Charlie Chaplin: The Great Dictator

The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica is running a mini Chaplin fest this week and next week.  Despite having to take 5 hours of bussing that includes almost being stranded in the most ghetto parts of LA if I'm 5 minutes late, well, I'm going (if anyone would like to donate me a car...particularly a Jaguar...I'd kiss your face).  But due to such restrictions I've had to limit my selection of the 10 day festival to 5, possibly 4 due to a Hollywood Heritage event the same night as Limelight.  Despite these humongous limitations I've decided I'd write articles for each of the films I've seen, some for the first time and some not.  Let the proselytizing begin!

Alright we're goin out of order!  I wanted to write the reviews the nights of but 1) thanks to the bus I got home at 1am both nights and 2) well that inbred lizard monster.  Also I was just plain tired.  But they will be coming.  For now, we do...The Great Dictator!

Charlie Chaplin is a genius.  He is also a God.  There is no use denying either.  The Great Dictator was his first 'official' talkie (following two not really talkies: City Lights and Modern Times).  People thought he was crazy for making a silent in 1931...and absolutely out of his mind when he did it in 1936.  By 1940 they were certain he couldn't pull it off again.  Sure his two final silents had been successful...but could the Tramp talk?  Or more importantly, would the Tramp be involved at all?

People ask 'Who was against talkies?'  One answer: Charlie Chaplin.  Others had their qualms, but he literally abhorred them.  He spent again a literal 12 years ignoring them.  He swore up and down they would never 'take'.  And he hated the 'early' technology (1928 to about 1933)...with decent reasoning: the sound was tinny and distorted...and making the damn films was very limiting.  The Tramp would have had to stand by a flower vase, not moving or falling at all.  Many silent stars were done in by the early technology, with many coming off funnier sounding than they were...or scared bosses not caring and firing them anyways.  But Charlie was his own boss.  He could do whatever the hell he pleased.

And it worked!  Both City Lights and Modern Times were major hits, and very arguably his masterpieces.  They were also the goodnight kiss to silents, even Japan started in on talkies after 1936.  Modern Times probably wasn't the final silent of the silent era ever, but it was by a wide margin the final silent in America.  And it was brilliant.  Charlie's God status was reaffirmed; and he made gobs of money.  They may have thought he was crazy, but it surely put Secrets to shame.

The Wars

I find World War 1 and World War 2 interesting times in American history.  Seems we can't remember anything before the Civil Rights moment these days...seriously go ask a random person what WW1 was about...they won't know.  I can't recall it being taught in school at all.  Maybe it was, but very little time was given to it.

WW2 is generally summarized as 'the War where the big bad Nazis killed millions of Jews and the US saved everyone while France sucked.'  Actually WW2 was essentially caused by WW1, as Germany was thrown into a deep depression by the first WW.  France wasn't so prissy, they were just strung thin from the first WW.  Why did all the Americans go to France after WW1 and be all artisty and 'the lost generation'?  Because 1) France was liberal and 2) the Dollar was worth quite a bit there...you could hire a maid for essentially 30 cents a day.  Thus poor artists like the Fitzgeralds had no problem going there and living the good life in a gorgeous country.

The US entry into WW2 is a little less stellar.  Winners write the history books right?  Right.  Hitler rose to power through the 20s and was full out leader of Germany by 1933.  He never really hid his hate of the Jews or 'non Aryans' which included dark haired people (such as himself), gypsies, gays, Jews, and interestingly enough Catholics.  In fact he kinda built his platform on it.  To destitute Germans who were widely unemployed and having to pay for bread with wheelbarrows of marks well...it sounded like a reasonable solution (think: terrorists Muslims to today's unemployed Americans.)

When Hitler became Chancellor, America (who had become 'the World leader' after WW1 for the first time in our nation's history) took notice.  William Randolph Hearst went over and met Hitler, finding him quite a dictator.  Mary Pickford went over (she and Doug met many world leaders in their travels) and thought he 'seemed okay' and that 'Germany was improving' vs the last time she had seen it (she and Doug did honeymoon there in 1920, while Germany was in the depths of its new Depression.)

Many Americans agreed with Mary's stance: Hitler didn't seem so bad.  In fact well into 1939 the US went 'eh whats the harm?  No war!'  Sure the reasons for not wanting War were well...reasonable (WW1 had been devastating to our country as well...watch The Big Parade to get the idea)...but antisemitism wasn't helping either.  I have a I believe "Look" magazine from 1935.  They mention 'the growing conflict in Europe' and most of the concerns from readers and the writers themselves were for the Catholics...not the Jews.  But if the Catholics were okay then well...no harm no foul by the American mindset of the time!

The Tramp
 
Hollywood obviously had a lot of Jewish folks from its earliest days (in 1909 Hollywood one could find rental signs that said, "No dogs, no Jews, no actors".)  Charlie knew these people.  Many like to whisper that Charlie had Jewish blood himself, but he always refused to comment saying it would play into the hands of anti semites.    Hitler accused him of being Jewish, but most biographers agree he wasn't Jewish at least in generational terms.

Since the earliest days of Keystone Comedies the authorities against the little guy had been a running theme.  Usually the cops vs a Tramp.  In almost every Chaplin feature (and many shorts) there is at least one (if not several) scene(s) where the Tramp accidentally encounters a glaring officer, only to try and wander away regardless if he was doing something wrong or not.  The underlying message seemed to be 'poverty is a crime' as the Tramp could get glared at even if he was behaving himself.

So I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that to kill the Tramp well...Charlie went for the ultimate: The Tramp would take on the Nazis.  Sure he wouldn't be the Tramp in name, and he would be very blatantly Jewish (the character is named 'The Jewish Barber').  But he would be the same 'little fellow'...only in sound and in what is Germany without being called Germany.  I don't think this could have been any more brilliant if he tried.

Sure you damn heretics can praise Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton all you want...but neither man so wonderfully mixed political satire, timely messages, and comedy as Chaplin did.  I am not aware of any film where either man even came close (feel free to prove me wrong.)  People want to hang me for calling Sasha Baron Cohen the new Chaplin...but when he pulled Borat and Bruno well...I felt he at least came as close as anyone will for many decades if not centuries.

How does one convey how deep this was?  Charlie Chaplin's Tramp was universally recognized, he was very likely more famous than Jesus during a very religious time in Western history.  Today it would be like Ronald McDonald, Santa Claus, or Mickey Mouse.  Imagine that.  Now imagine any of the 3 taking on Hitler.  There was some Disney propaganda (though I believe it included Donald Duck, not Mickey) though they waited until 1943.  Ronald wouldn't exist for another 20 years, and I'm not aware of any real Santa effort...or Jesus.  This famous figure, this person everyone knew from Russia to Colorado to Switzerland...was going to take on Hitler.  And did I mention it was 1938?

Though Hitler had been stirring up trouble, most agree WW2 started in September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland.  Chaplin already had the script down, and a week after War was declared he began filming.  Happily ever after right?

Nope.  The US was not yet at War with Germany.  To speak out against Hitler was a bad thing.  "Why poke the monkey?  We don't want war!"  So...for making a film decrying Hitler and his actions against the Jews, Charlie Chaplin was criticized and told several times he should not finish the film.  But he was his own man with his own Studio and own company...he could do as he pleased.  And he did.  After the Fall of France he changed the ending to the speech we now have.  Rumor has it (though not yet at War) a representative of the White House was sent to encourage Chaplin to finish the film.  "The Great Dictator" opened in December 1940...a year before the US would join WW2.

Plot

The Great Dictator is easily his talkie masterpiece.  And though I have declared "A King in New York" his ballsiest film before well...I think Great Dictator tops it by a hair (mostly because it predated the US, while King came at the end of the McCarthy issues.)  At times its just...jaw dropping.  "Holy crap...he said this...and we didn't even fully KNOW yet!"  I tried several times during the screening to imagine being in 1940 and not knowing what we do now.  Its just...wow.  Seriously speechless.

In The Great Dictator the Tramp is an unnamed Jewish Barber, who is also a veteran of WW1 for 'Tomainia' (Germany).  In combat he saved Commander Schultz (Reginald Gardiner) and is severely injured in a plane crash.  He spends the next 20 or so years in a Veteran's Hospital, believing he has only been there 'a few weeks' though he has been there since WW1.  In that time Germany has gone under a great Depression, and elected an extremely fascist party: the Double Crossers.  The Double Cross is led by Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin impersonating Adolf Hitler) and his minions Garbitsch (Joseph Goebbels, played by Henry Daniell) and Herring (Hermann Göring, played by Billy Gilbert). 

Jews are persecuted mostly for fun, with Storm Troopers trodding through the Ghettos and destroying the Jews lives.  Concentration Camps are gaining about 5,000 to 10,000 people a day as 'there is a lot of dissidents'.  When told of a factory strike Hynkel orders all of the employees shot, until Garbitsch recommends he lets them live to train new replacements, then shoot them.  They also eventually plan to kill everyone with dark hair (with a note made that Hynkel has dark hair.)

The Tramp finally goes home, to reopen his barber shop, and meets Hannah (Paulette Goddard).  He is unaware of the changes that have taken place, and fights Stormtroopers over the painting of 'Jew' on his window.  Hannah saves him and fills him in.  She wishes the Jews would fight back, and she practices what she preaches (usually with a very heavy pot to the head.)  She and the Tramp fall in love.

The Stormtroopers continue to harass the ghetto, and almost end up hanging the Tramp.  They are stopped by their commander, who ends up being Commander Schultz.  Schultz orders that this part of the ghetto is to be left alone.  Things appear to return to normal and the Tramp and Hannah plan to go on a date.

Meanwhile Hynkel plans to invade Osterlich (Austria) but has to find funding to do so.  The only person who can finance the invasion is a Jew, so to sweeten the deal Hynkel makes a speech about leaving the Jews alone 'until the loan is secured' anyways.  The Jewish man refuses, but the invasion is still planned.  Hynkel goes back to harping on the Jews and orders Schultz to a concentration camp for telling him its a bad idea (in what could be considered Chaplin's first line of dialogue that was personally felt).  Schultz escapes and stays in the ghetto.  As The Tramp and Hannah attempt their first date something like Kristallnacht starts and there is a price on both the Tramp and Schultz's heads.  The Tramp's barber shop is burned down to the ground.

The next day Schultz and the Tramp are captured and sent to a concentration camp. Hannah and the other Jews flee to Austria, 'land of the free' (no one realized where Hitler came from I guess?)  Meanwhile Bacteria (Italy) has put their troops on the border of Austria, intending to invade.  Hynkel is frantic and orders a meeting with Benzino Napaloni (Mussolini, played by Jack Oakie).  The two dictators try to out impress the other, with Hynkel coming off as bumbling and Benzino coming off as charasmatic.  After a food fight they sign a treaty, with both countries agreeing to not invade Austria.  Of course Garbage immediately plans otherwise and Hynkel is sent on a 'duck hunting trip' so he can appear to not know about the invasion.

Meanwhile the Tramp and Schultz escape the Concentration camp, dressed in Officer's clothes.  At the same time Hynkel is mistakenly taken in by the Stormtroopers; who think he is the Tramp.  This plays out well when the duo reach a village as the Tramp is also taken to be Hynkel.  He's led to give a radio address and does so, taking off the belief of 'hope'.  In Austria Hannah hears him, and it appears everyone believes that the invasion is over or the facist regime is over...its not really clear after that.

Greatness

 Again: wow.  Silent stars had a tendency to get typecast.  Many believe Mary didn't go on as she could not escape 'the little girl'.  Well...putting the little girl in a concentration camp probably would have done it!  The Tramp is as charming as ever in his one and only talkie.  He only puts on the 'full garb' a few times, and his clothes look a little less shabby than usual.  But he is the Tramp.

The few love scenes seem almost more poignant than any other Chaplin film.  Sure City Lights is definitely the 'Chaplin in love' masterpiece, but The Great Dictator puts an adorable and touching layer on that type of relationship.  For once the Tramp isn't really a tramp...he's a veteran and a barber and a Jew.  There is no reason he and Hannah should not be together...except for that whole genocide thing.  There weren't many lovey scenes; but the few there were added that human layer to the story.  It also makes one think, many years on, just what it was like to be in Germany and a Jew at such a time.  America is troubled in this day and age, but no matter what we agree or disagree on we can still go live our lives.  No one is going to paint our windows or be able to harass us in the streets (the internet is another matter apparently.)  The world may appear to be falling apart right now with the War(s), oil spill, rising inbred hicks of the south and their Palins, and the very ramptant unemployment.  But if I meet a gorgeous man tomorrow nobody will try and beat us in the streets if we go on a date.  Very touching.

The comedy of this film is also top notch.  You almost feel bad its like "Nazis...and slapstick!"  When the Stormtroopers come looking for the Tramp and Schultz, the Tramp immediately jumps into a chest when he hears a knock on the door.  The second time this happens the Tramp and two other men all go for the chest.  While preparing for his date with Hannah he preps himself using a bald man's head as a mirror.

Even the Nazis pull out the slapstick.  Hynkel is as clumsy as The Tramp, only he gets mad every time something goes wrong (like a running 'pen won't come out of the ink well' gag or pulling the medals and buttons off of Herring's shirt.)  The food fight between Hynkel and Benzino is pure genius..right down to the 'of course' pie in the reporter's face.  Hynkel's attempt at seduction is also quite hilarious...I like to think of it as Chaplin pulling a 'Valentino as one would expect Valentino'.  Also as one must always note there is even a 'down the pants' scene: this time Hynkel pouring water down his pants (and later in his ear).

We do get a few bits of 'wink wink nudge nudge' naughty Chaplin humor too.  As the Tramp is attempting to figure out how to fly the plane Schultz asks, "Gas?" meaning the status of the gas tank.  Tramp replies, "Terrible, it kept me up all night!"  Hynkel poses with a baby for a photographer.  When he hands it back to its mother he wipes his hand, implying the baby's diaper was leaking.  When Hynkel is bragging to Benzino about his barber shop, he claims glass walls and a glass ceiling noting the glass wall, "Shows a view of the mountains."  Benzino inquiries about what one sees with the glass ceiling.  Hynkel replies nonchalantly, "The ballroom."

There are a few iconic scenes that are always discussed, with good reason.  I think more than anything they show the natural grace of Chaplin.  Chaplin's slapstick ability was pure witchcraft.  His timing was perfection.  One famous scene involves Hynkel dancing with a balloon shaped like the globe...which pops in the end.  Another involves him shaving a customer to the tune of Hungarian Dance No. 5.  Both were reportedly done in one take.  I have two things that make me cringe: heights and sharp things.  Straight razor shaving in general?  OMGZ ahh!  Straight razor shaving to the tune of music which involves going slow than really fast?  HOLY CRAP AHHH!

Hitler and the Tramp

Chaplin's Hitler is...just so dead on.  A lot of people like to deride the acting talent of silent stars, saying they didn't know how to do anything beyond their one trick (character).  Chaplin had continually made films as the Tramp, which rarely changed the actual character behind the Tramp (he's a touch meaner in The Circus and a touch poorer in City Lights...but thats about it).  You didn't see a Charlie Chaplin film and find him doing a great romantic thing like the Sheik, or swashbuckling like Robin Hood.  In fairness the Tramp in The Great Dictator is one of the first real deviations...he's 'The Tramp' in look and mannerisms, but he has a completely different back story, attitude, and description.

But Chaplin as HITLER!  Holy God!  Its like Mary Pickford as Sadie Thompson...does not compute.  But he does it just so well.  Louise Brooks (who dated him briefly in the 20s) mentioned his impersonations as perfection...except the one she thought he did of her which he called 'the Follies girl' (she cried, he quit doing it.)  The voice, the force, the mannerisms, the attitude...pure Hitler.  When we first see 'Hynkel' its while he gives a speech in close up.  Chaplin is much more handsome than Hitler, but thats about the only difference.  You could very easily mistake this performance as bonafide footage of Hitler.

Chaplin did not speak German, so he used gibberish that sounded German.  Words like 'sauerkraut' are used quite a bit.  In one seen he blasts the bumbling Herring and the word 'banana' slips out.  Herring apologizes and asks, 'Der Banana?'  Hynkel goes on to ramble about 'Ja der banana...'  Its pretty brilliant.  With all my love to the Germans, the German language is pretty hilarious sounding.  There are moments when this pure gibberish is literally side splittingly funny.

Something remarkable to remember about this film is that the concentration camps did not start until 1939...so though the idea was known, the full effects of these 'camps' were not.  Chaplin later said had he known, he could not have made the film.  Still the seriousness is conveyed, its implied if one goes to the concentration camp they might not make it out.  One scene does have The Tramp receiving a letter from Hannah in Austria...somehow I doubt prisoners were given mail though maybe they were.  The few bits of the camp look a lot nicer and a lot cheerier than the real camps turned out to be (they looked akin to a prison cell...complete with human dignity.)

And though the atrocities against the Jews do have their humorous moments (like the slapstick escapes from the Stormtroopers) many of them are just as touching, especially some of the first scenes we see of the ghetto.  I think one of the greatest scenes in the whole film comes when The Tramp has to hide on the roof with Hannah (moments after attempting their first date) while the Stormtroopers burn his barbershop down.  Hannah talks a lot, but the Tramp doesn't.  Its very very touching.

The Speech

The final 10 minute or so speech is said ad nauseum to be considered 'an out of character plea'.  While I do believe most people are mimicking the internet, I agree with that assessment.  Every now and then a Chaplin verse would seem to sneak into his films, such as the words from Rupert Macabee in A King in New York regarding communism and religion.  Though I have yet to see the documentary, "The Tramp and the Dictator", it apparently shows that Chaplin had a different ending before the fall of France to the Nazis.

The plea seems to be years ahead of its time, like John Lennon's 'Imagine'.  The speech mimics Modern Times on his belief that while machines were good, we were losing humanity to them.  That cleverness without kindness is no good at all.  That we must believe in humanity and hope, and the bettering of ourselves as a civilization.  If you have any doubt that Charlie Chaplin was a God at all, well, this should fix that.

The 30s had to be a very intriguing time to live through.  From the end of WW1 onward the World only seemed to get better...people really did believe War could be abolished for good.  As a society we believed we'd become more technologically and culturally advanced, that there was nowhere to go but 'up'.  And indeed many things seemed to support that...the radio rose to prominence, records became more accessible, and the first true TV and TV broadcasts occurred at the end of the 20s.  Any and everything Tesla did was at least 80 years ahead of his time (including what was essentially an internet styled thing in the 1910s!)

Then the stock market crashed.  Talkies came.  The entire civilized world seemed to undergo an economic depression.  And all of a sudden all the technology, culture, and glamour of the 20s seemed like it would be gone forever...or at least on hold for an indefinite time.  Had the stock market not crashed, lord knows how far we would have advanced without being 'put on hold' for almost 2 decades.  This is what I feel was being conveyed in that speech.  The hope that we could overcome the troubles of the time and go back to progressing as an entity.  The speech is something one must see on the big screen to fully appreciate.

Reception

You know I had one other thought I wondered about while watching this movie.  Douglas Fairbanks.  He and Chaplin had been dear friends for years...and Doug was an obsessive world traveler.  After his divorce from Mary he essentially wandered for 5 years, to all sorts of places around the world (giving us the unfortunately dated "Around the World in 80 minutes" series).  Doug had gone to Germany several times in his life.

Doug died in December 1939...just a few months into filming of "The Great Dictator".  I have yet to hear if he had anything to say on it, but probably not.  Its just a shame he never got to see the finished product.

There's one other person's reaction more people wonder about: Hitler's.  IMDB is no source at all.  But according to "The Tramp and the Dictator" Hitler did see it twice.  Unfortunately his thoughts were not recorded.  Or maybe fortunately...they probably involved putting out a hit on the Tramp.

What makes me sick about this period in time is The Great Dictator was well received.  It reportedly became Chaplin's highest grossing film.  But only in a few years Chaplin would be derided as a Communist and a whore monger over Joan Barry (well...he did like the ladies.)  His next film, Monsieur Verdoux, was released in 1947 and received a lot of negative press because of those very issues.  Only a few years later his visa would be revoked while he was promoting Limelight.  The FBI was obsessed with 'getting Chaplin' through the 40s and 50s.  And somewhere in the shuffle everyone forgot just what he did with "The Great Dictator".


You can buy The Great Dictator here.  And you can hear and see Chaplin's final speech here.