The Great Dictator

The challenge in reviewing genuine classic movies — and by classic, I mean stature, not age — is of what to say. Unless your opinion differs wildly from the consensus, saying “I really recommend Psycho” or “Citizen Kane lives up to the hype” is obvious and unnecessary. So what can I say about The Great Dictator (my first Chaplin movie) that ten thousand critics before me haven’t said? Nothing. All I can do is confirm everything you’ve likely heard. Charlie Chaplin’s gift for comedy and comedic choreography are as impeccable as his reputation indicates. Scenes like the artillery gun, or shaving to the symphony are sublime acts of timing and finesse. The movie itself is a biting satire, made at a time when America’s attitude to the war was “eh, ain’t our problem”, and the satire is timeless. Chaplin’s closing monologue is eerily prescient to the calls made from modern day activists for social equality, and it saddens me to think he was saying these things now 80+ years ago, and people still aren’t listening. The ambition of the movie also deserves respect; from the opening battlefield scene, to just the scope of the whole thing, to the balls it took to tweak the noses of dictators and bigots, Chaplin went for it, and it largely pays off. For me, the weak points were length, focus and the bite of the satire. The latter is a function of time; satire was less direct and less visceral then as it is now, where The Onion is brutal in its takedowns of its targets. But there is a limit to how much I can put my mind in the times of yore, so some of it just didn’t land because time has softened it. The length of this movie is just too long. The middle 40 or so drags and could easily see some trimming to tighten things up and keep up the energy. This would also help with the focus, where the dual track stories sometimes get muddled because one has to take a backseat while the other goes on for many, many scenes. Again, some judicious editing might’ve helped. If you’re reading this, though, and you haven’t seen it, I mean, do you need me to give you a blow by blow of why you should? It’s Charlie Chaplin. It’s his first true talkie. Every magazine, every film institute, every critic everywhere has given it the pedigree of S-tier classic status. The movie sells itself, regardless if I had some quibbles.