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

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

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

Continuity mistake: When in the plane, after the German officer cries "Well loosen it", Chaplin is about to fall off the plane and the angle changes. The officer's white scarf then disappears, or at least stops moving, which is very strange since they're flying.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Chaplin spits 3 coins from the pudding. One falls and moves to the middle of the table. Another gets beneath a dish. And a third one falls off the table. A couple seconds later all three appear lined up on the table, close to Chaplin, ready for him to pick them up.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the beginning, when Chaplin rescues the German officer and carries him on his shoulder, the officer's bag is first behind Chaplin's head, close to his back. When the angle changes it is now on the front, close to his cheek.

Sacha

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

More mistakes in The Great Dictator

Adenoid Hynkel: Garbitsch, what's the meaning of this? These appropriations? Twenty-five million for prison camps when we need every penny for the manufacturing of ammunition's?
Garbitsch: We've had to make a few arrests.
Adenoid Hynkel: A few? How many?
Garbitsch: Nothing astronomical. Five or ten thousand.
Adenoid Hynkel: Oh.
Garbitsch: A day.
Adenoid Hynkel: A day?
Garbitsch: Just a few dissenters, that's all.

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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