Still Entertaining, Still Pertinent

Rating: Null/10 (6 October 2004)

For all that Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" was very much a topical movie in its time, it is still both entertaining and pertinent. Chaplin treats the subject of the Axis dictators with enough satirical humor and thematic depth to make it carry beyond the immediate concerns of the day. Chaplin's silent masterpieces are still his best movies, but this one shows that he was also capable of making a smooth transition to sound pictures.
Chaplin himself does very well in his dual role, which gives him plenty of room to perform a good variety of material. After her excellent performance in "Modern Times", Paulette Goddard's role here is unfortunately much more limited, but she does well when she has a chance. Chaplin's most entertaining scenes are probably the ones with Jack Oakie, as the dictator's would-be companion in conquest. Together, the two make those scenes work both as funny satire and as a clever depiction of the dictators' fragile personas.
Even if this hadn't worked so well, it would have been quite a creditable attempt by Chaplin to find humor in such a grim topic. Very few film-makers could have made a picture that hit the appropriate balance as well as this does. "The Great Dictator" no longer has the urgent significance that it held for its original viewers, but it retains its relevance in a more general sense. It's nearly as entertaining as Chaplin's best silents, and like them, its message still holds something worthwhile.