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The Great Dictator Clippings 157/369

Bosley Crowther, New York Times, New York, Oct. 16, 1940.

Bosley Crowther

(...) Photo, Motion Picture Herald, Jan. 29, 1944, detail

& Load station entrance for the New York Times,

225 West 43rd Street, with newspaper delivery chutes

visible inside, and lighted windows of editorial

rooms 3rd floor, on December 11, 1937, New York City

Municipal Archives

& George Mann (photographer), Capitol Theatre,

exterior by day, marquee Constance Bennett, Robert Montgomery

in „The Easiest Way,“ Barto & Mann, Stage Revue, New York,

Feb. 27, 1931, George Mann Archive

& Astor Theatre, marquee GONE WITH THE WIND,

with crowd at Times Square on New Year‘s Eve, New York,

1939, detail

„It comes off magnificently“

Editorial content. „THE SCREEN IN REVIEW

      ,The Great Dictator,‘ by and With Charlie Chaplin,

      Tragic-Comic Fable of the Unhappy Lot of Decent Folk

      in a Totalitarian Land, at the Astor and Capitol

THE GREAT DICTATOR, based on an original story written,

directed and produced by Charles Chaplin“ (...)

      „By BOSLEY CROWTHER

      Now that the waiting is over and the shivers of suspense

at an end, let the trumpets be sounded and the banners

flung against the the sky. For the little tramp, Charlie Chaplin,

finally emerged last night from behind the close-guarded

curtains which have concealed his activities these past two years

and presented himself in triumphal splendor as The Great

Dictator – or you know who.“ (...)

      „The prospect of little ,Charlot.‘ the most universally loved

character in all the world, directing his superlative talent

for ridicule against the most dangerously evil man alive has

loomed as a titanic jest, a transcendent paradox. And

the happy report this morning is that It comes off magnificently.

The Great Dictator may not be the finest picture

ever made – in fact, it possesses several disappointing

shortcomings. But, despite them, it turns out to be

a truly superb accomplishment by a truly great artist  and,

from one point of view, perhaps the most significant

film ever produced.“ (...) „and even the blank insanity of a

dictator, Hitler, of course.“ (...)

      „He is at his best in a wild senseless burst of guttural

oratory – a compound of German, Yiddish and Katzenjammer

double-talk.“ (...)

      „– the courage and faith and surpassing love for mankind

which are in the heart of Charlie Chaplin.“

      The Great Dictator world premiere is in New York Oct. 15, 1940

      at the Capitol and Astor Theatres.

      Capitol Theatre, 1645 Broadway (at 51st Street), New York. 

      Astor Theatre, 1531 Broadway (at 45th Street), New York.

   

Redaktioneller Inhalt

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