Charlie Chaplin Attacked The Third Reich In The Great Dictator
The 1940 political satire/comedy The Great Dictator starred British comedian Charlie Chaplin in his first true sound film. He takes shots at Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism, and the Third Reich as a whole. He played both leading roles — a Jewish barber and a fascist dictator. At the time of its release, the United States and Nazi Germany were formally at peace. It’s since been labeled a historically significant film and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Nearly 25 years later, Chaplin said he wouldn’t have made the film had he known about the horrors that took place at the Nazi concentration camps.
