Notes on…

The Great Dictator(1940)

Dir. Directed by Charlie Chaplin


The effect [of The Great Dictator] is not to humanize Hitler but, in part—and this is an aspect of the film’s courage—to Hitlerize Chaplin.

Michael Wood (The London Review of Books)

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Synopsis: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.