Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator Was Way Ahead of Its Time

The 1940 film The Great Dictator was Charlie Chaplin's 78th movie and his first full talkie. As such, it was bound to be different from his tightly-edited slapstick silent films. The movie was shocking to audiences for many reasons, and early criticism of the film was cutting. Devout Chaplin fans had a hard time seeing him intersperse the slapstick with serious acting and all that talking. Many were upset that Chaplin injected political references of any kind into a comedy. Some were disappointed that he was obviously making fun of Adolf Hitler, and others labeled the final speech as downright communist. Remember, this was in 1940, when America was leaning toward isolationism, and had a small but active Nazi party. And some moviegoers were just put off by its length- 125 minutes, which was unheard of for movies at the time.

But Chaplin had something to say, and the power and creativity to say it. The Great Dictator was ultimately a hit, and became a classic. Read of those early critiques and Chaplin's thinking behind making the movie the way he did at Lithub. -via Damn Interesting

Read more about the making of The Great Dictator in a Neatorama feature article.

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)