The Great Dictator saw Charlie Chaplin return to the screen
following an absence of four years since 1936’s Modern Times. It also marked his first true talkie, a departure
from the silent cinema which had for a time made him the most famous person on
the planet. From a script written in 1938-39, The Great Dictator satirised the Fascist regimes of Italy and Germany and in particular the
moustache stealing Adolph Hitler. Despite pre-production condemnation from
Hollywood and a Hitler appeasing British Government, the film which was
financed solely by Chaplin himself became a huge critical and commercial
success, no doubt spurred on by its staggered release in 1940-41 by which time
Europe and then the whole world was at war.
Chaplin who had by this time
become increasingly political in his film making can be considered as somewhat
of a visionary in his approach to the film. While writing the script much of
the world was seduced by Hitler and saw him and his Nazi Party as the antidote
to the spread of Communism. His strong, conservative Germany
formed a vital buffer between the Soviet Union
and the West and became an important trading partner once again. While many
politicians were unable to see beyond Hitler’s immeasurable charisma, Chaplin focussed
his film on those in the firing line of Hitler’s new Europe,
specifically the Jews.
