The Great Dictator the West was lost. Chaplin, on the other hand, laughed uproariously at the film. He used it to inspire many elements of "The Great Dictator", and by repeatedly viewing this film, Chaplin could closely mimic Hitler's mannerisms. Trimborn suggests that Chaplin decided to proceed with making "The Great Dictator" after viewing Riefenstahl's film. Hynkel's rally speech near the beginning of the film, delivered in German-sounding gibberish, is a caricature of Hitler's oratory style, which Chaplin also studied carefully in newsreels. The film was directed by Chaplin (with his half-brother Wheeler Dryden as assistant director), and written and produced by Chaplin.
Dictator (novel) becoming a byword for intelligent, topical, articulate action romps that slightly send themselves up.", although he also notes that, given the 1997 setting of the first Samuel Carver novel, his age in this one would be somewhat unrealistic. Rich Westwood, reviewing for "Euro Crime", stated that "Dictator is an ideal holiday novel for a thriller fan, with a hard-as-nails protagonist, satisfyingly gritty action sequences, beautiful women and a collection of very nasty baddies". The novel was also well reviewed by G.S. of "CrimeSquad", who awarded it five out of five and commented that "Dictator is an outstanding novel which has