THE GREAT DICTATOR (Human Lore)

A short historical piece about a remarkable chapter in Charlie Chaplin’s career: how his uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler became the basis for one of his most daring films.

The episode follows Chaplin as he recognized the strange visual similarity between himself and the dictator and ultimately turned that resemblance into a weapon of satire with The Great Dictator — mocking fascism at a time when doing so was far from politically or commercially safe.

Created for Human Lore, our short-form series exploring extraordinary stories and characters from history.