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The Great Dictator (1940)

tomatometer

95

Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 39
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

88

Average Rating: 8.8/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

93

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 39,956

My Rating

Movie Info

"This is the story of the period between two world wars--an interim during which insanity cut loose, liberty took a nose dive, and humanity was kicked around somewhat." With this pithy opening title, Charles Chaplin begins his first all-talking feature film, The Great Dictator. During World War I, a Jewish barber (Chaplin) in the army of Tomania saves the life of high-ranking officer Schultz (Reginald Gardiner). While Schultz survives the conflict unscathed, the barber is stricken with amnesia

G, 2 hr. 6 min.

Drama, Classics, Comedy

May 10, 2010

Cast

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (2) | DVD (20)

The first full-blown talkie from the biggest star of the silent era, complete with a message that Chaplin couldn't have sent more loudly or clearly.

June 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Film.com | Comment
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Through no fault of Chaplin's, during the two years he was at work on the picture dictators became too sinister for comedy.

September 3, 2010 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comments (5)
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Chaplin is at his most profound in suggesting that there is much of the Tramp in the Dictator, and much of the Dictator in the Tramp.

September 3, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Like all major Chaplin works, Dictator was a cheaply, but methodically, made film, a cardboard act of humanist defiance, and, thanks to its purity of purpose, the cheesier the jokes get, the harder they land.

December 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's when he is playing the dictator that the comedian's voice raises the value of the comedy content of the picture to great heights.

October 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It is a funny film, which we expect from Chaplin, and a brave one.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

While it is not the greatest of Charlie Chaplin's feature films, it is certainly his bravest, if not one of the bravest films ever made.

May 30, 2011 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

Though inseparable from its 1940 production, The Great Dictator is an oddly timeless comparison of stardom and totalitarianism, mass entertainer and mass murderer, director and dictator.

May 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

...stared evil in the face long before the rest of Hollywood even thought it was possible.

May 20, 2011 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Despite the film's weaknesses, Chaplin's lampooning of Hitler is a moment of comic genius, complemented by Jack Oakie's ridiculously exaggerated portrayal of the Mussolini-like Italian fascist

July 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinemania | Comment

Comic genius blitzkriegs the Third Reich.

December 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Chaplin's film hasn't aged well, but in 1940 it was perceived to be original, bold and controversial due to its combination of slapstick satire of Hitler and agit-prop.

February 23, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Though the slapstick may seem tired now, there are moments of greatness.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

So Chaplin may not have halted a war, but he still left us with more than just a funny movie.

April 14, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com

For The Great Dictator's restoration, experts at Cineteca Bologna assembled the best footage from a variety of sources into a new freshly minted print. The final product ... is splendid.

April 14, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com

The representation of Hitler is vaudeville goonery all the way, but minus the acid wit and inventive energy that Groucho Marx managed.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Charlie Chaplin's first all-talking feature is a controversial one.

July 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Great Dictator

"The Great Dictator" is one of Charlie Chaplin's most dynamic and most entertaining films. His first speaking film, it allows him to add a level of verbal comedy and wit to his always-funny pantomime and physical comedy. Playing a dual role both as megalomaniacal dictator Adenoid Hynkel (based on Adolf Hitler) and a

April 17, 2011
cancercapricorn2002
David Ladd

Super Reviewer

Prophetic and brilliantly played by Mr. Chaplin

March 16, 2011
axadntpron
Reid Volk

Super Reviewer

    1. Adenoid Hynkel Dictator of Tomania: Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up
    – Submitted by Denise J (43 days ago)
    1. Jewish Barber: Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
    – Submitted by Keith B (5 months ago)
    1. Jewish Barber: Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!
    – Submitted by Keith B (5 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Der große Diktator (DE)
  • The Great Dictator (1940) (CA)
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