Much of the comedy of “The Great Dictator” comes from a merciless indictment of those who would follow such a patently idiotic character. In 1940, the year of its release, “The Great Dictator” was the third highest-grossing film in the U.S. and England were ready for Chaplin’s humor of defiance. That perfectionism delayed the film’s distribution until the height of the English Blitz, by which time audiences in the U.S. “The Great Dictator” was no different: It cost US$2 million to produce, an enormous sum at the time. Due to Chaplin’s perfectionism, all of his films were expensive. Political factions in both nations were anxious to placate the unpredictable, angry Hitler, and “The Great Dictator” could be calculated to enrage the Nazis, who reviled Chaplin as a “Jewish acrobat.”īut Chaplin was a partner in the distribution company United Artists simply put, he was his own producer, and answerable primarily to himself when it came to risky investments. “Ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance.”Ĭhaplin was warned in 1939 that the film might be refused release in England and face censorship in the United States. “It is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule,” he wrote in his autobiography. ( Hitler carefully monitored his public persona, studying photographs and film of his speeches, and taking lessons in public presentation.) Nonetheless, Chaplin, whose international success was based on little people challenging and defeating powerful institutions and individuals, recognized that comedy could be used against Hitler. He warned members of the Hollywood community not to underestimate Hitler merely because they found him comical, an effect magnified by Hitler’s unfathomable decision to apparently borrow the most famous mustache in the world – Chaplin’s little black toothbrush – as his own trademark.Ĭhaplin regarded Hitler as one of the finest actors he had ever seen. Chaplin was a dedicated antifascist, and was alarmed at Hitler’s ability to captivate the German people.

The idea of a film satirizing Hitler was one Chaplin had been working on for years. Hitler’s trademark mustache mimicked Chaplin’s. Richard Herring: there isn't a 'New Offensiveness'īrian Logan: reporting on comedy's new offenders wasn't intended to offend From the archive: the Hitler Moustache debateīrian Logan: stand-up comedy's new offenders Richard Herring performs We're All Going to Die! on 22 and 23 May at the Bloomsbury theatre, London. It's easy to pass judgement on someone else's racism, but what about your own? Every subject has nuance, though (ironically) even many liberals want to see everything as black and white. I love the ambiguity in the routine: it's not telling you what to think, just asking you to question your own assumptions as well as those of others. I wanted to unsettle and confuse people because this is not as simple a subject as we seem to want to make it. Are the words any more upsetting than our habit of manufacturing cultural differences in order to justify conflict? And can a word be offensive in itself? As I say elsewhere in the show: 'a stone is not a weapon until you throw it at someone.' But to show the offensiveness on both sides of the argument, I felt I needed them. I was reluctant, which just made me consider the power of words even more. Precision was vital.Īnd I had to decide if I was going to use racist language in the piece. It took me months to formulate a way of expressing this and even then I was worried about performing the routine and kept putting it off. It seemed a comedically appealing idea: that in one sense a racist seeing the world as just four types of people is closer to the ultimate goal of us all being equal than a liberal who sees us as 195 distinct flavours. Didn't the fact that I always forgot make me the same as a racist who would just call him 'Chinese'? I knew there was something comedic in this internal conflict, but also wanted to articulate that moment when a desire not to appear racist crashes against my other liberal instinct that we are all ultimately members of the human race.

It was embarrassing, but it would also be embarrassing to ask.Ĭlearly I should know and I should respect his heritage. At a close friend's house at Christmas, I realised that, although I had known him for 20 years (and he'd told me many times), I could never remember what his ethnicity was. I wanted to examine my own hypocrisy as much as the obvious wrong-headedness of racists. I had always been troubled by the liberal paradox of wanting everyone to be treated the same, while at the same time respecting their cultural differences.

Hitler stache brow