The Great Dictator (1940)
Country: US
Technical: bw 129m
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Synopsis:
A Jewish barber is persecuted by the regime of the dictator Adenoid Hynkel, but has the last laugh.
Review:
As comparison with The Hitler Gang shows, comedy is a more effective tool for mockery than drama, and the scenes making fun of Hitler and Mussolini are effective enough. Elsewhere Chaplin injects incidental scenes of wit and polish, such as the shave to the strains of a Brahms Hungarian Dance. However, when attention reverts to the barber's central predicament the tone loses its footing, and the closing speech is a double blunder: 1. it is not funny, and 2. as an introduction to the star's voice it is a disappointment.
Country: US
Technical: bw 129m
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Synopsis:
A Jewish barber is persecuted by the regime of the dictator Adenoid Hynkel, but has the last laugh.
Review:
As comparison with The Hitler Gang shows, comedy is a more effective tool for mockery than drama, and the scenes making fun of Hitler and Mussolini are effective enough. Elsewhere Chaplin injects incidental scenes of wit and polish, such as the shave to the strains of a Brahms Hungarian Dance. However, when attention reverts to the barber's central predicament the tone loses its footing, and the closing speech is a double blunder: 1. it is not funny, and 2. as an introduction to the star's voice it is a disappointment.
Country: US
Technical: bw 129m
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Synopsis:
A Jewish barber is persecuted by the regime of the dictator Adenoid Hynkel, but has the last laugh.
Review:
As comparison with The Hitler Gang shows, comedy is a more effective tool for mockery than drama, and the scenes making fun of Hitler and Mussolini are effective enough. Elsewhere Chaplin injects incidental scenes of wit and polish, such as the shave to the strains of a Brahms Hungarian Dance. However, when attention reverts to the barber's central predicament the tone loses its footing, and the closing speech is a double blunder: 1. it is not funny, and 2. as an introduction to the star's voice it is a disappointment.