The Great Dictator

The Great Dictator was popular with audiences, becoming Chaplin's most commercially successful film. Modern critics have praised it as a historically significant film, one of the greatest comedy films ever made and an important work of satire.

The Great Dictator is a tale of two worlds: the palace, where dictator Adenoid Hynkel rules, and the ghetto, where a Jewish barber struggles to make a living and survive The comedic device of the film is the resemblance between the Dictator and the Barber, who is later mistaken for the Dictator. The theme of the story, at its basic level, is the struggle between good and evil, reflected in the balance between the two worlds.

The Great Dictator cost $2 million dollars making it one of Chaplin’s most expensive silent films. It was an enormous gamble, as the film did not have the international distribution his silent films had enjoyed. The film was banned throughout occupied Europe, in parts of South America, and in the Irish Free State. Nevertheless, The Great Dictator became Chaplin’s most profitable film up to that time earning $3.5 million dollars worldwide in its original release.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie

Release date: Oct 31, 1940

Budget: 2 Million

Box office: $3.5 Million