The Great Dictator - The Criterion Collection

In his notorious masterpiece The Great Dictator, CHARLIE CHAPLIN (City Lights, Modern Times) offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin (in his first pure talkie) brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish 'Tomanian' dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him.

Featuring JACK OAKIE (Thieves' Highway, Lover Come Back) and PAULETTE GODDARD (Modern Times, The Women) in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.'s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin's famously impassioned plea for tolerance.

Special Edition Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin historians Dan Kamin and Hooman Mehran
• The Tramp and the Dictator (2001), Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft's documentary paralleling the lives of Chaplin and Hitler, including interviews with author Ray Bradbury, director Sidney Lumet, screenwriter Budd Schulberg, and others
• Two new visual essays, one by Chaplin archivist Cecilia Cenciarelli and one by Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
• Colour production footage shot by Chaplin's half-brother Sydney
• Barbershop sequence from Syndey Chaplin's 1921 film King, Queen, Joker
• Deleted barbershop scene from Chaplin's 1919 film Sunnyside
• Rerelease trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Wood, Chaplin's 1940 New York Times defence of his movie, a reprint from critic Jean Narboni on the film's final speech, and Al Hirschfeld's original press book illustrations