The Dictator

Show & Culture

The Dictator is a visionary film. Released in 1940, Charlie Chaplin’s first talking feature is a moving call for peace. Chaplin plays the dual role of a humble Jewish barber and a certain mustachioed despot named Hynkel, strongly reminiscent of a notorious Nazi leader. Accompanied by a beautiful score composed by Chaplin himself, performed live and conducted by Timothy Brock, two scenes are particularly notable: the sequence where the barber listens to Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 on the radio (where every sound is synchronized with the barber's precise movements), and the scene where the Dictator plays with a globe to the sound of Wagner’s Lohengrin Prelude... Legendary!