Originally scheduled for the week we closed for COVID, so we thought we'd start the timeline again.
When Charlie Chaplin finally spoke on film, he had a lot to say. This is his most successful film, and arguably most enduring for all the wrong reasons, The Great Dictator is a story about a powerless, amnesiac barber and a similar-looking, powerful dictator. The two have completely different viewpoints and come from completely different beginnings. But they have the same style moustache (which remains unfashionable to this day). The dictator wants to exterminate the other, and everyone like him, and the barber does not want to die.
Released in 1940 while the US was still officially at peace with Nazi Germany, the film was Charlie Chaplin's bold attempt to ridicule Hitler and people like him. Loaded with gags and pantomimes, the film is ranked as one of the greatest comedies of all time, and is particularly known for the speech in the final minutes.
Classic and contemporary, The Great Dictator is a Capri can't-miss.