The Great Dictator (1940)

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin (writer)

Release Date:

15 October 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Tagline:

The Comedy Masterpiece!

Plot:

In Chaplin's satire on Nazi Germany, dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a double... a poor Jewish barber... who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Airplane Accident | Fall Down Stairs | Anti War | Anti Semitism

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Charles Chaplin	...	Adenoid Hynkel (Dictator of Tomania) / A Jewish Barber
Paulette Goddard	...	Hannah
Jack Oakie	...	Benzini Napaloni (Dictator of Bacteria)
Reginald Gardiner	...	Commander Schultz
Henry Daniell	...	Garbitsch
Billy Gilbert	...	Field Marshal Herring
Grace Hayle	...	Madame Napaloni
Carter DeHaven	...	Spook (Bacterian ambassador) (as Carter De Haven)
Maurice Moscovitch	...	Mr. Jaeckel
Emma Dunn	...	Mrs. Jaeckel
Bernard Gorcey	...	Mr. Mann
Paul Weigel	...	Mr. Agar
Chester Conklin	...	Barber's Customer
Esther Michelson	...	Jewish Woman
Hank Mann	...	Storm Trooper
Florence Wright	...	Blonde Secretary
Eddie Gribbon	...	Tomanian Storm Trooper
Rudolph Anders	...	Tomanian Commandant at Osterlich (as Robert O. Davis)
Eddie Dunn	...	Whitewashed Storm Trooper
Nita Pike	...	Secretary
George Lynn	...	Commander of Storm Troopers (as Peter Lynn)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Richard Alexander	...	Tomainian Prison Guard in 1918 (uncredited)
William Arnold	...	Tomanian officer (uncredited)
Sig Arno	...	Compact parachute inventor (uncredited)
Joe Bordeaux	...	Ghetto Extra (uncredited)
Don Brodie	...	Reporter from International Press (uncredited)
Hans Conried	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Gino Corrado	...	Sculptor (uncredited)
John Davidson	...	Hospital superintendent (uncredited)
Max Davidson	...	Jewish man (uncredited)
Lew Davis	...	Hospital orderly (uncredited)
Francis Ernest Drake	...	Stormtrooper (uncredited)
Wheeler Dryden	...	Heinrich Schtick (translator) (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Friendly Storm Trooper (uncredited)
Bud Geary	...	Storm Trooper (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Officer (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson	...	Big Bertha gunnery officer (uncredited)
William Irving	...	Man seated on bed (uncredited)
Charles Irwin	...	Banquet Butler (uncredited)
Ethelreda Leopold	...	Blonde secretary (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Bald barbershop customer (uncredited)
Jules Michelson	...	Man in ghetto (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse	...	Hynkel's staff officer (uncredited)
Nellie V. Nichols	...	Jewish woman (uncredited)
Manuel París	...	Dance Extra at Ball (uncredited)
Jack Perrin	...	Jewish man (uncredited)
Lucien Prival	...	Storm Trooper officer (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Officer Extra (uncredited)
Henry Roquemore	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Tiny Sandford	...	Soldier in 1918 Tomainia (uncredited)
Hans Schumm	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Harry Semels	...	Jewish Fruit Stand Proprietor (uncredited)
Charles Sullivan	...	Prison Guard (uncredited)
Carl Voss	...	Officer (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Hynkel's barber (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Soldier in Field (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Chaplin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Charles Chaplin		writer

Produced by
Charles Chaplin	....	producer
Carter DeHaven	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Meredith Willson
Charles Chaplin		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Karl Struss
Roland Totheroh

Film Editing by
Willard Nico

Art Direction by
J. Russell Spencer

Set Decoration by
Edward G. Boyle		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Ed Voight	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Alfred Reeves	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wheeler Dryden	....	assistant director
Dan James	....	assistant director
Bob Meltzer	....	assistant director
Alex Finlayson	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
William Bogdanoff	....	construction foreman (uncredited)
Clem Widrig	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Glenn Rominger	....	sound
Percy Townsend	....	sound

Special Effects by
Jack Cosgrove	....	special photographic effects (uncredited)
Ralph Hammeras	....	special photographic effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Buster Wiles	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Testera	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
William Wallace	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Wyn Ritchie	....	costumer (uncredited)
Ted Tetrick	....	costume supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Meredith Willson	....	musical director
Al Kaye	....	music librarian (uncredited)
Meredith Willson	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Henry Bergman	....	production coordinator (uncredited)
Kay Clement	....	secretary (uncredited)
Evelyn Earle	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Monroe Greenthal	....	press representative (uncredited)
Moody	....	dailies projectionist (uncredited)
Kathleen Pryor	....	secretary (uncredited)
Max Terr	....	assistant: Mr. Willson (uncredited)
Gene Testera	....	filing clerk (uncredited)
Carl Voss	....	military advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Charles Chaplin Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Spectrum (1983) (West Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• CBS/Fox Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Playhouse Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox Home Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Key Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MK2 Diffusion (2001) (worldwide) (all media)
• BFI (Collections) (2003) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Creative Design (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Spain) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (????) (Czech Republic) (theatrical) (re-release)
• BIM Distribuzione (????) (Italy) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Die Lupe (????) (Germany) (theatrical)
• MK2 Diffusion (France)
• Piffl Medien (1999) (Germany) (DVD)
• United Artists (1958) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Vivarto (2008) (Poland) (all media)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Western Costume Company  wardrobe

Also Known As:

The Dictator (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Esperanto

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Germany:6 (DVD rating) | South Korea:All | UK:U (original rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Denmark:7 (2003) | Finland:K-12 | Finland:S (re-release) | France:U | Germany:(Banned) (original rating) | Ireland:(Banned) (original rating) | Ireland:PG (re-rating) | Norway:7 | Spain:(Banned) (1940-1976) | Spain:T (re-rating) (1976) | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG (re-rating) (2003) | USA:Approved (PCA #6611) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1972) | West Germany:12 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Agoura Hills, California, USA

Company:

Charles Chaplin Productions

Trivia:

When Charles Chaplin first announced that he was going to make this film, the British government - whose policy at the time was one of appeasement towards Nazi Germany - announced that they would ban it. By the time of the film's release, though, Britain was at war with Germany and in the midst of the blitz, so the government's attitude towards the film had completely changed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Hynkel is chased in the ghetto streets by stormtroopers, one studio building can be seen in the upper right corner of the frame.

Quotes:

Commander Shutz: Heil Hynk... Oh what am I saying?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ricky Gervais Live 3: Fame (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Prelude to 'Lohengrin'

The "Pre-Mature" Anti-Fascist

Released in 1940, "The Great Dictator" was the first Hollywood film that denounced Hitler directly (albeit in the guise of Adenoid Hynkel), took a virulent stand against fascism, and directly addressed Anti-Semitism.

Over-long, at times heavy-handed, it still has many wonderful sequences, including the famous dance with the globe, and all the scenes of Chaplin with Jack Oakie, each trying to out-do the other and prove his superiority.

One criticism that seems to occasionally rear its head is the implication that Chaplin's pre-World War II anti-fascism was somehow wrong-headed. The atrocities of the Holocaust weren't fully known to the world yet, so Chaplin's anti-Hitler diatribe is, in the minds of some, misguided. After the war this mindset would result in the debacle of the blacklist, when Chaplin, among others, were branded "pre-mature anti-fascists." In other words, it wasn't politically acceptable to be against Nazism until war broke out with the U.S. Hard to believe anyone could still see things that way now, but some do.

The film industry of the 1930s wanted no part of international politics, no matter how blatant the brutality of a given regime. Profits were at stake. It was little goyisha Charley Chaplin, playing a Jewish barber, who took a public stand.

While "The Great Dictator" may not among Chaplin's finest films, it may, historically, be his finest hour.