After serving in World War I, a Jewish barber spends years recovering in an army hospital, unaware that a ruthless, anti-Semitic dictator – who happens to look just like him – has risen to power. When he finally returns home, he’s shocked by the brutal changes in his once-familiar neighbourhood and joins a courageous young woman in resisting the new regime. In this daring and controversial masterpiece, Charlie Chaplin delivers both a scathing parody of Adolf Hitler and a clever reinvention of his own iconic comic persona.

Join us on Thursday 8th May (3.30pm) for a screening introduced by freelance critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson.

Reviews

‘Charlie Chaplin’s first talkie, made over a decade after the introduction of sound, stands as a brave and controversial piece of filmmaking.’
★★★★
Jamie Russell, BBC

Pamela Hutchinson is a freelance critic and film historian. Her books include BFI Film Classics on The Red Shoes and Pandora’s Box. She is a columnist for Sight and Sound and she runs the silent film website SilentLondon.co.uk.