The Great Dictator

The Great Dictator (1940) is Charlie Chaplin's war comedy that you can watch online on iFILM. Chaplin wrote the script, directed, and took on two roles: Adenoid Hynkel, the thundering ruler of Tomania, and a Jewish barber from the ghetto who happens to be his exact double.

The barber just wants to get through the day. Storm troopers patrol outside, a Star of Juda gets painted on his shop window, and his neighbour Jaeckel has already started packing in his head. Meanwhile Hynkel hosts a rival dictator — Benzino Napaloni of Bacteria, played with full comic relish by Jack Oakie — and the two strongmen spend most of their summit trying to sit taller than each other. Paulette Goddard plays Hannah, the barber's neighbour, the only person on the street still willing to look ahead.

Charles Chaplin Productions released the film in October 1940, when the United States had not yet entered the war. It earned five Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor for Oakie, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score. The barber's closing speech, delivered straight to camera, was Chaplin's own voice breaking through the satire. Stream The Great Dictator (1940) online on iFILM.