Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Charles Chaplin | ... | Hynkel - Dictator of Tomania / A Jewish Barber | |
Jack Oakie | ... | Napaloni - Dictator of Bacteria | |
Reginald Gardiner | ... | Schultz | |
Henry Daniell | ... | Garbitsch | |
Billy Gilbert | ... | Herring | |
Grace Hayle | ... | Madame Napaloni | |
Carter DeHaven | ... | Bacterian Ambassador (as Carter De Haven) | |
Paulette Goddard | ... | Hannah | |
Maurice Moscovitch | ... | Mr. Jaeckel (as Maurice Moscovich) | |
Emma Dunn | ... | Mrs. Jaeckel | |
Bernard Gorcey | ... | Mr. Mann | |
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Paul Weigel | ... | Mr. Agar |
Chester Conklin | ... | Barber's Customer | |
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Esther Michelson | ... | Jewish Woman |
Hank Mann | ... | Storm Trooper Stealing Fruit |
20 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 been hospitalized since 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, whom 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 desire for world domination, starting with the invasion of neighboring Osterlich, which may be threatened by Benzino Napaloni, the dictator of neighboring ... Written by Huggo
I agree that the final speech is powerful, and stirring. It made my heart hurt (in a good way ;-) But I also have to say that the comedy is first-rate. When the Charlie and the pilot are unknowingly upside down and chatting away...when the pilot is serenely reminiscing about his girlfriend back home even as the downed plane plows right into the ground...when Hynkel delivers this vitriolic diatribe about 'the Juden' and the blandly impassive translator says, 'the Phooey has just made reference to the Jewish people' and 'the Phooey's heart is full of love to all mankind,' ...when Hynkel strips his hapless henchman of all his beautiful medals, spitting and fussing a mile a minute...I could go on and on! I think no one else on earth could play Hynkel as hilariously as Chaplin, but it might be fun to imagine modern comedians trying. ;-)