Opening Statement

There is an amazing parallel here between not just the two characters of the film, but between Chaplin and Hitler himself. As Chaplin himself once remarked to his son, “he’s the madman, I’m the comic; but it could have been the other way around” – by Zachary Davis, March 13, 2017

Comedy As Protest

Chaplin wasn’t the first to make fun of powerful world leaders, and he certainly wasn’t the last. So why, then, does The Great Dictator stand out as the prime example for political satire? The simple answer is because it’s brilliant – by Felicia Elliott, March 14, 2017

Filmography: Charlie Chaplin's Mutual Shorts

If to viewers in 2017, Modern Times and The Great Dictator are the Chaplin masterpieces, to experienced cinemagoers in viewers in 1940, it was the Mutual films. Even today, there is an argument to be made that films these films should be taken collectively as Chaplin’s crowning achievement – by Patrick Brown, March 15, 2017

A Common Ignorance of Language

Charles Chaplin’s first talking picture was released in 1940—thirteen years after “talkies” burst onto into movie theaters and changed the industry forever. Chaplin was famously hesitant to make the transition from silent film to talkies, explaining that silent films, especially the pantomime inherent in silent comedy, had a universal expression – by Zachary Davis, March 16, 2017

Scenessential: The Whole World in His Hands

With The Great Dictator, one of the last great holdouts of the silent era finally relented and embraced sound, but to say Charlie Chaplin waved the white flag of surrender on this front would be unfair. The Charlie Chaplin of 1940 had carte blanche like no one working today could imagine – by John Gilpatrick, March 16, 2017

Related Review: To Be or Not to Be

Just two years after Chaplin fully lampooned Adolph Hitler [with names changed], German emigre Ernst Lubitsch stepped up the game with To Be or Not to Be. So few films were able to tackle the intricacies of World War II as it was happening, so seeing both of these films doing it with humor is both impressive and risky – by Aaron Pinkston, March 17, 2017