The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) was important, but flawed

Rating: 4/10 (1 November 2010)

The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) is a mediocre movie which contains wonderful comedy and acting fragments provided by Charlie Chaplin, who directed and wrote it, and by Paulette Goddard, his girlfriend (some accounts state they were legally married) during the late 1930's. Goddard also starred with Chaplin in Modern Times (1935), the movie Chaplin did immediately before The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) and Chaplin's last "silent" movie (contained a music soundtrack and a brief singing sequence where Chaplin sang a nonsense song lasting less than 2 minutes....most of the movie was silent and had old time silent movie "titles.")
The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) was and is a propaganda movie, pure and simple, aimed at defaming the German regime of Adolph Hitler, at war with England, France, and the USSR in 1940, but not yet at war with the USA (that didn't occur until very late in 1941, almost 1942).
Many people and organizations in the years immediately prior to WWII times were outspoken about not wanting to join in the "European" war, and indeed it took an event in the central Pacific Ocean (the attack at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in December of 1941) to cause the USA to send soldiers and treasure into Europe and battles against the German government.
The prospect of the USA engaging Germany in yet another war (following WWI in 1917-18) was controversial, and The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) movie was blatant propaganda favoring one point of view about the war entry question which in fact was disputed widely.
The movie is a hodge podge of sequences which include Charlie Chaplin's famous and familiar mime clowning, pratfalls, and sight gags often seen in his justifiably famous and honored silent movies. He was an acrobat and physical clown of high gifts.
Interestingly, The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) was the very first movie which allowed viewers to hear Chaplin's voice, which was not at all trained, sonorous, easy to hear, dramatic, or at all one of his great talents along with mime work, script writing, directing, and sight gag clown performance. His voice was rather soft and high, not deep, masculine, and commanding in the manner of traditional sound movie leading men movie stars (Ronald Colman, Glark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and others of that era).
The Great Dictator (1940 United Artists) predictably defames Adolph Hitler (called "Adenoid Hynkel" in the screenplay....Germany is called "Tomania"). One sequence depicts the Hitler character played by Chaplin himself as ordering 3,000 factory workers executed because they threatened to go on strike. The enemy government leader was styled as a monster.
So also were government police officers oppressing Jewish ghetto residents, which included the character played by Paulette Goddard and Chaplin himself (who also plays a Jewish barber).
The movie alternates between sequences of pure comedy not related to or required by the anti-German theme of the movie...Charlie Chaplin serving up high quality comedy, and doing it well, and Paulette Goddard, a gifted actress of those times, also providing very good examples of acting in various fragments of the movie.
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Com and choose "Tex Allen" "resume" for contact information, movie credits, and biographical information about Tex Allen.
Tex Allen has reviewed more than 35 movies posted on the website WWW.IMDb.Com (the world's largest movie information database, owned by Amazon.Com) as of January 2011.
These include: 1. Alfie (1966) 29 July 2009 2. Alien (1979) 24 July 2009 3. All the President's Men (1976) 16 November 2010 4. American Graffiti (1973) 22 November 2010 5. Animal House (1978) 16 August 2009 6. Bullitt (1968) 23 July 2009 7. Captain Kidd (1945) 28 July 2009 8. Child Bride (1938) 24 September 2009 9. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 22 September 2010 10. Detour (1945) 19 November 2010 11. Die Hard 2 (1990) 23 December 2010 12. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) 19 November 2010 13. Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) 26 July 2009 14. King Solomon's Mines (1950) 1 December 2010 15. Knute Rockne All American (1940) 2 November 2010 16. Claire's Knee (1970) 15 August 2009 17. Melody Ranch (1940) 10 November 2010 18. Morning Glory (1933) 19 November 2010 19. New Moon (1940) 3 November 2010 20. Pinocchio (1940) 6 November 2010 21. R2PC: Road to Park City (2000) 19 November 2010 22. Salt (2010) 24 August 2010 23. Sunset Blvd. (1950) 1 December 2010 24. The Great Dictator (1940) 1 November 2010 25. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) 9 January 2011 26. The Man in the White Suit (1951) 5 August 2009 27. The Philadelphia Story (1940) 5 November 2010 28. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) 1 August 2009 29. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) 14 August 2009 30. The Witchmaker (1969) 21 July 2009 31. Thousands Cheer (1943) 3 December 2010 32. Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) 24 November 2010 33. Wake Up and Live (1937) 27 July 2009 34. Witness for the Prosecution (1957) 1 August 2009
A full list of Tex Allen's movie reviews appearing on WWW.IMDb.Com with links to full texts of reviews is accessible via: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments
Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen.
Tex Allen's email address is TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com.
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