Monsieur Verdoux
by Charles Chaplin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Audrey Betz, Charles Chaplin, Irving Bacon, Marjorie Bennett, Virginia BrissacDirector: Charles Chaplin
Brand: Warner Brothers
Primary Contributor: Charles Chaplin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-03-02
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Monsieur Verdoux
Movie Review: Murder is Murder, Whether Done for Duty, Profit or Fun; Chaplin Attempts to get the Beast to Acknowledge Its' Reflection
Summary: 5 Stars
I expected to be somewhat bored, or at least lulled into a trance, viewing this black-and-white "talkie" from an aging Charlie Chaplin. However, this film slowly drew me in, until I was thoroughly engrossed by "The End".
A comedy of wit and foible, married to one of the greatest moral questions ever put forth to the human race and its' overlords, with a snap and pazzaz far ahead of its' time; Chaplin's work here is trully a two-fold story.
Those wishing to see a young Chaplin cut capers will be disappointed, but Charlie shows here that he is indeed a multi-faceted comedian, capable of bearing up under the duelling pressures of having to work outside of the "Little Tramp" persona, and in a "talkie".
We see ol' Chas., clad in upper-crust Parisian panache, bilk his way through the disenchanted aftermath created after being deposed from his thirty year stint as a bank teller.
(Bluebeard: A fairy tale charcter from the Charles Perrault collection. The character is a monstrous villian who marries seven women in turn and warns them not to look behind a certain door of his castle. Inside the room are the corpses of his former wives. Bluebeard kills six wives for their disobedience before one passes the test.)
We see him poison a bitter old broad with cool indifference, then fall victim to the guiles of a smart-mouthed, middle-aged, New Yawkish dame, played to comedic genius by Martha Raye, who roars through her scenes with typical flair and petulance. ( Their scenes together are some of the film's most overtly humorous, as Verdoux struggles like hek to bump off the feisty broad.)
We are allowed to see Verdoux's real family scenario, a young boy and his invalid mother, who is confined to a chair; but not really long enough to make any emotional bonds to these characters. Chaplin undoubtedly did not want viewers to be preoccupied with Verdoux's sorrow, as to take away from his larger points on the topic of governmentally controlled and instigated mass murder.
"I devoted my existence to you, o benevolent oversee-ers of Business and State, and you turned me out. I follwed your example, by surviving and profiting from the grim misfortunes of others, and now, you wish for my blood. I stand guilty, ready and willing to pay. Will you also pay?"
And of course the answer is always, "No. F*** no!" A message for deaf minds, and ears that cannot hear.
I highly recommend, thoroughly enjoyable family fun. Would recommend for your next visit with that elderly neighbor or shut-in, who will remember Chaplin from their youth, and smile, with the pale, transfixed, murky eyes of glue at the tube, for a couple blessed hours of companionship.
As the film philosophizes, "We need love when we are young, companionship as we grow old." Perhaps.
And also, "You can't always get what you want...but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need." Amen.
Charlie, you were great baby, you did not live in vain.
Summary of Monsieur Verdoux
Charles Chaplin turns his traditionally sunny sensibilities inside out with this sublime black comedy about a family man who secretly uses murder to support his beloved invalid wife and child. There's little of the immortal Tramp in Verdoux yet the fastidious dandy is not lacking in comic graces. Most hilarious of all are the always-foiled attempts to dispatch the raucous Annabella (Martha Raye). When this most atypical Chaplin film opened the world was not ready to look death in the face and walk away smiling. Today Monsieur Verdoux ranks among Chaplin's best works. It is killer comedy.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?COMEDY UPC:?085393765224This blistering little black comedy was well ahead of its time when released in 1947. Originally, Orson Welles had wanted Chaplin to star in his drama about a French mass murderer named Landru, but Chaplin was hesitant to act for another director, and used the idea himself. He plays a dapper gent named Henri Verdoux (who assumes a number of identities), a civilized monster who marries wealthy women, then murders them (as we meet him, he's gathering roses as an incinerator ominously bellows smoke in the background) and collects their money to support his real family. The Little Tramp is now a distant memory, though this was the first film not to feature Chaplin's beloved creation. Verdoux is largely viciously clever until it gets too heavy-handed, as evidenced when a woman he spares returns years later as the mistress of a munitions manufacturer. Ultimately, Chaplin breaks character (much as he did in The Great Dictator) to preach to the masses, declaring that against the machines of war that grip the planet, humble killer Verdoux is "an amateur by comparison." --David Kronke
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