Video: 'The Great Dictator' trailer

(Thursday, October 15, 1940, 8:30 p.m. EST; during World War II) — The Great Dictator, an American political satire comedy-drama film about a Jewish barber who takes the place of a war-hungry dictator, premiered tonight in New York City at the Astor Theatre at 1537 Broadway, at West 45th Street in Times Square and the Capitol Theatre at 1645 Broadway, just north of Times Square.

Video: 'Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator'

Written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, the film also starred Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Henry Daniell, Reginald Gardiner, Billy Gilbert and Maurice Moscovich.

The film advanced a stirring condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis during the early months of World War II.