translated from Spanish: 80 years of “The Great Dictator”: when Chaplin imitated Hitler

When the film The Great Dictator premiered in New York on October 15, 1940, World War II roared in Europe. Charlie Chaplin was one of the greatest stars of American cinema of his time, so, for many, it was a surprise that he chose precisely that theme for his first spoken film. The story of how the film was produced is profusely documented in Paul Duncan’s The Charlie Chaplin Archives (2015), which reflects how Chaplin’s seemingly natural art is actually the result of a conscientious effort.
The physical resemblance between Hitler and Chaplin
Born both in April 1889, Chaplin and Hitler also had a physical resemblance, at least if we thought of Charlot, Chaplin’s recurring character. “In those days, I lived on Thiersh Strasse in Munich,” recalled writer William Walter Crotch in the New Statesman publication. “I often saw in the street a man who vaguely reminded me of a kind of activist Charlie Chaplin, because of his characteristic moustache and his peculiar way of walking.” His butcher later told him that he was a certain Adolf Hitler, leader of a small marginal political group.
In fact, the Hitler-Chaplin connection dates back years before The Great Dictator premiered, when the American director was denounced by German nationalist forces. The propaganda journal Der St.rmer wrote in 1926: “Charlie Chaplin is a Jew. His films are about a small-time thief who repeatedly conflicts with the law.” This claim was a lie, because Chaplin was not Jewish, but he refused to say it publicly. “According to Chaplin, to deny it would be to fall into the anti-Semitic game,” said British politician and film director Ivor Montagu. Solidarity with the Jews is one of the central messages of Chaplin’s film.

Laughing at Hitler
The film director and main character of The Great Dictator makes a certain and devastating description of Hitler’s ways, while parodying nationalism with wit and depth. Part of the effectiveness of Chaplin’s first spoken feature film lies in the caustic parody of Hitler’s rhetorical style and grotesque imitation of the German language, exaggerating guttural phonemes. Charlie Chaplin once explained that the most fun thing in the world is to make vain people in high positions look ridiculous. According to him, there was no person in the world who fit that profile better than Hitler. The great dictator mixes ingenuity, tragedy and humanity in a way that only Chaplin could do.
Chaplin stumbled upon considerable resistance when he created the film. The U.S. did not enter World War II until a year later, Hollywood was still doing business with Germany, and industry Jews were worried about retaliation. Chaplin considered canceling the project because of criticism from conservative political circles, but then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt intervened asking him to move on despite any circumstances.
18 years later, in Germany
Following the premiere, the New York Times weighed satirical comedy as “a magnificent achievement of a truly great artist and, perhaps, the most significant film ever produced.” Chaplin later said: “If he had known the horrors of German concentration camps, he could not have made The Great Dictator.” Although German viewers reacted positively after several test screenings made just after the end of World War II, the authorities decided to wait a few years before launching it in Germany. Finally, The Great Dictator arrived in the country’s cinemas in 1958.

Original source in Spanish

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