--- title: "The Great Dictator: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-great-dictator/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-great-dictator" critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Great Dictator (1940): what the critics said Critics' score 77 from 11 reviews: 10 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics come away admiring The Great Dictator, and the praise lands in the same places. Chaplin’s dual performance as the Jewish barber and the dictator Hynkel is singled out repeatedly, and so is the pantomime: the globe dance is named more often than anything else as the film’s high point, with the gibberish speech and the shaving scene close behind. Several reviews note that the satire has lost none of its point, and that the barber’s amnesia lets the audience watch fascism arrive by degrees. The reservations cluster on the closing speech. Roger Ebert, Variety and The New Yorker each find the lurch from comedy to direct address a wrench that deflates what comes before, though Paste takes the opposite view and calls it the film’s most powerful passage. Otherwise the spread is narrow. The one negative notice, from Time Out, finds the Hitler impression broad vaudeville with none of the bite Groucho Marx brings to Duck Soup. ## The AV Club — Noel Murray Rating A-. 25 May 2011. The critic finds the film’s comic inventiveness dazzling, especially moments like the gibberish speech and globe dance, while noting that the hero’s amnesia allows viewers to see fascism’s incremental rise. Some parody feels ham-fisted and the earnest ending speech inadequate given later historical knowledge. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-great-dictator-1798168348) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 1940. The film is a superb accomplishment and perhaps the most significant ever produced, a lacerating fable of life under totalitarianism and a withering revelation of a dictator's weaknesses through inspired mimicry. It showcases Chaplin's courage, faith, and love for mankind despite some shortcomings. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1940/10/16/archives/the-screen-in-review-the-great-dictator-by-and-with-charlie-chaplin.html) ## Vulture — Bilge Ebiri Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 March 2017. The film remains a masterpiece whose satire feels urgently relevant amid rising nationalism. Chaplin's globe dance with Hynkel stands out as the enduring, wordless highlight that captures ego and power's absurdity. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/theres-never-been-a-better-time-to-watch-charlie-chaplins-the-great-dictator.html) ## Slant Magazine — Christian Blauvelt Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 24 May 2011. The critic calls the film a scathing satiric masterpiece that deftly balances humor and horror, using theatrical staging and self-reflexive commentary on image and fascism to critique totalitarianism while urging action against it. The WWI prologue and globe sequence are singled out for their cinematic and symbolic power. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-great-dictator/) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic highlights the film's daring satire on fascism and Chaplin's skillful dual role as the Jewish barber and dictator Hynkel. It praises inventive comic sequences such as the globe-balancing routine and the barber's shaving scene, while noting the poignant final speech and the film's enduring appeal despite a mixed original critical response. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/great-dictator-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 27 September 2007. The critic praises the film as a brave and funny satire that ridicules Hitler through Chaplin's comic genius and memorable gags, especially in the stretches before the ending. The long closing speech, however, is singled out as deflating the comedy by shifting abruptly to a direct editorial lecture. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-great-dictator-1940) ## Sight and Sound Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 December 1940. The many subsidiary episodes tend to obscure the general outline of the film, but in spite of its shortcomings as a work of art The Great Dictator raises the cinema to a new level as a force in World Affairs. While the film runs, the tide of Chaplin's genius carries all before it in alternate waves of humour and pathos. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/chart/details.php?ranking=70) ## The New Yorker — John C. Mosher Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 19 October 1940. Chaplin alone could have dreamed of this approach to current events and swung the fantastic conglomeration into something successful. The balloon dance scene is one of the most delightful bits he has ever given, saving the picture with its child-like fantasy, though the final speech creates a wrench from detachment to direct exhortation. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1940/10/26/1940-10-26-078-tny-cards-000003001) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1939. Chaplin expresses utter contempt for dictators like Hitler and Mussolini through comedy, with a strong preachment especially in the six-minute final speech. The dual role and pantomime shine, though the shift to a serious ending is peculiar and somewhat disappointing. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1939/film/reviews/the-great-dictator-1200412984/) ## Time Out — VG Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The representation of Hitler is vaudeville goonery all the way, but minus the acid wit and inventive energy that Groucho Marx managed in Duck Soup. Cue for an impassioned speech about freedom and democracy calculated to jerk tears out of the surliest fascist, in a manner startlingly similar to Hitler's very own delivery. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-great-dictator-2) ## Paste — Kenneth Lowe Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 14 June 2020. The critic praises Chaplin's bold first talkie as a sharp sendup of Nazism and Hitler, highlighting the dual role of the Jewish barber and dictator along with the film's mix of physical comedy and pointed satire. They single out the final direct-to-camera speech calling for universal brotherhood and resistance to tyranny as especially powerful and still relevant. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/charlie-chaplin/the-great-dictator-80-president-fascist) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-great-dictator.md