Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Starring Charlie Chaplin, Martha Raye, Marilyn Nash, Isobel Elsom, Mady Correll, Irving Bacon, Margaret Hoffman, Bernard J. Nedell.

Gleefully bitter black comedy casts Chaplin as a Bluebeard-esque bigamist who murders his wives for their money. Splendid character gallery (referred to in the credits as “The Ladies”) and poisonous wit guide this venture, with very little of the actor/writer/director/producer/composer’s penchant for sentimentality on display. Because of its tenuous tone and uneven pacing, a vague sense of tedium starts setting in now and then, but these instances are vanquished quickly by the next flash of mordant whimsy or caustic new complication. It’s hard to tell if Chaplin was aiming for irony or profundity in its concluding “moralizing,” but either way, it rings false. Broad comic moments while trying to kill Raye and showing off a house to Elsom offer the biggest laughs, but most of the film is far darker and subtler than Chaplin’s traditional output; ahead of its time in many ways, and most reactions from the press and ticket-buyers verged upon the hostile at the time of its release, but appreciation has grown significantly in the years since. Orson Welles earned a co-story credit for suggesting the film idea to Chaplin.

76/100