Editing Charlie Chaplin (section)

====''The Great Dictator''====
[[File:The Great Dictator still cropped (high quality version).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Chaplin satirised [[Adolf Hitler]] in ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' (1940).]]
The 1940s saw Chaplin face a series of controversies, both in his work and in his personal life, which changed his fortunes and severely affected his popularity in the United States. The first of these was his growing boldness in expressing his political beliefs. Deeply disturbed by the [[Para-fascism|surge of militaristic nationalism]] in 1930s world politics,{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=485|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2p=159}} Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=386}} Parallels between himself and [[Adolf Hitler]] had been widely noted: the pair were born four days apart, both had risen from poverty to world prominence, and Hitler wore [[Toothbrush moustache|the same moustache style]] as Chaplin. It was this physical resemblance that supplied the plot for Chaplin's next film, ''[[The Great Dictator]]'', which directly satirised Hitler and attacked fascism.{{sfnm|1a1=Schickel|1p=28|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2pp=165, 170|3a1=Louvish|3p=271|4a1=Robinson|4p=490|5a1=Larcher|5p=67|6a1=Kemp|6p=158}}

Chaplin spent two years developing the script{{sfn|Chaplin|p=388}} and began filming in September 1939, six days after Britain declared war on Germany.{{sfn|Robinson|p=496}} He had submitted to using spoken dialogue, partly out of acceptance that he had no other choice, but also because he recognised it as a better method for delivering a political message.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=165}} Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=164}} "I was determined to go ahead", he later wrote, "for Hitler must be laughed at."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=387}}{{efn|Chaplin later said that if he had known the extent of the Nazi Party's actions he would not have made the film; "Had I known the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made ''The Great Dictator''; I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=388}}}} Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire) with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the [[Nazi Party]]'s belief that he was Jewish.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tunzelmann |first=Alex von |title=Chaplin: a little tramp through Charlie's love affairs |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 November 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/nov/22/chaplin-charlie-little-tramp-reel-history |access-date=19 February 2018}}</ref>{{efn|Speculation about Chaplin's racial origin existed from the earliest days of his fame, and it was often reported that he was a Jew. Research has uncovered no evidence of this, and when a reporter asked in 1915 if it was true, Chaplin responded, "I have not that good fortune." The Nazi Party believed that he was Jewish and banned ''The Gold Rush'' on this basis. Chaplin responded by playing a Jew in ''The Great Dictator'' and announced, "I did this film for the Jews of the world."{{sfn|Robinson|pp=154–155}}}} In a dual performance, he also played the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel", a parody of Hitler.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=172–173}}

''The Great Dictator'' spent a year in production and was released in October 1940.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=505, 507}} The film generated a vast amount of publicity, with a critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'' calling it "the most eagerly awaited picture of the year", and it was one of the biggest money-makers of the era.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=169, 178–179}} The ending was unpopular, however, and generated controversy.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1p=176|2a1=Schickel|2pp=30–31}} Chaplin concluded the film with a five-minute speech in which he abandoned his barber character, looked directly into the camera, and pleaded against war and fascism.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1p=179–181|2a1=Louvish|2p=282|3a1=Robinson|3p=504}} Charles J. Maland has identified this overt preaching as triggering a decline in Chaplin's popularity, and writes: "Henceforth, no movie fan would ever be able to separate the dimension of politics from [his] star image".{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=178–179}} Nevertheless, both [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] liked the film, which they saw at private screenings before its release. Roosevelt subsequently invited Chaplin to read the film's final speech over the radio during his January 1941 inauguration, with the speech becoming a "hit" of the celebration. Chaplin was often invited to other patriotic functions to read the speech to audiences during the years of the war.{{sfn|Gehring|p=133}} ''The Great Dictator'' received five Academy Award nominations, including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] and [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pfeiffer |first=Lee |title=The Great Dictator |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Great-Dictator |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=16 March 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706071821/https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Great-Dictator |archive-date= 6 July 2015}}</ref>