The Great Dictator: When Charlie Chaplin Laughed in Hitler's Face
Courage isn't just needed on the battlefield, sometimes it's required in an air-conditioned studio in front of cameras. Indeed, in the not-so-distant past, when countries courted Hitler and trembled before him, a small man and a big star stood up and laughed right in his face. This is the story of Charlie Chaplin, who delivered the most important performance in the history of cinema.
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On Simchat Torah morning, a long knife was plunged into the heart of the Jewish people, with scenes of Holocaust and pogroms staring back from every direction in the communities surrounding Gaza. Tens of thousands of Jewish hearts skipped a beat, and their lives would never be the same.
But on the other hand, Jews in another place, in greater Hollywood, clung to a slice of silence. Stars with influence over millions of people froze in that critical moment. Silence allows horror to continue, but they stuck to it, so while they might not have feared crowds or the stage, they feared speaking up.
In the not-so-distant past, during the darkest period in human history, when the Jewish people faced a threat a thousand times more terrible, facing the devil Hitler, "The Great Dictator", a short-statured man stood alone, named Charlie Chaplin. He didn't stay silent at all. He chose to laugh right in the face of Hitler and his men.
Charlie Chaplin, born in London in 1889, began his career as a child in music halls and quickly became the world's first movie star and one of the most influential filmmakers in history. His most famous character, "The Tramp," a small, shabby man with a waddling gait, a tiny mustache, baggy pants, and a small bowler hat, turned him into an icon, a kind of underdog with gentlemanly manners.
His success was overwhelming, and by 1915, when his name appeared on every street corner and every movie theater sign, "Chaplinitis" ("Chaplin disease," a severe case of adoration and immense popularity for Charlie Chaplin) was already diagnosed across the United States. He soon gained artistic and financial independence, becoming one of the most influential movie stars and satirists.
But alongside his rise, rumors pursued him, rumors that began spreading in the 1930s. Nazi propaganda defined Chaplin as a Jew and a communist.
Joseph Goebbels himself referred to him privately as a Jew as early as 1928, and by 1931, Chaplin was openly called a "Jew" in the Nazi press. Chaplin consistently refused to deny the claim about his Jewishness, saying it would "play directly into the hands of the antisemites." Sometimes he added, jokingly, that "all geniuses have Jewish blood in their veins." Later, he was even quoted as saying, "I'm not Jewish, but I'm proud that people think I am."
His friend Ivor Montagu believed that this claim about his Jewishness was one of the reasons Chaplin went all out against the Nazis, especially after Montagu drew his attention to a Nazi publication that described him as "an inflatable toy in the shape of a little Jew," with the caption: "He's as disgusting as he is boring."
Chaplin donated millions of dollars to Jewish causes and helped save European Jews fleeing the war, as revealed by the American press. He saw Hitler as "the greatest imposter," and with unparalleled honesty, he recognized a physical resemblance between himself and the tyrant (they were born in the same week in 1889), which intensified his desire to mock him.
"The Great Dictator"
In 1940, at the height of World War II, when the Nazis were at the peak of their power and popularity, and many world leaders still saw Hitler as a worthy political ally, Chaplin released his first talking film: "The Great Dictator."
Chaplin, known for his role as the silent "Tramp," broke his promise not to play his famous character in a talking film. The movie was a biting satire on fascism, depicting the despicable dictator Adenoid Hynkel (based on Hitler) and his partner, the dictator of Bacteria (based on Mussolini)—Jew-haters aspiring to take over the world. Chaplin played Hynkel (=Hitler) in the film. He simply had to.
Chaplin began working on the script in 1938, after watching Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film, "Triumph of the Will." Filming started just six days after Britain entered World War II. And Chaplin faced enormous opposition to making the film.
United Artists studios feared censorship and bans in Britain and America, especially due to Germany's threats of economic sanctions.
Chaplin received "alarming messages" from United Artists offices in New York and England urging him not to produce the film, claiming it would never be shown. But Chaplin insisted, funded the film himself, and believed in its importance at this critical time. In his eyes, Hitler had to be ridiculed, because "there is no greater imposter than Hitler." He stated: "I am determined to proceed, precisely because of the dangerous popularity, Hitler's madness of grandeur must be mocked."
The film is full of imposter characters: Adenoid Hynkel is a weak and insecure man pretending to show strength. Other characters, Garbitsch and Herring, were modeled after Goebbels and Göring, respectively. In one scene, Herring receives so many medals from Hynkel that he has to turn sideways to find a place to hang the new one.
Another iconic scene is the "globe scene," where Commander Schultz convinces the leader of his greatness, "They will worship you as a god!" and Hynkel jumps lightly and demands, "No, no. You mustn't say that! You're making me afraid of myself!"
Upon its release in the US in 1940, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther already called "The Great Dictator" "perhaps the most significant film ever produced." After the US and Britain abandoned appeasement policies in 1939, Chaplin's film became "excellent propaganda material" in the war effort, and by 1941, it was the second highest-grossing film in the US.
As expected, "The Great Dictator" was silenced and banned from screening in all countries occupied by the Third Reich. In Germany itself, the film didn't reach screens until 1958, long after the "denazification" period. As early as the beginning of the 1930s, with Hitler's rise to power, Chaplin's films were banned across the German Reich for 12 years. Even before that, Nazi stormtroopers tried to drive audiences away from movie theaters in German cities screening Chaplin's earlier films.
But the most fascinating question was Adolf Hitler's own reaction. According to many reports, Hitler, known as a film enthusiast, was furious when he heard Chaplin was making such a subversive film. But it was stronger than him, and he watched "The Great Dictator" twice. Chaplin's biographer, Geoffrey Vance, documented testimony from a former agent in the Nazi Ministry of Culture, who stated that Nazi officials obtained a copy for Hitler, and he watched it alone on two consecutive evenings. Chaplin himself ordered a copy sent to the dictator upon release. Chaplin expressed a deep wish: "I would give anything to know what he thought of it."
The Closing Speech: A Call to Humanity
The film's climax is a powerful closing speech that expresses Chaplin's own voice. The Jewish barber, who escaped from a concentration camp and is wearing stolen Nazi officer uniforms, is required to deliver a speech before thousands of supporters and Nazi generals. Instead, he delivers a fiery speech calling for humanity, freedom, and universal brotherhood. He addresses the crowd with words that changed cinematic history:
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another... We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another."
He continued to condemn hatred and violence:
"Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost."
Chaplin himself admitted later that if he had known the true horrors of the German concentration camps, he couldn't have made "The Great Dictator" and couldn't have mocked the Nazis' murderous madness.
But in 1938, he was "determined to proceed, because Hitler must be mocked." His determination, vision, and courage, a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, created a work that is a powerful reminder of the power of art and the importance of standing firm against tyranny and hatred, even when the whole world is silent or hesitant. Chaplin, perhaps more than anyone else, embodied the concept that 'humor is no joke.'