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By PAUL BRENNER
Charles Chaplin revived his
Little Tramp character and transformed him into a
Jewish barber in his biting political satire "The
Great Dictator" -- now available from Warner on a
two-disc special edition.
To take on Hitler in 1940 as the blitzkrieg raced
through France, Denmark and Belgium was a brave
and dangerous thing to do. But as the world's most
recognizable popular figure, Chaplin had no fear
and, despite threats of having the film banned in
countries around the world dreading insulting
Hitler, Chaplin forged right ahead. In the film,
Chaplin's Adenoid Hynkel -- a rabid, egomaniacal
nincompoop -- is Hitler turned inside out and
kicked down the stairs. It is a devastating parody
of a very dangerous man that, perhaps, served as
the opening salvo in the war against Hitler,
exposing the rust in Hitler's then seemingly
impregnable armor.
When Chaplin aims his satiric fire at Hitler and
the Nazis, his sniper shots are dead on. Hynkel's
ballet with the globe is sublime and an apt
metaphor for tyrants who desire world domination.
The supporting fascists are also perfection --
Billy Gilbert's fawning Field Marshall Herring
("We've just discovered the most wonderful, the
most marvelous poison gas. It will kill
everybody!"), Henry Daniell's cool and calculating
propaganda minister Garbitsch ("First we get rid
of the Jews, then we concentrate on the
brunettes"), and Jack Oakie's devastating parody
of Mussolini.
But when the film cuts from the high level
imbeciles to the Jewish ghetto sections, the film
is more labored and falters in its comedy. The
ghetto residents are idealized ciphers and
Paulette Goddard's Hannah, who acts more like Pert
Kelton than Molly Picon, is all wide-eyed
innocence, from her sugary exclamations ("Gee!
Ain't I cute?") to her Brecht/Mr. Rogers
monologues. The Nazi storm troopers are also a
problem. Chaplin handles the actors as if they
were silent comedy Keystone Kops (one can almost
visualize Nat Pendleton or Edgar Kennedy as the
Nazis) and their lukewarm slapstick dilutes the
danger of the real Nazi thugs. But, also, it was
just 1940, and even Chaplin could not have
foreseen how far the evil Nazi menace would go.
Disc 2 contains a number of fascinating extra
features, the best of which is the 2001
documentary by Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft,
"The Tramp and Dictator," that chronicles the rise
of both Chaplin and Hitler. Equalling interesting
is a collection of color 16mm footage shot during
the filming of "The Great Dictator" by Sydney
Chaplin. Also included is a deleted scene from
Chaplin's 1919 film "Sunnyside," a montage excerpt
from "Monsieur Verdoux," a film poster gallery,
and scenes from other films from The Chaplin
Collection. |
