Chaplin’s Great dictator: luck of a film at the end of the silent age

di Stefano Giani
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 36 (2011), p. 145

The great dictator is the first Charlie Chaplin’s film which doesn’t belong to the silent movie age and is also the only one work with political and international reflections about the years of the second world war. For these reasons it’s really very important to see how it was born, when it was represented all over the world and, of course, which kind of reactions it produced in different countries. We tried, as well, to give an idea of how quickly comedy get old and how it has been used for political goals as it can be seen by the words of authors who appreciated and criticized The great dictator.