Charlie Chaplin is "Monsieur Verdoux" in this 1947 film based on the real-life serial killer Henri Landru. Verdoux is a bank clerk who is laid off late in life and turns to marrying and killing women for their money in order to support his invalid wife and child. Sounds brutal, and when you think about it, it really is, but Chaplin as usual manages to couch his message in comedy. While we see that he is successful in knocking off a couple of women and getting their money (though we never actually see a murder),Verdoux has a couple of failures as well, and there the fun begins. One of his women, Annabella Bonheur, is played hysterically by Martha Raye as a vulgar loudmouth eternally suspicious of Verdoux, who is posing as a boat captain. He tries some different ways of killing her, but no matter what he does, nothing works. He then turns his attention to another woman he's been chasing for some time, Marie Grosnay (Isobel Elsom). He's about to walk down the aisle when who does he see as a guest at the wedding - Annabelle. His attempts to get out of the house are priceless.

Despite some genuinely comical scenes, the speech that Verdoux makes gives its deeper message - Verdoux was in it for the money. To him, the women were business propositions to be exploited. His point is that what he has done on a smaller scale is being done by dictators worldwide; people are not treated as human beings but merely for economic gain, for power and for exploitation. Though Verdoux's argument doesn't absolve him of responsibility or justify his actions, the warning is a good one - people need to care more about each other and about what's going on in their world, and put their attention on really important matters like suppression of the masses. Why, he asks, are the headlines full of Verdoux and not of what is going on around the world? (The film's ending takes place in 1937.) It's interesting to consider what would have happened to this story in the hands of Orson Welles, whose idea it was originally. He wouldn't have made it a comedy. It would have been a drama or a detective story. Only Chaplin would think of making the story of a serial killer into a comedy of sorts. Certainly 1967's "No Way to Treat a Lady" takes a page or so from this script.

"Monsieur Verdoux" wasn't well received by the public - at all - and by 1947, people were questioning Chaplin's politics instead of reveling in his genius. It possibly was ahead of its time; it certainly wasn't appreciated as it is today. The movie is not without some problems, the biggest one being, what the heck happened to Verdoux's wife and child? It is never explained.

"Wars, conflicts - it's all business. One murder makes a villain; millions a hero. Numbers sanctify." Charlie Chaplin as Verdoux said that 61 years ago.

When I first started watching this movie, I felt a strong sense of relief because this film was NOT the same sweet type of film Chaplin was so well-known for making and it was nice to see a change. Nope. Instead, he was a horrible but extremely glib and well-mannered serial killer! The "Little Tramp" was definitely dead and buried! I liked the blackness of this comedy very much but I also found that the longer I watched it, the less I enjoyed the film. Now, it didn't become BAD--not in the least. Instead, it just started to drag and this is one of the few movies I've recently seen that probably should have been significantly shorter. But, because the movie dragged, we are treated to long-winded speeches by Verdoux about the awfulness of the human race--probably mirroring Chaplin's own distaste for life following his fall from grace (after fallout concerning his Socialist leanings AND affairs with underage women). If the film had just ended 20 or 30 minutes earlier we would have been spared this--plus, ending the movie with Verdoux being guillotined isn't exactly a great ending either--there's just nothing humorous about that! Maybe having him get away with the murders or being murdered himself by one of his many wives (who herself turned out to be a serial killer)--that would have been a much better way to wrap up the movie.

I would like to add a few comments about the technical aspects of the film. Once again, Chaplin starred, produced, directed, wrote and did the musical score for the film. An amazing accomplishment, indeed. The music, while decent, is very reminiscent of the music from LIMELIGHT (mad a few years later) but not quite as refined. Everything else was top-notch.

Finally, while I have never been a particular fan of Martha Raye, she was great in the film. That's because of all the MANY wives of Verdoux, I kept rooting for him to kill her!! She was AWFUL and really ANNOYING--so much so that it really added to the film because you found yourself wanting her to be murdered! Now THAT'S an interesting little twist.

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. 9/10 Bethany Cox