Friday, May 6, at 7 p.m.
Peace Center of Delaware County
1001 Old Sproul Rd., Springfield, PA
FREE!
THE GREAT DICTATOR
1940. 124 min. Comedy-drama. Written,
directed, and starring Charles Chaplin.
Music by Meredith Wilson and Charles
Chaplin. Also stars Paulette Goddard
and Jack Oakie. Black/white. Rated G.
The Great Dictator tells the story of a Jewish
barber (Chaplin) in the country of Tomania who
saves the life of an officer in World War I.
Twenty years later, Tomania is taken over by a
dictator, Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin again), who
despises all Jews. The barber, whose shop is in
the ghetto, gets into a slapstick confontation
with Aryan stormtroopers.
The barber is rescued by the man whom he saved
years earlier, now a loyal officer to Hynkel and
able to protect the ghetto briefly. Eventually, Hynkel eventually bears down on the ghetto anyway.
Near the film’s end when Hynkel is expected
to make one of his hate-filled, war-mongering
speeches, Chaplin drops character and makes an
impassioned plea for peace and humanity.
First-Friday Film Series
Springfield Friends Meetinghouse
(Behind Mr. Car Wash, at the corner of Old Marple
Road and Rt. 320/W Sproul Road)
7 p.m. — Free — Large Screen
Doors open 6:30 p.m. for light refreshments.
After-film discussion
Directions: www.delcopeacecenter.org,
or (610) 544-1818
Cosponsored by
Brandywine Peace Community
It was nominated for five Oscars: Outstanding
Production, Best Actor (Charlie Chaplin), Best
Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Supporting
Actor (Jack Oakie), and Best Music (Original
Score). The Great Dictator remains a true classic by a master storyteller.
In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin said he could
not have made the film had he known about the
horrors of Nazi concentration camps at the time.
DESIGN: PUDDINRIVER PRODUCTIONS
Peace Center
of Delaware County
When the film was released, the United States
had not yet entered World War II. Its buffoonery,
mixed with political satire, stirred controversial
condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, anti-semitism, and the Nazi regime.
Made in a time of swirling anger and factionalism
similar to what we see today, The Great Dictator
became Chaplin’s most commercially successful
film and his first talking feature film.