acsdoug D
Tim always primed to like anything Chaplin does, but I couldn't get into this one. It's neither funny nor suspenseful.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
11/18/23
Full Review
Matthew B
Charlie Chaplin thought it was the cleverest and most brilliant film of his career. Orson Welles boasted that he had assisted in the film's conception, although the extent of his involvement is disputed. Yet Monsieur Verdoux was Charlie Chaplin's first cinematic flop in over twenty years.
Not only was Monsieur Verdoux a flop – it was a disaster. The film was booed at its premiere. Cinemas showing it were picketed, and there were calls to boycott it. While the film somehow secured an Oscar nomination for its screenplay, it was swiftly withdrawn in America. How could this happen to the onetime darling of American cinema?
Following on from Chaplin's attack on industrialisation in Modern Times and his famous pacifist speech at the end of The Great Dictator, Chaplin was already considered suspicious, and Monsieur Verdoux served only to fan the flames, as its anti-hero made speeches comparing his own murderous activities to the behaviour of government and big business.
Even setting aside the controversies, the film was hardly of a kind that would readily appeal to admirers of earlier Chaplin films. Audiences knew what to expect from a Chaplin movie – they would get to see a charming and clever comedy, often sentimental, with the flawed but essentially loveable hero, who was usually an anonymous tramp.
This is not what Monsieur Verdoux offered them. As the title suggests, the central character is not known simply as a tramp, prospector, worker or Jewish barber. He has a name. In fact he has several, but his real name is Monsieur Verdoux.
For this time the farcical slapstick and sentimentality of the usual Chaplin film has been replaced by black comedy. Even the subtitle of the film is "A comedy of murders". And the character of Henri Verdoux was inspired by a real-life figure called Henri Désiré Landru, man whose claim to fame was that he was a serial killer who murdered his wives.
The same is true of Henri Verdoux (played by Chaplin). He too murders his wives. There is no plot to the film as such. It is a set of incidents showing us how Verdoux works. He meets rich women, whom he marries quickly. He then takes their money and sells their property. Due to his multiple identities, Verdoux is able to have several wives at once.
What prompts Verdoux to murder women? He is not driven by sexual sadism or misogyny. Admittedly Verdoux's views of women are scathing, and the viewer is never encouraged to pity his silly shrewish wives.
However satirical comments about marriage are only incidental here. Verdoux has another motivation for his killings, and that is money. This may seem like a trite reason, but it is not in the context of the movie. For Verdoux the business of marriage and murder is just that – a business. He arranges everything professionally – he forges signatures, he arranges postal deliveries, he counts his money and so on, often cheerfully humming as he disposes of his victim's property soon after disposing of the victim.
Indeed he takes his moral attitude from the political climate around him. The film shows us footage of Hitler and Mussolini, making the point clear that murder is now the order of the day. At one point, Verdoux quotes the words of Bishop Beilby Porteous: "One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. Numbers sanctify…"
Monsieur Verdoux was the ruination of Chaplin because of the time when it was made. Nowadays audiences are more receptive to tasteless humour, and the political climate has changed. It is possible to criticise the world of government and big business without finding yourself in danger of being blacklisted. Monsieur Verdoux can now be seen as an audacious and radical departure for Chaplin that managed to effectively combine humour and entertainment with a social and political message.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Monsieur Verdoux on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/monsieur-verdoux-1947/
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
08/30/23
Full Review
Stan S
Ethernal. A villain I started to compassionate by the second half of the story with good laugh moments, eloquent gentleman lines and a philosophy of hope for the limited comfort and optimism as components to the life formula
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Charlie Chaplin is of course best known for the slapstick work he did in the silent period. He however made some equally good and also equally funny talky movies, of which this movie is perhaps his greatest moment as a talking actor.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/12/22
Full Review
Audience Member
A suave but cynical man (Charles Chaplin) supports his family by marrying and murdering rich women for their money, but the job has some occupational hazards. This film is brilliant, because it is not just entertaining, but also has a strong message. On the surface, it is a man who marries women and kills them in order to get their money. This in itself makes for a good film (and is somewhat risqué for the 1940s). But then, it is also a metaphor for society -- capitalism, imperialism, war... Chaplin takes on the Great Depression and the war industry.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/13/22
Full Review
Audience Member
As a fan of Charlie Chaplin, while Monsieur Verdoux is not his best film or anything, it is along with Limelight one of his most underrated. It looks striking, has great music and dialogue(particularly with the final speech) and an interesting story about a bank clerk turning to killing women. Monsieur Verdoux is also expertly directed, and Chaplin himself does a great job as Verdoux, just see him rifling through those bank notes and you'll know what I mean. It is not all dark, chilling and fastidiously cruel, as it does show Chaplin's contempt for the middle-class. There is an element of sentimentality to it too with the appearance of Marilyn Nash in contrast to a more vulgar Martha Raye. Overall, this is a very good and I think underrated film.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/13/22
Full Review
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