Using colour footage found hidden in suitcases at the Chaplin family villa, Timewatch presents a new analysis of the film The Great Dictator and recounts the parallel stories of Charlie Chaplin and Hitler - two men born in the same week. As the Nazi leader launched his blitzkrieg, Chaplin's satire of Adolf Hitler was near completion. By the time the movie arrived in England - at the height of the Blitz - it was regarded as the greatest tonic imaginable for the British people, and it went on to bank more than twice as much as any other Chaplin film.
First shown on BBC4 [web address removed]