Charlie Chaplin on democracy and unity

Excerpt from Charlie Chaplin’s first true “talking picture”, The Great Dictator, released in 1940.

Border guards mistake Chaplin’s character, a humble barber, for a dictator (also played by Chaplin) who resembles him. The real dictator, meanwhile, is mistaken for the barber and arrested. The barber assumes the dictator’s identity and uses the opportunity to make a rousing speech and mobilise the masses in support of freedom and democracy!

Stirring oratory from an actor who, ironically, had earlier made his name in silent movies, often cast as a tramp.

This particular movie, which mocks fascism and dictatorship, was Chaplin’s most successful.

Thanks to Mankind for pointing me to this clip.