The Great Dictator

Continuity mistake: During the middle of the film, a butler comes in and out of the Dictator's office several times repeatedly. The door is open and shows the corridor outside the office, casting the shadow of a window off-screen. The shadow changes from small to big bewteen shots.

Sacha

Audio problem: When Hynkel refers to the peace treaty and says "I'll sign it," you can hear the sound quality change abruptly, and when Hynkel is saying "Napoloni the grosse peanut, the cheesy ravioli," his lips are not in sync.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Mrs. Napoloni gets trapped by the guards, notice the people around her from left to right: ambassador, thin man with loose hair, elegant man, man with beret. Closeup shot and the thin man has disappeared and a man with a white rounded hat appears out of nowhere, close to the elegant man.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The first time the barber enters his shop he leaves his hat and cane in a coat rack. He exits and when he comes back they've disappeared.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The plane crashes against a tree trunk, with its nose close to the trunk. In a closer shot the plane has magically moved several feet further and the tail is now close to the trunk.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Inside the train, Napoloni says "I never get out without a red carpet", and then he faces left. A split second later he is facing the opposite side.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Hynkel and Napoloni salute the masses and Napoloni's hand changes from resting on his belt to his hip between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the dictator's first speech, after the translator says "His excellency has just referred to the Jewish people", Chaplin crosses his arms and his tie changes from straight to slightly folded around the arms.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the famous "flatable world" scene, the Dictator climbs up the curtains. His leg changes from bent to straight between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the first sequence in the Ghetto, inside Hanna's house, the man reading the newspaper's left hand swaps from being inside his pocket to holding the newspaper between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Chaplin is about to deliver his final speech, he walks towards a stone wall with the word "Liberty" engraved on it. The word ends where the staircase begins, and close to it is a staircase with a bare stone wall behind. But when Chaplin ascends the steps the engraving has moved to the very center of the staircase.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The second time the storm troopers enter the Barber's shop, the "W" in the word "jew" changes from partially visible to partially erased without the barber having touched it (probably because of previous shootings).

Sacha

Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, during the famous speech, right before Chaplin says "Hannah, can you hear me?", Chaplin raises his left hand, lowers it to touch his hair, then the scene changes to a shot of Hannah and when back to Chaplin his hand is up again repeating the prior movement.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During The dictator's first speech, the back side of his tie changes from long to short between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Hynkel and Napoloni walk towards the press to have their pictures taken, Napoloni's cape switches between covering his chest to covering just his shoulders.

Sacha

Deliberate mistake: The barber is on the roof scarping from the stormtroopers and he falls down face through a window. When the shot changes to the inside of the house where the window is, he is falling on his back.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After the plane crashes, the officer reaches to Chaplin yelling "The dispatches". In a wide shot he stretches his arm to the left, but watch his hat. Wide shot: Goggles perfectly visible, and a tiny bit of fur from the other side can be seen. In the close shot, he continues stretching to the left, which is OK, but his hat has swapped sides. The goggles are nowhere in sight, and the fur is perfectly visible.

Sacha

Deliberate mistake: When Chaplin's plane turns upside down, he falls off but grabs himself to a stick. On a wide shot you see him facing to the back of the plane. In the closer shot he is facing 90ยบ to its left, probably to allow for the dialogue scene between him and the officer.

Sacha

More quotes from The Great Dictator

Trivia: This was Charlie Chaplin's first feature film with full sound.

More trivia for The Great Dictator

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