The Great Dictator two-page discussion of the relationship between the barber and The Tramp appears in Eric L. Flom's book "Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the Seven Talkies." He concludes: The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Chaplin's half-brother Sydney directed and starred in a 1921 film called "King, Queen, Joker" in which, like Chaplin, he played the dual role of a barber and ruler of a country which is about to be overthrown. More than twenty years later, in 1947, Charles Chaplin was sued over alleged plagiarism with "The Great Dictator". Yet, apparently, neither the suing party nor
Roman dictator expected to resign, and when the dictator laid down his "imperium", so would the magister equitum. In theory, the magister equitum was commander of the cavalry, but he was not limited to that role. The dictator and magister equitum did not always take the field together; in some instances the magister equitum was assigned the defense of the city while the dictator took an army into the field, while on other occasions the dictator remained at Rome to see to some important duty, and entrusted the magister equitum with an army in the field. The magister equitum was necessarily subordinate