In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Thursday 17 November 2011

The Great Dictator (1940)

Chaplin's first feature-length "talkie." I was always surprised to learn that he was British, because the Tramp is such a traditional American character. This one directly takes on the whole Chaplin/Hitler debate (a revenge for Adolf stealing his trademark mustache) and is hailed as the first mainstream movie brave enough to take on Naziism at the time (in a thinly veiled, tongue-in-cheek sort of way). Chaplin's inspiring speech at the end concerning freedom never fails to brings a tear to my eye. Bravo.

5 globe dances out of 5

2 comments:

Dr Faustus said...

I've seen most of Chaplin's films over the years on TV but have never had the opportunity to sit down and watched them in sequence. I'd like to. Nice reviews, all of them.

budarc said...

I still left out a lot of my favorites; The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Circus, Monsieur Verdoux and A King in New York. But those three are my all-time best.