In his controversial masterpiece The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the...
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In his controversial masterpiece The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish ̮TomainianŁ dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie and Paulette Goddard in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.'s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin's famously impassioned speech. (Criterion) Extras: * New high-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition) * New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin experts Dan Kamin and Hooman Mehran * The Tramp and the Dictator (2001), Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft̷s documentary paralleling the lives of Chaplin and Hitler, including interviews with author Ray Bradbury, director Sidney Lumet, screenwriter Budd Schulberg, and others * Two new visual essays, one by Chaplin archivist Cecilia Cenciarelli and one by Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance * Color production footage shot by Chaplin's half-brother Sydney * Barbershop sequence from Sydney Chaplin's 1921 film King, Queen, Joker * Deleted barbershop sequence from Chaplin's 1919 film Sunnyside * Rerelease trailer * PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Wood, Chaplin's 1940 New York Times defense of his movie, a reprint from critic Jean Narboni on the film's final speech, and Al Hirschfeld's original press book illustrations.
