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 was nearly absolute. However, as a rule he could not exceed the mandate for which he was appointed; a dictator nominated to hold the "comitia" could not then take up a military command against the wishes of the Senate. Some dictators appointed to a military command also performed other duties, such as holding the "comitia", or driving a nail into the wall of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus; but presumably they did so with the Senate's consent. The "imperium" of the other magistrates was not vacated by the nomination of a dictator. They continued to perform the duties of