Chaplin’s Ultimate Intelligence

Charlie Chaplin by Ervin Marton

The Great Dictator’s Final Speech Transcript:
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men – cries out for universal brotherhood – for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women, and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. …..

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think and what to feel! Who drill you – diet you – treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” – not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power – the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then – in the name of democracy – let us use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world – a decent world that will give men a chance to work – that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world – to do away with national barriers – to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
The Great Dictator (final scene) – 1940

Monsieur Verdoux – 1947
wars. conflicts, it’s all business… one murder makes a villain, millions a hero. numbers sanctify…



A King In New York – 1957
Partial transcript of the repartee between Chaplin and a child (Chaplin’s son, Michael)
Do I have to be a communist to read Karl Marx?
Question: what are you?
Nothing. I dislike all forms of government, and I don’t like the word rule.
Leadership in government is political power and political power is an official form of antagonizing the people.
Politics are rules imposed upon the people.
Travel around a bit and then you will see how free they are.
They have every man in a straitjacket and without a passport he can’t move a toe.
In a free world they violate the natural rights of every citizen.
They have become the weapons of political despots.
And if you don’t think as they think, you deprived of your passport.
To leave a country is like breaking out of jail and to enter a country is like going through an eye of a needle.
And free speech, does that exist?
Today it’s all monopoly.
Can I go into the automobile business and compete with the other truck?
Not a chance.
Can ago into the grocery business and complete with the chain store?
Not a chance.
Monopoly is the menace of the free enterprise.
It’s a crime that when the world cries for atomic energy, you want to make atomic bombs.
You want to wipe out civilization. Destroy all life on this planet.
You and your kinds think atomic bombs can solve your problems.
Today man has too much power. The Roman Empire collapsed with the assassination of Caesar and why?
Because of too much Power. Feudalism blew up with the French revolution and why?
Because of too much Power.
And today the whole world will blow up. And Why?
The monopoly of power is a menace to freedom. It’s grave and victimizes every individual. And where is the individual?
Locked in terror because he is draped in hate instead of love. If the civilization is to survive we must combat power until peace and dignity of man are restored.

Limelight (final scene) – 1952
 the more I am cut down, the more I spring back again…

City Lights (final scene) – 1931

The Circus (final scene) – 1928

Modern Times (final scene) – 1936
Buck-up, never say die

From the Official Charlie Chaplin Website: