| Charlie Chaplin: Great Dictator | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 79 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6470
Category: Video
Actors: Rudolph Anders, Chester Conklin, Henry Daniell, Carter Dehaven, Eddie Dunn
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Label: 20th Century Fox
Format: Black & White, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Esperanto (Original Language)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Media: VHS Tape
Running Time: 128 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 630256185X
UPC: 086162300837
EAN: 9786302561852
ASIN: 630256185X
Release Date: November 5, 1992
Theatrical Release Date: October 15, 1940
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
Since Adolf Hitler had the audacity to borrow his mustache from the most famous celebrity in the world--Charlie Chaplin--it meant Hitler was fair game for Chaplin's comedy. (Strangely, the two men were born within four days of each other.) The Great Dictator, conceived in the late thirties but not released until 1940, when Hitler's war was raging across Europe, is the film that skewered the tyrant. Chaplin plays both Adenoid Hynkel, the power-mad ruler of Tomania, and a humble Jewish barber suffering under the dictator's rule. Paulette Goddard, Chaplin's wife at the time, plays the barber's beloved; and the rotund comedian Jack Oakie turns in a weirdly accurate burlesque of Mussolini, as a bellowing fellow dictator named Benzino Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria. Chaplin himself hits one of his highest moments in the amazing sequence where he performs a dance of love with a large inflated globe of the world. Never has the hunger for world domination been more rhapsodically expressed. The slapstick is swift and sharp, but it was not enough for Chaplin. He ends the film with the barber's six-minute speech calling for peace and prophesying a hopeful future for troubled mankind. Some critics have always felt the monologue was out of place, but the lyricism and sheer humanity of it are still stirring. This was the last appearance of Chaplin's Little Tramp character, and not coincidentally it was his first all-talking picture. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 74 more reviews...
 The Little Tramp speaks! And, oh, what he says! July 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
What a glorious, uplifting movie this is. A great cri de coeur against war and hatered, and in favor of tolerance and peace. That the message it presents is, by this point, somewhat of a given does nothing to diminish its importance.
You doubtless know of the plot by now. Charlie Chaplin, a man with a moustache suspiciously similar to a certain unpleasant fellow in history, plays the role of an anti-Semetic dictator named Hinkel and a poor Jewish barber. That these two look exactly the same is obvious. That the fact doesn't come in handy until the end is somewhat unexpected, but still great.
The movie avoids getting bogged down in all the obvious traps that await a film with content such as this. It doesn't become preachy until the very last couple minutes when the Little Tramp (not called that, but let's face it, he is), stands and makes a speech that most people seem to feel brings the film to a grinding halt. Not I. I really liked it and the statements therein. They were obvious, but needed to be said. That they still do need saying is a sad commentary on where we are versus where we should be.
This disc includes some amazing special features, such as behind-the-scenes color footage and the usual trailers, etc. What makes for a really nice bonus, however, is the inclusion of a documentry on the relationship between Hitler and Chaplin (born only a few days apart). It includes a lot of information on this movie as well as, stunningly, some great photos showing Hitler in a crowd in Berlin on the day war was declared back in 1914.
This movie is worth every penny you pay for it, but if you want to get it at a good price, buy The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times / The Great Dictator / The Gold Rush / Limelight), and you can get not only this movie, but three other great films as well. Not a bad deal!
This is the first Chaplin film I've seen and to this date the only one of his movies I've seen more than once. The fact that I'm now willing to buy every single one of his films on the basis of this and the other one I've seen, Modern Times (2 Disc Special Edition), speaks well of Chaplin in general and this movie in particular.
You really owe it to yourself to see this film.
A work of Genius! May 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a work of the genial Chaplin at his best.
A big pleasure to watch this old movie that has lot of controversial.
Did you know that the same Adolf Hitler watched this movie 3 times and liked a lot even if it was a parody of its regime of doom?
A movie for collectors without any doubt.
A Must Have Classic Comedy Film---Better than anything produced today May 14, 2008
Possibly Charlie Chaplin's best work ever--his Hitleresque character is beyond belief, and the "Master of the World" ballet is one every comedy enthusiast should see. This film is also filled with other stars from Paulette Goddard to Reginald Gardner; it has it all and would be an asset to any body's collection.
A Great Great Dictator November 2, 2007
Really Enjoyable! Takes me back sixty years to when I First saw it. Why doesn't the description mention Jack Oakie; The pefect Il Duce?
a brilliantly orchestrated dark dramedy (drama/comedy)..... August 31, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I first saw THE GREAT DICTATOR when I was in grade school, around the time that SCHINDLER'S LIST was released, a far more sober look at the devestating effects of the Holocaust on countless Jews and gentiles alike, as well as the work of Oskar Schindler during that time of such unrest and profound social injustice. THE GREAT DICTATOR is a social satire, directed by and starring "The Little Tramp", himself, Mr. Charles Chaplin. I know it sounds really strange, gruesome and even inappropriate to create a film that is centered on poking fun at the evil commited by the Third Reich and the effect of Hitler, the Nazi regime and how that resulted in the death, torture, and imprisonment of droves of Jews, Gypsies, Jewish sympathizers, Gentiles and many others. I ask that you suspend your imagination and give this film a try anyway.
Charlie Chaplin plays two very opposite men. One is Adenoid Hynkel, a swarthy and short-tempered fascist dictator, based on none other than Adolf Hitler himself. The other man is a very good and courageous Jewish barber who must face the wrath that Hynkel inflicts on his ghetto. What's more, Hynkel is alligned with Benzino Napoloni (Jackie Oakie), an Italian fascist dictator (based on Mussolini). Together, they hope to completely drive out Jews and other groups they feel are standing in the way of the master race.
This film was Chaplin's first "talkie," is brilliant, thoughtful, humorous and provocative. I reccomend that you give this one a try. You won't be sorry and it will really leave you thinking hard about the state of the world when you are done watching it.
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