The Great Dictator who view the barber as different include Stephen Weissman, whose book "Chaplin: A Life" speaks of Chaplin "abandoning traditional pantomime technique and his little tramp character". DVD reviewer Mark Bourne asserts Chaplin's stated position: "Granted, the barber bears more than a passing resemblance to the Tramp, even affecting the familiar bowler hat and cane. But Chaplin was clear that the barber is not the Tramp and "The Great Dictator" is not a Tramp movie." "The Scarecrow Movie Guide" also views the barber as different. Annette Insdorf, in her book "Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust" (2003), writes that "There was
The Great Dictator holds a 92% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews, three of which are negative. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: A digitally restored version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection in May 2011. The extras feature color production footage shot by Chaplin's half-brother Sydney, deleted barbershop sequence from Chaplin's 1919 film "Sunnyside", barbershop sequence from Sydney Chaplin's 1921 film "King, Queen, Joker", a visual essay by Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance titled "The Clown Turns Prophet", and "The Tramp and the Dictator"