a rather disappointing evening at the movies

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2005)

I sat down a couple of hours ago with every intention of enjoying this Chaplin classic - one that I have not seen in about 40 years. It appeared to have everything going for it, a good cast, two handfuls of Oscar nominations and an interesting plot with a strong anti-Nazi slant. All this appealing to me. Instead of laughing and getting in the swing of the film I found myself complaining -to myself- that for 1940 the movie, the camera work, the sets, the script and dialogue, the music and the way information and emotion was presented -ie humor and pathos- were hopelessly outdated. Jack Oakie's character -who garnered an Oscar nomination ???- alternated between a Marx Brothers Italian accent and a "dem-deese-does" Brooklyn one. It appeared to me that Chaplin had not progressed in his thinking or in his technical skills at all since his silent days. It was like watching a silent movie to which sound has been added as an after thought. In the film's final speech, after which NONE of the issues set up by the plot are resolved, I was prepared for your basic emotional appeal and was not disappointed. However I did find myself wondering why a Jewish barber would be quoting the Book of Luke? And so it went. I found myself wondering if my time would have been better spent watching, "You Nazty Spy" the 3 Stooges film that came out 9 months before the Great Dictator.