The 1940s saw Chaplin face a series of controversies, both in his work and in his personal life, which changed his fortunes and severely affected his popularity in the United States. The first of these was his growing boldness in expressing his political beliefs. Deeply disturbed by the
surge of militaristic nationalism in 1930s world politics,
[217] Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work.
[218] Parallels between himself and
Adolf Hitler had been widely noted: the pair were born four days apart, both had risen from poverty to world prominence, and Hitler wore the same
toothbrush moustache as Chaplin. It was this physical resemblance that supplied the plot for Chaplin's next film,
The Great Dictator, which directly satirised Hitler and attacked fascism.
[219]
Chaplin spent two years developing the script
[220] and began filming in September 1939, six days after Britain declared war on Germany.
[221] He had submitted to using spoken dialogue, partly out of acceptance that he had no other choice, but also because he recognised it as a better method for delivering a political message.
[222] Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk.
[223] "I was determined to go ahead," he later wrote, "for Hitler must be laughed at."
[224][n] Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire) with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the Nazi party's belief that he was Jewish.
[o][226] In a dual performance, he also played the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel", who parodied Hitler.
[227]
The Great Dictator spent a year in production and was released in October 1940.
[228] The film generated a vast amount of publicity, with a critic for
The New York Times calling it "the most eagerly awaited picture of the year", and it was one of the biggest money-makers of the era.
[229] The ending was unpopular, however, and generated controversy.
[230] Chaplin concluded the film with a five-minute speech in which he abandoned his barber character, looked directly into the camera, and pleaded against war and fascism.
[231] Charles J. Maland has identified this overt preaching as triggering a decline in Chaplin's popularity, and writes, "Henceforth, no movie fan would ever be able to separate the dimension of politics from [his] star image".
[232] Nevertheless, both
Winston Churchill and
Franklin D. Roosevelt liked the film, which they saw at private screenings before its release.
