MovieChat Forums > The Great Dictator (1941) Discussion > Is this film where these jokes originate...

Is this film where these jokes originated?

posted 12 years ago by TheAntiJohn
7 replies | jump to latest

There are a few jokes from this film that I've seen recreated in countless tv shows and movies.

1. Basically whenever Hynkel speaks "German" he mostly speaks in gibberish German while throwing in some random words that "sound German" if you get what I mean. For example, he would start talking gibberish German and then throw in "sauerkraut" or "blitzkrieg" randomly. I've heard this recreated in countless other places and in slightly different ways. For example, someone is pretending to speak Japanese and says gibberish Japanese and throws in words like "toyota" or "sushi."

2. There are two certain scenes when Hynkel's dialogue is being translated or transcribed (the first scene with Hynkel where there is an English translation and when Hynkel is dictating a letter to a secretary). Anyway, what happens is that he would speak for a long time and then it ends up being translated very simply in a few words or the opposite in which Hynkel would speak very shortly and then it ends up being translated or transcribed into a very long speech. I've also seen this recreated countless times, except it's usually in the form of subtitles.

So, is this film where these jokes originated from?

[–] vinidici 12 years ago

"I don't think "The Great Dictator" is the first example of poking fun at someone speaking in a non-English tongue, but honestly, I don't know off-hand of any earlier examples and Chaplin's foray into that area is probably the best.

Americans had seen the newsreels of Hitler making speeches and to many of them those newsreels were comical. Which caused worry in men like Chaplin, he being among the few who could smell and see a rat for what it really was and no laughing matter. Chaplin is "recreating" Hitler's American-viewed newsreel speeches and that particular audience is "in" on Chaplin's joke.

The "dictation gag", I think, is another old chestnut from out of vaudeville. These gags are always funny when the right people perform them, even today.

The "translating" and the voice-over guy who's interpreting Hynkel's speech to English language audiences is another spoof of the Hitler speech newsreels Germany had sent to the US, where the actual newsreels, similarly, had a narrator fawning over "Der Fuhrer" and serving as an English interpreter of Hitler's German oratory.

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[–] TheAntiJohn 12 years ago

I see. It seems we owe everything to vaudeville! Oh, what it must have been like to live in those times. thanks again again again vinidici.

[–] vinidici 12 years ago

Glad to be of service! See ya around.

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[–] vinidici 12 years ago

One more thing: Whenever you're foolin' around at the boards of Chaplin and other great comics, keep an eye out for a poster named snorrem. He's barely in his twenties but the kid has a really admirable and extensive knowledge and insight of film comedy and comedians going all the way back to the early days of the film industry. It you think *I* know a lot, snorrem's REALLY the go-to guy to answer a lot of questions and to impart a lot of very interesting info!

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[–] kylopod 12 years ago

In one of the Marx Bros. films, there's a scene where the brothers speak a mock Italian (or some other language, I can't remember). They don't do it as well as Chaplin or Danny Kaye used to do that kind of thing, but it's an example of the practice earlier than "The Great Dictator." And of course, there's Chaplin's gibberish song in "Modern Times." It's a technique that goes back a long way among comic performers, and I wouldn't be surprised if it predates the invention of film. For more on the topic, see the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaronic_language

[–] fragile_day 12 years ago

I wondered the same thing as the OP, ESPECIALLY about number two. I couldn't believe I was seeing that joke in such an early film. And then so, I just came to the conclusion that it must have originated here, or at least close to this period in time.

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

[–] masuka-fan 8 years ago

I know it's just a gag and I shouldn't analyze it but the second one seemed odd to me as German is very similar to English (made it easy to learn in high school!) Usually when I've seen that joke it concerns Japanese, which has very long words for things but also brief ones that encapsulate complex ideas.