MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 90 this week

The Great Dictator (1940)

 -  Comedy | Drama | War  -  7 March 1941 (USA)
8.5
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 8.5/10 from 71,956 users  
Reviews: 158 user | 92 critic

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a doppelganger, a poor but kind Jewish barber living in the slums, who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 974 titles created 10 Mar 2012
 
a list of 582 titles created 16 Jul 2011
 
a list of 100 titles created 28 Feb 2011
 
a list of 1269 titles created 7 months ago
 
a list of 105 titles created 19 Mar 2012
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Great Dictator (1940)

The Great Dictator (1940) on IMDb 8.5/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Great Dictator.
Top 250 #65 | Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Comedy | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.6/10 X  

An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
Comedy | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

An unorthodox and irreverent DJ begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the US Armed Services Radio station in Vietnam.

Director: Barry Levinson
Stars: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Tung Thanh Tran
No Man's Land (2001)
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap.

Director: Danis Tanovic
Stars: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic
MASH (1970)
Comedy | War | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.

Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
Comedy | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack
Underground (1995)
Comedy | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

The story follows an underground weapons manufacturer in Belgrade during WWII and evolves into fairly surreal situations. A black marketeer who smuggles the weapons to partisans doesn't ... See full summary »

Director: Emir Kusturica
Stars: Predrag Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Jokovic
Comedy | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

Comedy-drama about life on a not particularly important ship of the US Navy during WW2.

Directors: John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy
Stars: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell
Mediterraneo (1991)
Comedy | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Greek Sea, World War II. An Italian ship leaves a handful of soldiers in a little island; their mission is to spot enemy ships and to hold the island in case of attack. The village of the ... See full summary »

Director: Gabriele Salvatores
Stars: Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bigagli, Giuseppe Cederna
Drama | Comedy | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

Semi-autobiographical tale from the early life of director Franco Zeffirelli looks at the illegitimate son of an Italian businessman. The boy's mother has died, and he is raised by an ... See full summary »

Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Stars: Cher, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright
Comedy | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

An apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.

Director: Jirí Menzel
Stars: Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský
Comedy | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

The career of Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff as roistering companion to young Prince Hal, circa 1400-1413.

Director: Orson Welles
Stars: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford
Malèna (2000)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A woman provokes sensual awakenings in a group of adolescent boys.

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Stars: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Jack Oakie ...
Napaloni - Dictator of Bacteria
Reginald Gardiner ...
Schultz
...
Garbitsch
...
Herring
Grace Hayle ...
Madame Napaloni
Carter DeHaven ...
Bacterian Ambassador (as Carter De Haven)
...
Hannah
Maurice Moscovitch ...
Mr. Jaeckel (as Maurice Moscovich)
Emma Dunn ...
Mrs. Jaeckel
Bernard Gorcey ...
Mr. Mann
Paul Weigel ...
Mr. Agar
Chester Conklin ...
Barber's Customer
Esther Michelson ...
Jewish Woman
Hank Mann ...
Storm Trooper Stealing Fruit
Edit

Storyline

Twenty years after the end of WWI in which the nation of Tomainia was on the losing side, Adenoid Hynkel has risen to power as the ruthless dictator of the country. He believes in a pure Aryan state, and the decimation of the Jews. This situation is unknown to a simple Jewish-Tomainian barber who has since been hospitalized the result of a WWI battle. Upon his release, the barber, who had been suffering from memory loss about the war, is shown the new persecuted life of the Jews by many living in the Jewish ghetto, including a washerwoman named Hannah, with whom he begins a relationship. The barber is ultimately spared such persecution by Commander Schultz, who he saved in that WWI battle. The lives of all Jews in Tomainia are eventually spared with a policy shift by Hynkel himself, who is doing so for ulterior motives. But those motives include a want for world domination, starting with the invasion of neighboring Osterlich, which may be threatened by Benzino Napaloni, the dictator ... Written by Huggo

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Chaplin talks . . while You Laugh ! His greatest comedy since "Shoulder Arms" and "the Gold Rush" ! See more »

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | War

Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

7 March 1941 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The Dictator  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(RCA Sound System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charles Chaplin spent some time attempting to simulate the sound of an airplane motor with various methods, only to be upstaged by one of his sound technicians who simply went to an airport for the appropriate sounds. See more »

Goofs

When the Jewish Barber cleans the word "Jew" off his shop window, a dotted line can be seen to mark where the W would be painted again for the next take. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Title Cards: Note, any resemblance between Hynkle the Dictator and the Jewish Barber is purely co-incidental.
Title Cards: This is a story of a period between two World Wars - an interim in which Insanity cut loose. Liberty took a nose dive, and Humanity was kicked around somewhat.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The film is obviously a satire on Adolf Hitler, represented by Adenoid Hynkel, and its story is based on Hynkel looking exactly like "a Jewish barber": both are played by Charles Chaplin. But it begins with a notice: "Any resemblance between Hynkel the dictator and the Jewish barber is purely co-incidental". See more »

Connections

Referenced in Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux (2003) See more »

Soundtracks

"Hungarian Dance No. 5"
(uncredited)
Written by Johannes Brahms
Played on the radio during the shaving scene
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
We think too much and feel too little.
23 January 2005 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

I was surprised and impressed to find out this movie was released in 1940, before the United States entered World War II. On the surface, satirizing something as solemn and horrible as Nazi Germany could be misconstrued as rash. But Chaplin's brilliance isn't limited to making a joke out of everything. In fact, the seriousness of his message wouldn't have been nearly as valid if not for the excellent use of humor in this movie along with the moments of stark drama blended in. Drama alone wouldn't have had the bite and resonance that this film did. Laughing at someone (Adenoid Hynkel) can be the best way to attack them, while laughing with someone (the Jewish Barber) can be the best way to love them. In the Jewish Barber's final speech, I forgot for a moment that the war he was talking about happened more than half a century ago. They are words that have meaning now, and in any time of war. For this reason I believe the film did far greater good than harm, as it still has the same profound effect today.


61 of 72 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
If Hitler really saw this movie... pilarp-1
Chaplin's worst? alexbrownson
charlie chaplin's speech at the end neongod64
Adenoid Hynkel Calvero_
It's 88th at the top 250... conartist
Banned in Germany till ´98?! (Trivia) aIIrwalker@gmx.de
Discuss The Great Dictator (1940) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?