Hollywood was afraid of the Nazis in the late 1930s going into 1940. World War II was not yet involving the United States, and most studios were shying away from any material that might alienate European audiences, especially in Germany. Warner Bros. was an exception to that, as that studio had no problem voicing its objections to the fascism going on over there. It cost them some profits, but it was the right thing to do. But not even Warner Bros. knew the degree of evil that was happening in Poland and the severity of the ghettos and the concentration camps. It was a horror that hadn’t fully been known to American citizens just yet.
Charlie Chaplin was also somewhat unaware of the degree of evil coming out of Germany. He stated in his autobiography that had he known, he would have probably not made The Great Dictator. Laughing at that level of evil and savagery would have seemed to him in very poor taste. But not making this film would have been a real loss to the world, too, for it lampoons the stupidity of racism, the absurdity of racial purity, and the mindset of those who feel it is their duty and destiny to control the entire world, reigning over a planet of blond-haired blue eyed aryans while not being one of them himself. This was a brave subject to tackle, and Charlie Chaplin does so with a delicate balance between the seriousness of the situation and the absurdity of it, too.
The film opens during the First World War with an unnamed Jewish soldier (Chaplin) fighting for Tomania (a substitute for Germany). After a series of comedic antics, he finds himself rescuing a fellow soldier, a pilot who has become too exhausted to fly out of the war zone with valuable news that may turn the tide for Tomania. This pilot, Schultz (Reginald Gardiner), manages to fly the two out with great assistance from the Jewish soldier but passes out midair and crashes. The war is lost, and the Jewish soldier is badly injured.
In the years since the war, a new threat arises in the form of Adenoid Hynkel (also played by Chaplin). Hynkel has risen up to the position of supreme leader of Tomania and has turned the people against the Jews, rounding them up into ghettos and sending his soldiers in to harass the people constantly. The Jewish soldier, still suffering from memory problems after his crash in the war, walks out of the hospital and goes back to his old life, unaware of the passage of time. Upon his arrival back home, he starts up his old business as a barber. He meets Hannah (Paulette Goddard), a young woman with whom he starts to fall for. He also has some run-ins with the storm troopers, the soldiers tasked with maintaining control in the ghettos. But, despite his penchant for getting into trouble with the guards, he has a guardian in the midst. Commander Schultz, recognizing the man who saved his life in the first war, has ordered his men to leave the barber and his friends in peace. But that may soon change as Hynkel may at any time crack down on any of his men who protect Jews in the ghetto.
Meanwhile, in the palace, Hynkel is having troubles of his own. He needs a bank loan to continue his military campaign into Osterlich, loans that are not forthcoming. He also is in competition with Benzino Napaloni (Jack Oakie), the Diggaditchie of Bacteria (a parody of Benito Mussolini, II Duce of Italy and also a reference to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte). Napaloni has stationed his own troops on the border of Osterlich and insists he will not remove them unless Hynkel signs a treaty not to invade that country. Hynkel, trying to gain an advantage, wants Napaloni to remove his troops before signing, a ploy that will allow him to invade instead.
There are, of course, parodies of real-life events everywhere in this film. Chaplin understood that the best way to rob people of their fear over us is to make us laugh at them. When we are introduced to Hynkel, he is giving a Hitleresque, heated speech to his people, ranting on about the Jews, the war, and Tomania, all delivered in gibberish. Chaplin is pulling off sight gag after sight gag, filling this speech with faux German and other nonsense words, silly gestures, and other such gags to keep this whole segment light and funny, all while getting across exactly what he is lampooning. By this time in history, people would have heard some of Hitler’s speeches and been aware of what kind of orator he was. Chaplin, while not capturing it one-to-one, is playing this up to the hilt.
And he doesn’t stop at the speech, either. We see Greek statues, modified to display the raised salute of the Nazi Party, a clear jab at the cultural appropriation Germany was guilty of at the time. There are other such sight gags, too, but it is pointless to just list them all here. Chaplin has stuffed this film with a ton of humor, both verbal and visual and it is best to experience it yourself.
For years, his collaborators were insisting that Charles Chaplin needed to modernize and leave the silent films behind. Chaplin knew that if he took his iconic character, The Tramp, out of the silent era, it would be the death of him. Whether that was his stubborn opinion or the truth, once Chaplin finally did, The Tramp never again appeared in a new feature. The Great Dictator would be his final film. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Chaplin proves in this film that he is more than capable of adapting to the new format. For years, he made films that mocked talkie films, but when he finally made his own one, he married the two styles perfectly, creating an homage to the old days while also embracing the new style perfectly.
While the Tramp does speak, many of his mannerisms are still very much rooted in the silent era. This is a character that Chaplin had been playing now for well over twenty years, and very little was altered to adapt him to a talking film. In contrast, Hynkel’s character is not portrayed like a silent movie character at all. He is much more verbal, and a lot of the comedy comes from his dialogue and interactions with his subordinates. That being said, Hynkel’s best moment is firmly in the silent mode as he playfully tosses a balloon globe in the air, balancing it on his hand or bouncing it off his posterior, culminating with it exploding in his hands. It’s silly and poignant and carries a lot of symbolism in it.
This was Charlie Chaplin’s only Best Picture nomination in a career that spanned many decades. It was not long after this that he would be unjustly accused of being a communist and forced to leave the United States, settling in Switzerland. He would only come back for a brief appearance at the 44th Academy Awards, where he was honored for his long career in the movies. In the montage reel they showed at that show, The Great Dictator was heavily featured. He made us laugh in the face of fascism in a time when most Hollywood studios were too afraid of losing precious profits overseas. He was accused of being Jewish, though he admitted he didn’t have that honor. He knew that we needed to drag dictators out into the spotlight and see them for who they were, megalomaniacs deserving of our disdain and mockery.
The best thing about The Great Dictator is that not only does it ridicule Hitler and the Nazis, but it is also an amazing movie in its own right. It’s filled with classic Chaplin moments, even a few that hearken back to Soldier Arms, a short film he had made nearly twenty years prior. Chaplin proved with this one that he could thrive in the talkie era provided he had the right material to work with. He would make one more great film after this, Limelight, and a handful of lesser films before finally retiring from filmmaking in the late 60s. The Tramp, his iconic character, proved to be just as compelling in talking pictures before being quietly retired for good. The Great Dictator is a fitting finale for this character and a bittersweet farewell. We last see him, confused for Hynkel himself, forced into a speech to the troops on the eve of the invasion of Osterlich. This speech, every bit as iconic as George C. Scott’s opening address in Patton, calls for compassion, humanity, and, above all else, peace. It was a plea that the world needed at that time. It’s a speech that we still need over eighty years later.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Production: Charlie Chaplin
Best Actor: Charlie Chaplin
Best Supporting Actor: Jack Oakie
Best Writing - Original Screenplay: Charlie Chaplin
Best Music - Original Score: Meredith Willson
____________________________________________________
Release Date: October 15, 1940
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Henry Daniell, Reginald Gardiner, Billy Gilbert, and Maurice Moscovich
Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
Comments
Post a Comment