The Great Dictator

Starring: Chaplin, Charles and Goddard, Paulette

Product Description

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Blu-ray
• Language: English
• Release Date: May 2011
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Publisher: Criterion/ Distribution S
• Director: Chaplin, Charles
• Starring: Chaplin, Charles, Goddard, Paulette
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: Blu-ray
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

Look up, Hanna.

"The soul of man has been given wings" This movie is hyped up, causing some frenzy; someone calls it a classic or likes the thought that someone is mocked, and the next person repeats it until everyone gives this less-than-mediocre film a positive spin when reviewing it. This is Chaplin, way past his prime, still trying to be a Keystone Cop, using mundane slapstick humor years after the film industry had become more sophisticated. From the first scene, you ask, "This is a top-star movie?" and it goes downhill from there. The sets are cardboard, and the camera is pretty much still. If you like films that mock the era, a much better production was rendered by Jack Benny and Carole Lombard in “To Be or Not to Be” (1942). The basic story is of a dictator and a barber “that is not all there” getting their Identities crossed. Chaplin gets to play both parts. The only redeeming value of the movie is the acting of Henry Daniell, who played Garbitsch. Then again, he is a veteran actor and can be seen in over 60 films, including “The Woman in Green” (1945) as Prof. Moriarty. All the people are exaggerated stereotypes (maybe on purpose), and this distracts from the story like having a musical with songs not related to the movie. If you can make it to the end of the film, you get a long, tedious speech in the style of Ayn Rand (1905-1982), however not quite as good. “The sun shines, and the wind blows.”