Editing The Great Dictator (section)

==Reception==
[[File:Buenos Aires - Publicidad ambulante en 1941.jpg|thumb|Billboard bicycle of the movie with its title in Spanish, ''El gran dictador'', in [[Buenos Aires]], 1941]]
Chaplin's film was released nine months after Hollywood's first parody of Hitler, the short subject ''[[You Nazty Spy!]]'' by the [[Three Stooges]], which premiered in January 1940.<ref>{{cite book |title=Fighting the War of Ideas Like a Real War |last=Waller |first=J. Michael |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn= 978-0-615-14463-4 |page=101 |year=2007 }}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} Chaplin had been planning his feature-length work for years, and began filming in September 1939. Hitler had been previously allegorically pilloried in the 1933 German film ''[[The Testament of Dr. Mabuse]]'', by [[Fritz Lang]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kracauer |first=Siegfried |author-link=Siegfried Kracauer |title=From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the Gertman Film |title-link=From Caligari to Hitler |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1947 |isbn=0-691-02505-3 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |pages=248–250}}</ref>

The film was well received in the United States at the time of its release and was popular with the American public. For example, Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' called the film "a truly superb accomplishment by a truly great artist" and "perhaps the most significant film ever produced."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|date=October 16, 1940|title=Still Supreme in 'The Great Dictator,' Charlie Chaplin Reveals Again the Greatness in Himself|work=The New York Times|url=https://movies2.nytimes.com/books/97/03/30/reviews/chaplin-premiere.html|access-date=2020-10-18}}</ref> The film was also popular in the United Kingdom, drawing 9 million to the cinemas,<ref>{{cite book |author=Ryan Gilbey |title=The Ultimate Film: The UK's 100 most popular films |location=London |publisher=BFI |year=2005 |page=240}}</ref> despite Chaplin's fears that wartime audiences would dislike a comedy about a dictator. The film earned [[box office|theater rentals]] of $3.5 million from the U.S. and Canada<ref name=HollywoodBoxOfficeHitsBook>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/hollywoodreporte0000sack|title=The Hollywood reporter book of box office hits|first=Susan|last=Sackett|date=December 26, 1996|publisher=New York : Billboard Books|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and $5 million in total worldwide rentals.<ref name=BattlefrontBook/>

The film was banned in several Latin American countries, where there were active movements of Nazi sympathizers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/filmsoforsonwell00high|author=Charles Higham|author-link=Charles Higham (biographer)|title=The Films of Orson Welles|publisher=University of California Press|year=1971|isbn=978-0-520-02048-1|page=85}}</ref>

During the film's production, the [[National Government (1937–1939)|British government]] had announced that it would prohibit its exhibition in the United Kingdom, in keeping with its [[appeasement]] policy concerning Nazi Germany,{{r|friedrich1997}} but by the time the film was released, the UK was at war with Germany and the film was welcomed in part for its obvious [[propaganda]] value. In 1941, London's [[Prince of Wales Theatre]] screened its UK premiere. The film had been banned in many parts of Europe, and the theatre's owner, Alfred Esdaile, was apparently fined for showing it.<ref name="Prince of Wales Theatre 2007">{{cite book |last= Prince of Wales Theatre |author-link= Prince of Wales Theatre |title= Theatre Programme, Mama Mia!|place= London|year= 2007}}</ref>

When the film was released in France in 1945, it became the most popular film of the year, with admissions of 8,280,553.<ref>[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com.au&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/france-1945-c22731925&usg=ALkJrhiPuUc4vZGBcb7OUARBcpu2dF_c5A French box office in 1945] at Box office story</ref> The film was voted at No. 24 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by the prominent French magazine ''[[Cahiers du cinéma]]'' in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmdetail.com/2008/11/23/cahiers-du-cinemas-100-greatest-films/|title=Cahiers du cinéma's 100 Greatest Films|date=23 November 2008}}</ref> In 2010, ''[[The Guardian]]'' considered it the 22nd-best comedy film of all time.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/18/chaplin-great-dictator-comedy |title=The Great Dictator: No 22 best comedy film of all time |first=Phelim |last=O'Neill |date=18 October 2010 |access-date=25 December 2018 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The film was voted at No. 16 on the list of ''The 100 greatest comedies of all time'' by a poll of 253 film critics from 52 countries conducted by the [[BBC]] in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170821-the-100-greatest-comedies-of-all-time|title=The 100 greatest comedies of all time|date=2017-08-22|website=BBC Culture|access-date=2017-09-08}}</ref>

Chaplin biographer [[Jeffrey Vance]] concludes his lengthy examination of the film, in his book ''Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema'', by asserting the film's importance among the great film satires. Vance writes, "Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' survives as a masterful integration of comedy, politics and satire. It stands as Chaplin's most self-consciously political work and the cinema's first important satire."<ref>Vance, Jeffrey (2003). ''Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema.'' New York: Harry N. Abrams, p. 250. {{ISBN|0-8109-4532-0}}.</ref>

Vance further reports that a refugee from Germany who had worked in the film division of the Nazi Ministry of Culture before deciding to flee told Chaplin that Hitler had watched the movie twice, entirely alone both times. Chaplin replied that he would "... give anything to know what he thought of it."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vance |first=Jeffrey |date=2003 |title=The Great Dictator |website=[[Library of Congress]] |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/great_dictator.pdf |access-date=April 17, 2024}}</ref>

===Chaplin's Tramp character and the Jewish barber===
[[File:Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard in The Great Dictator trailer 2.JPG|thumb|Chaplin (as the barber) absentmindedly tries to shave [[Paulette Goddard|Goddard]] (as Hannah) in this image from the film trailer.]]

There is no critical consensus on the relationship between Chaplin's earlier [[The Tramp|Tramp]] character and the film's Jewish barber, but the trend is to view the barber as a variation on the theme. French film director [[François Truffaut]] later noted that early in the production, Chaplin said he would not play The Tramp in a sound film.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Films in My Life |last=Truffaut |first=François |year=1994 |publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn= 978-0-306-80599-8 |page=358 }}</ref> Turner Classic Movies says that years later, Chaplin acknowledged a connection between The Tramp and the barber. Specifically, "There is some debate as to whether the unnamed Jewish barber is intended as the Tramp's final incarnation. Although in his [[autobiography]] he refers to the barber as the Little Tramp, Chaplin said in 1937 that he would not play the Little Tramp in his sound pictures."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/157939 |title=The Great Dictator:The Essentials|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=December 31, 2010}}</ref>

In ''My Autobiography'', Chaplin would write, "Of course! As Hitler I could harangue the crowds all I wished. And as the tramp, I could remain more or less silent." ''[[The New York Times]]'', in its original review (16 October 1940), specifically sees him as the tramp. However, in the majority of his so-called tramp films, he was not literally playing a tramp. In his review of the film years after its release, [[Roger Ebert]] says, "Chaplin was technically not playing the Tramp." He also writes, "He [Chaplin] put the Little Tramp and $1.5 million of his own money on the line to ridicule Hitler."<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-great-dictator-1940 |title=The Great Dictator (1940) [review] |first=Roger |last=Ebert |date=September 27, 2007 |newspaper= Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=December 31, 2010}}</ref>

Critics who view the barber as different include Stephen Weissman, whose book ''Chaplin: A Life'' speaks of Chaplin "abandoning traditional pantomime technique and his little tramp character".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/chaplinlife0000weis|title=Chaplin: A Life|author=Weissman, Stephen|year=2008|publisher=Arcade|isbn=978-1-55970-892-0|url-access=registration}}</ref> DVD reviewer Mark Bourne asserts Chaplin's stated position: "Granted, the barber bears more than a passing resemblance to the Tramp, even affecting the familiar bowler hat and cane. But Chaplin was clear that the barber is not the Tramp and ''The Great Dictator'' is not a Tramp movie."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/g/greatdictator.shtml |title=The Great Dictator:The Chaplin Collection |author=Mark Bourne |work=DVD Journal |access-date=December 31, 2010}}</ref> ''The Scarecrow Movie Guide'' also views the barber as different.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide |year=2004|publisher=Sasquatch Books|isbn= 978-1-57061-415-6 |page=808 }}</ref>

Annette Insdorf, in her book ''Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust'' (2003), writes that "There was something curiously appropriate about the little tramp impersonating the dictator, for by 1939 Hitler and Chaplin were perhaps the two most famous men in the world. The tyrant and the tramp reverse roles in ''The Great Dictator'', permitting the eternal outsider to address the masses".<ref>{{cite book |title=Indelible shadows: film and the Holocaust |last=Insdorf |first=Annette |year= 2003 |publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 978-0-521-01630-8 |page=410 }}</ref> In ''[[The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies]]'' (1998), Kathryn Bernheimer writes, "What he chose to say in ''The Great Dictator'', however, was just what one might expect from the Little Tramp. Film scholars have often noted that the Little Tramp resembles a Jewish stock figure, the ostracized outcast, an outsider."<ref>{{cite book |title=The 50 greatest Jewish movies: a critic's ranking of the very best |last=Bernheimer |first=Kathryn |year=1998 |publisher=Carol Publishing |isbn=978-1-55972-457-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/50greatestjewish00bern/page/212 212] |url=https://archive.org/details/50greatestjewish00bern/page/212 }}</ref>

Several reviewers of the late 20th century describe the Little Tramp as developing into the Jewish barber. In ''Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s'', Thomas Schatz writes of "Chaplin's Little Tramp transposed into a meek Jewish barber",<ref>{{cite book |title=Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s |last=Schatz |first=Thomas |year=1999 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn= 978-0-520-22130-7 |page=571 }}</ref> while, in ''Hollywood in Crisis: Cinema and American Society, 1929–1939'', [[Colin Shindler]] writes, "The universal Little Tramp is transmuted into a specifically Jewish barber whose country is about to be absorbed into the totalitarian empire of Adenoid Hynkel."<ref>{{cite book |title=Hollywood in crisis: cinema and American society, 1929–1939 |last=Shindler |first=Colin |year=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn= 978-0-415-10313-8 |page=258 }}</ref> Finally, in ''A Distant Technology: Science Fiction Film and the Machine Age'', [[Jay Telotte|J. P. Telotte]] writes that "The little tramp figure is here reincarnated as the Jewish barber".<ref>{{cite book |title=A distant technology: science fiction film and the machine age |last=Telotte |first=J.P. |year=1999 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6346-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/distanttechnolog0000telo/page/218 218] |url=https://archive.org/details/distanttechnolog0000telo/page/218 }}</ref>

A two-page discussion of the relationship between the barber and The Tramp appears in Eric L. Flom's book ''Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the Seven Talkies.'' He concludes:
{{blockquote|Perhaps the distinction between the two characters would be more clear if Chaplin hadn't relied on some element of confusion to attract audiences to the picture. With ''The Great Dictator''{{'s}} twist of mistaken identity, the similarity between the barber and the Tramp allowed Chaplin {{sic|break}} with his old persona in the sense of characterization, but to capitalize on him in a visual sense. The similar nature of the Tramp and barber characterizations may have been an effort by Chaplin to maintain his popularity with filmgoers, many of whom by 1940 had never seen a [[silent film|silent picture]] during the silent era. Chaplin may have created a new character from the old, but he nonetheless counted on the Charlie person to bring audiences into the theaters for his first foray into sound, and his boldest political statement to date.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chaplin in the sound era: an analysis of the seven talkies |last=Flom |first= Eric |year=1997 |publisher=McFarland |isbn= 978-0-7864-0325-7 |page=322 }}</ref>}}

===Awards===
The film was [[13th Academy Awards#Awards|nominated for five]] [[Academy Award]]s:
* [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Production]] – [[United Artists]] (Charlie Chaplin, Producer)
* [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] – Charlie Chaplin
* [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Writing (Original Screenplay)]] – Charlie Chaplin
* [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]] – [[Jack Oakie]]
* [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Music (Original Score)]] – [[Meredith Willson]]

Chaplin also won best actor awards at [[National Board of Review]] awards and [[New York Film Critics Circle]] Awards.<ref>{{cite web|title=Best Actor|url=https://www.nyfcc.com/awards/?cat=2|website=nyfcc}}</ref>

In 1997, ''The Great Dictator'' was selected by the [[Library of Congress]] for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".<ref name=":0">[https://www.loc.gov/film/titles.html "Films Selected to The National Film Registry, 1989–2010"]. [[Library of Congress]]. Retrieved February 3, 2012.</ref>

In 2000, the [[American Film Institute]] ranked the film No. 37 in its [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs|"100 Years... 100 Laughs"]] list.<ref>[http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/laughs100.pdf?docID=252 America's Funniest Movies]. [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs]]. Retrieved February 3, 2012.</ref>

The February 2020 issue of ''[[New York Magazine]]'' lists ''The Great Dictator'' as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."<ref>{{cite news|title=The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-oscar-best-picture-losers.html|magazine=[[New York Magazine]]|access-date=March 17, 2025}}</ref>

The film holds a 92% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 8.90/10. The consensus reads, "Charlie Chaplin demonstrates that his comedic voice is undiminished by dialogue in this rousing satire of tyranny, which may be more distinguished by its uplifting humanism than its gags."<ref>{{Rotten Tomatoes|great_dictator|The Great Dictator}}</ref> Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] of [[Chicago Sun-Times]] gave the film four stars out of four and included it in his [[Great Movies]] list.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Great Dictator|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-great-dictator-1940|website=Roger Ebert|date=27 September 2007}}</ref>