2 million budget himself, believing that "Hitler must be laughed at”. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was among the few who supported the project and encouraged him to make it. As Chaplin said in "The Charlie Chaplin Archives": “More than ever now the world needs to laugh. Laughter is a safety valve for our sanity”.
The genocide of Jews and atrocities of the Holocaust would not become widely known until 1944 and 1945. Chaplin reflected years later, "Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made 'The Great Dictator’: I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis”.
Production began days after the start of World War II, when Germany invaded Poland. Before filming was completed, Belgium and France had fallen and England had entered the war. Hitler appeared unstoppable. Ironically, once opposed to the project, Chaplin's New York office was now urging him to hurry and finish it, saying that everyone was now waiting for this film.
Chaplin received numerous death threats from pro-Nazis, many of them American. Others warned they would throw stink bombs into theaters or even shoot at movie screens. Yet when “The Great Dictator” was released, it became one of the most anticipated films in history and Chaplin's biggest box-office success to date, despite being banned in parts of Europe, South America, and Ireland.
Yet it was not without controversy. President Roosevelt later summoned him to the White House and remarked, "Sit down, Charlie; your picture is giving us a lot of trouble in the Argentine". According to Chaplin, that was the President's only comment about the film, although he later asked Chaplin to recite its final speech at his third inauguration. Others made the same request, thrusting Chaplin into the role of an unintended political spokesman. As requests for public appearances multiplied, he increasingly spoke out on political causes, including efforts to aid Russian war veterans — America's allies against Nazi Germany. During the McCarthy Era, these speeches and his liberal views led critics to brand him a traitor, ultimately prompting his departure from the United States and move to Switzerland. He made only a handful more movies. You can read more about Charles Chaplin's life and career in my previous posts on “The Gold Rush” and “City Lights”. Click on the titles to open them.
Co-starring with Chaplin in “The Great Dictator” is Paulette Goddard as “Hannah”, the barber’s neighbor. “Hannah” is a fighter and, in many ways, the face of hope. With a spark of insolence toward injustice and a deep well of sensitivity, she stands up to the stormtroopers, swings a mean frying pan, and declares to the barber, “We can’t fight alone, but we can lick ‘em together”.
Offscreen, Goddard was a trailblazingly independent woman very much in control of her own career. Onscreen, she excelled at playing strong, brassy characters, and here she adds an unexpected layer of vulnerability. Her strength and softness are especially evident in the scene where the stormtroopers pelt her with tomatoes, and in the film’s final moments, which rest almost entirely on the delicate emotions on her face. Her warm chemistry with Chaplin is unmistakable, whether in their shared fear during “Hynkel’s” speech or their tangible affection as the barber shaves “Hannah’s” face. While making this film, Chaplin and Goddard were married, though their relationship was deteriorating. They would divorce two years later, remaining lifelong friends. “Hannah” was the name of Chaplin’s mother.
By the time of “The Great Dictator”, Goddard was already a star. A former model and Ziegfeld Girl, she had moved to Hollywood and was getting small film roles when she met Chaplin on a friend’s yacht. Bonding over a shared sense of loneliness, they soon began a relationship. Chaplin created the film “Modern Times” for her, which made her an instant star, and the two married shortly after its release. She went on to become one of the major stars of the 1940s before largely stepping away from acting in the 1950s. Find out more about Paulette Goddard’s life and career in my posts on “The Women”, “Hold Back the Dawn”, and a bit more about her marriage to Chaplin in “The Gold Rush”.
Because “The Great Dictator” satirizes real people and events, Chaplin changed the names of actual figures and places for comic effect while leaving little doubt about who and what they were. Such is the case with Jack Oakie as “Benzino Napaloni”, ruler of the country of Bacteria — a parody of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, known as Il Duce (“Diggaditchie” in the film). “Napaloni” is also a playful nod to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Many of “Napaloni's” scenes spoof Mussolini’s 1937 meeting with Hitler in Germany.
Jovial, brash, and gloriously arrogant, Jack Oakie is terrific as “Napaloni”, capturing Mussolini’s mannerisms to perfection, from his thrust-forward jaw and furrowed brow to his larger-than-life theatricality, as he constantly tries to dominate “Hynkel”. The result is a continuously sidesplitting battle between two dictators desperately trying to save face while proving their own superiority. Whether it’s “Hynkel” wanting to humiliate “Napaloni” by having him sit in a chair with baby legs, how “Napaloni” laughably chews his peanuts at the military parade, or trying to outdo one another in their barber chairs, their scenes together are comedy gold. Oakie’s delightful fake Italian accent (which comes and goes) only adds to the hilarity. Equally adept with verbal and physical comedy, Oakie earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for this fantastic performance.
Born in Missouri and raised in Oklahoma, Jack Oakie moved to New York City with his family, where he worked as a runner on Wall Street. He survived the 1920 Wall Street bombing, though it left him partially deaf, which he concealed by reading lips and maintaining perfect singing pitch. After being asked to perform in a charity show of Wall Street executives, he decided to pursue acting. Starting in vaudeville, he landed his first professional gig in the chorus of George M. Cohan’s “Little Nellie Kelly” in 1922, reaching Broadway by 1924. He began appearing in silent films in 1923 and moved to Hollywood in 1927. After nine silent films, including “The Fleet's In” with Clara Bow, came his first sound film, 1929’s “The Dummy”, and within a year, he was starring in movies beginning with “Fast Company”. Known for his round face and stocky build — both of which he used to great comic effect, Oakie appeared in as many as eight films a year, starring in numerous musicals and playing perennial college freshmen well into his thirties, which earned him the nickname “The World’s Oldest Freshman”.
A major comedy star with a distinct style, Oakie is often credited with inventing the “double take” and “triple take”. He frequently portrayed cheerful, dimwitted buffoon types, and had a reputation for stealing scenes from some of Hollywood’s biggest stars (including Chaplin in this film). In 1938, after spending six months vacationing in Europe, he returned to find he'd lost his star billing and couldn’t find work. “The Great Dictator” proved a comeback, earning him his only Oscar nomination and revitalizing his career. It's widely regarded as his crowning achievement. He continued working in radio, films, and TV until 1966, and his approximately ninety films include “If I Had a Million”, “Million Dollar Legs”, “Call of the Wild”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Collegiate”, “Thieves' Highway”, “Around the World in 80 Days”, and his final, the 1962 Doris Day, Rock Hudson romcom “Lover Come Back”. Widowed by his first marriage, he later married actress Victoria Horne until his death. Jack Oakie died in 1978 at the age of 74.
The entire supporting cast of “The Great Dictator” is outstanding, including Henry Daniell as “Garbitsch” (pronounced “garbage”), the Secretary of the Interior and Minister of Propaganda, as well as the sinister mastermind behind “Hynkel’s” schemes. The character is a parody of Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler’s closest followers and the Nazi Party’s Reich Minister of Propaganda.
With calm stoicism, Daniell provides perfect contrast to the larger-than-life personalities around him. By anchoring the comedy in reality, he reminds us that while others may be zany or absurd, what’s happening is deadly serious. It’s “Garbitsch” who encourages “Hynkel” to unleash violence against the Jews, urging him: “You've got to rouse the people's anger. At this time, violence against the Jews might take the public's mind off its [empty] stomach". Likewise, he plants the seeds of world conquest, telling “Hynkel”: “It's your destiny. We'll kill off the Jews, wipe out the brunettes, then will come forth our dream — a pure Aryan race... They will love you, they will adore you, they will worship you as a god” — words that lead to “Hynkel’s” delirious dance with the globe. It’s a magnificently restrained and understated performance, essential to both the film’s comedy and gravitas. “The Great Dictator” came during the height of Henry Daniell’s film career, and you can read more about his life and career in my post on “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex”.
Reginald Gardiner plays “Commander Schultz”, saved by the barber in World War I, now commanding troops under “Hynkel’s” regime. The opposite of “Garbitsch”, “Schultz” is a humane Tomainian and serves as a good-hearted “straight man” to the barber. Gardiner colors the role with warmth, humor, intelligence, impeccable comic timing, and a voice seemingly made for comedy. He is especially delightful in the famous airplane scene, though filming it proved somewhat uncomfortable. According to Dan James in "The Charlie Chaplin Archives”: “The essence of the scene is that they are upside down but do not know it. Reggie [Gardiner] had to hang upside down and recite his lines. He just could not take it. He was obviously in pain.”
England-born Reginald Gardiner studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began touring with repertory companies before appearing in London-based plays, musicals, and revues. He made his first film appearance as an extra in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 film “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog”, spearheading his work in British cinema. In 1935, actress and performer Beatrice Lillie persuaded Gardiner to come to Broadway and appear in several of her revues, prompting his Broadway debut in “At Home Abroad”. In these revues, he became famous for impersonating inanimate objects, including French wallpaper, wastebaskets, ships, and lighthouses. His monologue “Trains” proved so popular that it was recorded, broadcast on British radio, and performed by request before King George VI at Buckingham Palace.
Gardiner made his Hollywood debut in 1936's “Born to Dance”, launching a prolific career of one of the screen’s most dependable comic character actors. Among his more than eighty film and television credits are “Cluny Brown”, “Christmas in Connecticut”, “The Man Who Came to Dinner”, “Marie Antoinette”, “The Flying Deuces”, “Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation”, “A Damsel in Distress”, “Rock-a-Bye Baby”, “Captains of the Clouds”, and “Back Street”. His TV appearances include “Bewitched”, “Green Acres”, “Perry Mason”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “77 Sunset Strip”, and “Batman”, as well as a co-starring role opposite Phyllis Diller in “The Pruitts of Southampton”. Married twice, Reginald Gardiner died in 1980 at the age of 77.
Adding a lot of larger-than-life humor is the wonderful Billy Gilbert, who plays “Herring”, “Hynkel's" Minister of War. A parody of Hermann Göring (Hitler’s second-in-command), “Herring” constantly invents things like a bulletproof suit or new type of parachute, and at one point exclaims with euphoric jubilation: "We've just discovered the most wonderful, the most marvelous poisonous gas! It will kill everybody!” (a reference to the poison gas used by Germany in World War I — before anyone knew the Nazis were using it to murder millions in concentration camps). With Gilbert’s expertise at portraying nervously bumbling characters and his use of exaggerated facial and physical expressions, he makes this man delightfully laughable. You can read more about the life and career of Billy Gilbert in my posts on “His Girl Friday” and “Snow White the Seven Dwarfs”.
Last but certainly not least is Maurice Moscovich as “Mr. Jaeckel”, an older Jewish man who serves as “Hannah’s” landlord and, in many ways, the conscience of the ghetto. Moscovich brings authority and sensitivity, making “Jaeckel” realistic about the horrors unfolding around him while showing genuine fondness for “Hannah” and the barber. As such, "Jaeckel" becomes a poignant reminder that these are ordinary people enduring extraordinary brutality — and that even under the most oppressive conditions, kindness and humanity can endure.
Against his parents’ wishes, Odessa, Russia-born Maurice Moscovich began appearing in children’s plays and made his stage debut at the National Theatre of Odessa at fourteen. After emigrating with his family to New York City, he soon became one of the leading figures of the Yiddish theater. From there, he established himself on the British stage with his acclaimed portrayal of “Shylock” in a Royal Court production of “The Merchant of Venice”, launching a lengthy and successful career in England. He also enjoyed great success on stage in Australia and South Africa. He turned to films in his early sixties, making his screen debut in 1936’s “Winterset”. Over the next four years, he appeared in thirteen films, often playing kindly Jewish men. His other films include “In Name Only”, “Make Way for Tomorrow”, “Love Affair”, “Susannah of the Mounties”, and “Suez”. “The Great Dictator” was his final film — he died about four months after filming. Married once, he was the father of actor Noel Madison. Maurice Moscovich died following surgery in 1940 at age 68.
In addition to Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Supporting Actor Oscar nominations, "The Great Dictator” also received a Best Original Score Academy Award nomination for Meredith Willson (Chaplin, also a composer, worked closely with Willson without taking credit).
This week’s courageous masterpiece dared to stand against the brutality and injustice engulfing the world — and did it with laughter. And its extraordinary artistry keeps it as engrossing, entertaining, and relevant as ever. Enjoy “The Great Dictator”!
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TO READ AFTER VIEWING (contains spoilers):
The barber’s final speech pleading for peace, freedom, and human dignity, is one of the film’s most powerful moments. Though addressed to the troops, Chaplin films the barber looking directly at us, as if speaking to the entire world. The scene was both deeply admired and controversial. With the United States still officially neutral and hoping to avoid entering WWII, some people, including the FBI, viewed Chaplin’s outspoken plea for democracy and resistance to tyranny as un-American.
Chaplin faced heavy criticism by those feeling he delivered the speech as himself rather than the barber. In a published letter to the New York Times, Chaplin defended his decision: “May I not be excused for ending my comedy on a note that reflects, honestly and realistically, the world in which we live, and may I not be excused in pleading for a better world? Mind you, it is addressed to the soldiers, the very victims of a dictatorship”.
Hitler loved movies, particularly Hollywood films, and there’s evidence that he obtained a print of “The Great Dictator”. No one knows what he thought — but we do know he watched it twice.
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