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Actors: Charles Chaplin, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Paulette Goddard
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Great Dictator |
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Charlie Chaplin's attack on Hitler starts with the character of the Jewish barber fighting for the country of Tomania in World War I. After saving the life of a fellow Tomanian soldier, he lands himself in the hospital after suffering from amnesia. Meanwhile, the Tomanian dictator Adenoid Hynkel is planning on exterminating the Jews of the land. The Jewish barber escapes from the hospital and returns to his town which has now been turned into a ghetto getting terrorised by storm troopers. The barber soon gets on their bad side which prompts them to hang him. However, the soldier who the barber saved (revealed to be called Commander Shultz) arrives on the scene. and orders the men to not harm anyone in the ghetto. Hynkel is already planning his plans for world domination by killing all the brunettes and Jews everywhere and decides to meet with the Bacterian dictator Napoloni so that he can get ownership of the only free country in Europe. Back in the ghetto, the barber falls in love with a hard-working, young girl named Hannah.
--Estefan Ellison, Resident Scholar
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In an epilogue, a clumsy infantry soldier saves the life of aristocratic pilot Schultz in the waning days of World War I. Their escape ends in a crash which causes the soldier to lose his memory. He spends many years in the hospital before reopening a barber shop in the Jewish ghetto. One day he gets in trouble and is hauled up before the local commander, who turns out to be Schultz and who greets his friend warmly. So for a time the ghetto enjoys peace. Then the dictator Adenoid Hynkel comes to power in the nation of Tomania, Schultz is jailed for leniency, and the Jews start to be hauled off to concentration camps. Hynkel makes plans to invade neighboring Osterlich to impress his rival Napaloni, dictator of Bacteria, who has also massed troops on the border of the hapless little country. Schultz and the barber escape from custody, and because of a remarkable physical resemblance, the barber is mistaken for Hynkel and has an opportunity to change the unfortunate course history is taking. Writer, director, and star Chaplin started shooting this movie in 1937, before the extent of Hitler's evil plans was widely known, and it was still only one of two pre-war movies to criticize Hitler openly by the time of its release in 1940. It was also Chaplin's first all-talking, all-sound film, 13 years after the end of the Silent Era, with many hilarious sequences, such as the shaving scene and the dictator's ballet with a balloon of the world. His rally speech of Hitlerian gobbledygook is genuinely frightening, and though a concluding call for peace and goodwill may strike some as tinny and naive, as a whole the movie stands up well against Chaplin's other greats.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Great Dictator |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
If a parody... of
- history
War impact on civilians/veterans
Yes
Kind of comedy
- political satire
Kind of conflict:
- holocaust
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- small businessman
- blue collar
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- (man) very skinny
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- aggressive
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Jewish
- Eastern European
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Body type
- (woman) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 20%
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Jewish
- Eastern European
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- dictator
Eccentric:
Yes
- wild
- eccentric
- emotionally unstable
- obsessed
- deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
- 90%-100%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- (man) average
Ethnicity/Nationality
- German
- Eastern European
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Germany
- Eastern Europe
City?
Yes
City:
- dangerous
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
- fort/military installation
- sports arena
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- encouraged
Check here if B&W
Yes
Any profanity?
- None
If lots of song/dance...
- lot of dancing
If this is a kid's movie...
- Ages 10-15
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Orchestra/classical
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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