Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"

[Renaissance]

Here's a clip of Charlie Chaplin's final speech in the Great Dictator. I found it deeply moving and will be watching the full movie shortly. Chaplin describes with great emotion the state of the ponerized world. He uses Hitler's style of building a speech to climax but uses instead a message for humanity. It was most notable that he saw the 'great dictators' not as humans, but as 'unnatural men, machine men with machine minds and machine hearts.'

The video link I include below is also moving in how in the lack of understanding of ponerology can take on an infected worldview. The clip was remade into an interpretation of a 'broken dream of humanity'.

The videographer wrote:

"This video is the broken dream I have. The reason why everything is shifty and broken is because Chaplin's dream is broken for me. It is my secret dream, as a left-libertarian, a complete free society. It's utopian, but I am deeply skeptical about whether we have "the love of humanity in our hearts" as Chaplin says. I believe people are dirty and unloveable. Greed doesn't poison mens' souls--they are already poisoned. Chaplin's dream may be assumed broken before it has even been dreamt. Paradoxically we still must fight for our freedom despite our unbearable natures."

Chaplin's speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ3Ad7812MI

I sent the videographer some info about ponerology but I'm not sure if it was helpful.

 

[Alana]

Thank you Shane for sharing. It is indeed moving.

I couldn't help but notice that throughout his speech, Charlie Chaplin is speaking with great emotion, yet never do the lines on the forehead or around his eyes are shown. There is intensity in his eyes, but not in his expression above the nose.

It might be the make-up and filters of course. Or he was directed to act the speech this way. I don't know, i might be wrong. Anyone else sees this?

 

[NormaRegula]

Irini, Charlie Chaplin was the writer, director, and co-producer of The Great Dictator, so it's most probable that his character meant what he said...and his emotions were real. Chaplin's later acting style was partly influenced by Sessue Hayakawa, a popular Japanese actor who used a Zen-influenced muga, or the "absence of doing," in his performances. The eyes should convey the emotion, so to speak.

I studied Chaplin and his work in a cinematography class. His personal life was not without faults, but he was demonized by the press in his later years more for his left-leaning politics, than for his affinity towards young women.

Unlike his Hollywood colleagues, Chaplin refused to kow tow to politicians and bureaucrats like J. Edgar Hoover who turned to Hollywood early on to get certain messages out to the American people...and the world at large. Nor did Chaplin like the way the movie moguls (most of whom displayed psychopathic behaviors, or were true psychopaths) ran Hollywood. He fought the system and founded United Artists early on as a way to break the mogul's monopolistic hold on film. It was an ongoing battle. Were it not for his fame with the public, Chaplin would have been utterly destroyed. However, the PTB manged to marginalize a brilliant talent by making it difficult for him to gain funding, film distribution rights, and ultimately labeling him a has been, and worse, a commie traitor.

 

[Alana]

Hi NormaRegula,

Thank you for the info, i don't know much about Charlie Chaplin. But i did not say that he doesn't feel his speech. Perhaps i had "expectations" on his face that were not met. My bad. I don't even know why i noticed this thing, is not like i go around looking at people's forehead.

 

[alwyn]

My mother was in this film. (She played Aggie, she was all of five at the time.) I've often thought that it hugely influenced her world view. Her comments about Chaplin were that he was very gentle. I'm also thinking that he was very patient. I've seen pictures (since stolen by some 'path) of her playing ball with Charlie in the back lot of the set. My mother was all thumbs...

I've often thought that this film should be brought back into the public eye today, but no one watches b/w films anymore...

 

[mkrnhr]

is there any possibility to find this same clip but without the "special effects"?

 

[Renaissance]

is there any possibility to find this same clip but without the "special effects"?

If you type in the "Great Dictator" in the Youtube search fuction you should find about a dozen; a few of them have the intro and only a spanish version has the very end with Holly.

I watched the movie shortly after I posted the ending clip and thoroughly enjoyed it. Chaplin humor seems timeless, and a lot lighter than most of the stuff today.