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
The Great Dictator as a variation on the theme. French film director François Truffaut later noted that early in the production, Chaplin said he would not play The Tramp in a sound film. Turner Classic Movies says that years later, Chaplin acknowledged a connection between The Tramp and the barber. Specifically, "There is some debate as to whether the unnamed Jewish barber is intended as the Tramp's final incarnation. Although in his autobiography he refers to the barber as the Little Tramp, Chaplin said in 1937 that he would not play the Little Tramp in his sound pictures." In "My Autobiography", Chaplin would