The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard)
The more popular Charlie Chaplin became, the more confident he felt in bringing important issues into his films. With swelling box office returns and soaring fame, the most famous movie star in the world decided to go one step further when he began incorporating serious subjects into his comedies. Today, going against the recommendations of production studios is tantamount to creative suicide, but Chaplin must have had an inclination that, if he produced movies that did not ignore the plights of his fellow man yet avoided making the situations themselves too preachy, he nevertheless stood a very good chance of doing them well and having them well received.
Chaplin's success with the marvellous 1936 film Modern Times must have helped pave the way for The Great Dictator. With Modern Times, he was able to explore and lampoon current issues such as poverty, unemployment and the unrest linked to the coming of the Industrial Age. It would take Chaplin four years to release his next effort, an anti-war satire which he wrote, directed, partially scored, produced, and starred in... twice. These impressive accomplishments aside, The Great Dictator is an even more lofty a feat when one considers its germinations began before the Second World War had even started. Although the film suffered several delays with regards to its release date, its arrival in 1940 was eerily well-timed, preceding the United States' entry into the war and the global infamy which Adolf Hitler would attain through his public speeches on newsreels.
Two distinctly different roles are played by Chaplin in the film. The first is a soft-spoken Jewish barber, who is a victim of anti-semitism and persecution but doesn't realize why because he's suffering from amnesia. The second is Adenoid Hynkel, an angry dictator who, with his small moustache and indecipherable German mode of speech, remarkably resembles Hitler. The balance between the two characters is superbly handled in practically all of the scenes. There is never any doubt it is Chaplin himself inhabiting each of the men, and his ability to make them comical for completely different reasons is a testament to his genius.
The barber befriends a woman named Hannah (Paulette Goddard). Enamoured by his laissez-faire attitude, she stays by his side in the face of hardship in the Tomanian ghetto. Meanwhile, the dictator Hynkel is busy trying to make plans of world domination. When he isn't spewing incoherent platitudes from his pulpit, he is inviting over to his office the rotund ruler of Bacteria, Benzino Napaloni (Jack Oakie). In this parody of Italian fascist Benito Mussolini, Oakie is hilariously confident with his wonderful mannerisms and astounding impersonation. After a switcharoo reminiscent of "the Prince and the Pauper", the barber inadvertently ends up in a situation where he must deliver a speech to the masses. It is here that Chaplin steps out of both characters and addresses the camera as himself. His dissertation is an impassioned plea for tolerance, compassion and understanding.
The Great Dictator is a magnificent combination of pathos and comedy, as only Chaplin could deliver. When the word "JEW" is painted on a store window or when the barber is cornered by angry soldiers about to lynch him, our stomachs twist into knots, but when the rival dictators Hynkel and Napaloni try to one-up each other by jacking their movable chairs up higher and higher into the air, our stomachs are sore from laughter. In one fantastic sequence, the barber shaves one of his customer in synchronism with Brahms' Fifth Hungarian Dance, and in another that seems to embody the very essence of satire, Hynkel delusionally plays with an inflatable planetary globe in a ballet duet.
The reigning king of silent films, this picture marked Chaplin's first full-length "talkie". There are times when the dialogue is merely playing catch-up to the physical pieces, but the transition is nevertheless a triumph. The subject matter of The Great Dictator was controversial overseas and was banned in some countries, but historical records indicate that apparently Hitler himself viewed the film on more than one occasion and was apparently impressed by it. Certainly, Chaplin would not have wanted to flatter the German ruler, but it does speak of the film's scope and reach at the time of its release. In later years, Chaplin apologetically confessed he had no idea how much more grave conditions would become as the war progressed, but in my opinion this blissful ignorance only strengthens the end result, because the film might potentially have either ventured into subject matter that was too grim or might never have been made it all. With its ability to evoke a wide array of strong and different emotions for me on a personal level when I watch it, I cannot imagine the latter scenario ever even being a consideration.
