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15 November 2024 Luzern (Lucerne) (Switzerland)
The Great Dictator in concert
City Light Symphony Orchestra conducted by Timothy Brock - KKL
Program Info: Chalres Chaplin - The Great Dictator
Experience the silent film masterpiece on the big screen with live original music
“Our ammunition is laughter and with it we target the vanity of men who place themselves above other men.” This is what Charlie Chaplin said in an interview in August 1940. With “The Great Dictator,” Charlie Chaplin attempted his most delicate mission – it was his first talkie and at the same time his last appearance as a tramp. As a result, he achieved a memorable masterpiece that was nominated for 5 Oscars in 1941 – including “best film” and “best film score”. The world premiere of “The Great Dictator” took place on October 15, 1940 and the film had to be shown in two cinemas at the same time due to the large number of visitors.
“The Great Dictator” tells the story of a Jewish hairdresser (Charlie Chaplin) who finds himself in a new world after spending 20 years in a hospital as a World War I invalid and suffering from amnesia due to an accident. The district in which his barbershop is located is now considered a ghetto for Jews and dissidents. And so the Jewish hairdresser and the laundress Hannah (Paulette Goddard), between whom a romance is brewing, end up in a dramatic whirlpool of events, which the tramp always knows how to outwit...
As with his previous two films, “City Lights” and “Modern Times,” Charlie Chaplin also composed the music for “The Great Dictator,” collaborating with 38-year-old American composer Meredith Willson. In addition to an excerpt from Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 and an excerpt from Wagner's Lohengrin Prelude, every note of the film music is original and perfectly tailored to what is happening on the screen.
In 2023, the Chaplin Office in Paris commissioned a restoration of the film's music. This was done by Chaplin music expert Timothy Brock and can now be heard for the first time ever in German-speaking Switzerland.
Experience “The Great Dictator” on the big screen in the concert hall, while the 75-member City Light Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Brock himself, plays the film music live and precisely!
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