10 War Films That Were Basically Just Propaganda

The Great Dictator premiered back in 1940. It starred silent film star, Charlie Chaplin. He also directed and paid for the film. In it, Chaplin famously portrayed Adolf Hitler.

Actually, he played a character named Adenoid Hynkel, a dumb, autocratic dictator bent on world domination. So, yeah - Hitler.

In 1940 the US had not yet entered the war. However, the world was learning of the Nazis’ horrifying war crimes.

Chaplin almost scrapped his film, deciding it wasn’t right to parody the German atrocities. Chaplin didn’t want to make light of the horror that was Nazi occupation.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt heard of Chaplin’s intention to can the film, the US president intervened. FDR sent one of his aids to Chaplin with a simple message:

“Make this film.”