The Great Dictator

Was a time I declared myself more of a Keaton fan than a Chaplin fan. The joy and...dang it, euphoria...I experienced watching The General was far beyond anything I felt during my first viewing of City Lights. These two features and a couple of Keaton shorts were all I had to go on. Then I saw Monsier Verdoux, one of Chaplin's talkies, though I'm sure by 1947, that word had fallen completely out of favor. And use. It's a sweet story about a man who seduces, marries then kills women to gain their inheritance to care for his sickly wife. Perhaps I had matured or perhaps Chaplin had matured and probably we both did and met at this movie. Because I was truly affected by it. Never hilarious, but always amusing and charming and at times, very moving, this movie was perhaps the key I needed to, if not fall in love with Chaplin, at least appreciate him.

So I decided to bump up a couple movies of his movies on my queue. First up, The Great Dictator. And I've gotta say, I was, once more, genuinely entertained. I was a bit resistant and the first bits (Chaplin failing at operation a howitzer, getting lost in fog) didn’t induce anything other than a grimace. But other bits quickly won me over. I guess that’s what you’ve got to expect from Chaplin in these earlier movies. Stories are things to hang bits upon. And don't worry, if you don't like this one, there’s another one coming down the pike.

I guess that would be a fundamental difference between the earlier Chaplin works (earlier than Monsieur Verdoux) and Keaton's work. Keaton's pranks, pratfalls and setpieces flow seamlessly within the framework of the movie. Or at least, that's how The General feels. Chaplin's movies will sometimes come to a screeching halt. One in The Great Dictator that comes to mind is when the Barber gives a customer a shave and a haircut. Set to classical music, I'm reminded of an e.e. cummings quote that Steve Martin references in Born Standing Up: "Like the burlesque comedian, I am abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement." Each swish of the razor, each snip of the scissors accompanies the music, or is accompanied by. However, it has no bearing on the rest of the movie. So what am I to do with it? Enjoy it. And I did.

Chaplin plays two characters. One, a Jewish barber and the other, well, who cares what his name in the film is, he’s Hitler. We meet the Barber in WWI. He's involved in an accident and falls into a coma. Meanwhile, Hitler is rising to power. The Barber awakes to what he thinks is the world he left and finds it a much different place. The Barber falls in love with the neighbor girl and we watch Hitler becoming more and more involved with Hitler.

One of the best setpieces is a speech Hitler gives near the beginning of the film. Chaplin throws in German words like "sauerkraut" and words that sound German and noises and it's an amazing performance. A string of guttural German ends in a coughing fit. It's an entire speech created from nonsense but it ebbs and flows like a normal speech. We get the sense we understand what he's saying. I watched wondering how long he could keep it up. Unfortunately, some of the same bits are strewn again throughout the movie, taking away from their initial power.

Eventually, there's a case of mistaken identity and it's at this point the movie becomes preachy. I was going to write "a little" but that would be a gross understatment.

As an artifact, The Great Dictator is fascinating to see what we knew at the time. It's always been very unclear to me how much America knew about the plight of the Jews before WWII, but if Chaplin knew, it must at least have been fairly common knowledge and moreso once this film was released. Especially considering it was nominated for best picture in 1941.

I guess the way to watch a Chaplin film is to go in knowing he follows his own rules. You don't go for the story. You go to watch a man who knew how to entertain people and hope something comes out of that. Something usually does.