Classic, Comedy

The Great Dictator

G
1940
2 HR, 5 min
JUN 14, 2026

Details

Released 1940, United States

Comedy, Classic

2 hours, 5 minutes

Janus Films

English

Starring

Charles Chaplin
Paulette Goddard
Jack Oakie
Henry Daniell
Billy Gilbert

Director

Charles Chaplin

ONE NIGHT ONLY | SUNDAY, JUNE 14 @ 1:30PM

In his controversial masterpiece The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish “Tomainian” dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie and Paulette Goddard in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.’s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin’s famously impassioned speech.

TICKETS: $10 GENERAL ADMISSION | $5 MEMBERS & UNL STUDENTS

Film Stills

Full Cast

Charles Chaplin Hynkel / Barber

Paulette Goddard Hannah

Jack Oakie Napaloni

Henry Daniell Garbitsch

Billy Gilbert Herring

Additional Credits

Charles Chaplin Director

Today’s Other Showings

Our Mr. Matsura

5:00PM 7:15PM

BUY TICKETS

Mārama

5:10PM 7:10PM

BUY TICKETS

Reviews

“The first full-blown talkie from the biggest star of the silent era, complete with a message that Chaplin couldn’t have sent more loudly or clearly.”

William Goss

Film.com

“Like all major Chaplin works, ‘Dictator’ was a cheaply, but methodically, made film, a cardboard act of humanist defiance, and, thanks to its purity of purpose, the cheesier the jokes get, the harder they land.”

Michael Atkinson

Village Voice