Monsieur Verdoux

MONSIEUR VERDOUX (PG)

D: Charles Chaplin

United Artists (Charles Chaplin)

US 🇺🇸 1947

127 mins

Comedy/Crime/Thriller

W: Charles Chaplin [based on a story by Orson Welles]

DP: Roland Totheroh

Ed: Willard Nico

Mus: Charles Chaplin

Charles Chaplin (Henri Verdoux), Mady Correll (Mona Verdoux), Martha Raye (Annabella Bonheur), Isobel Elsom (Marie Grosnay), Margaret Hoffman (Lydia Floray)

Charles Chaplin as a serial murderer may seem like a strange casting decision, but it’s one which not only works, it’s amongst the comedy legend’s finest ever on-screen performances.

Based on an original story by Orson Welles, who took inspiration from the real life case of French criminal Henri Désiré Landru, Chaplin plays the titular Monsieur Henri Verdoux, an unemployed banker who still has a family to support - and makes ends meet by engaging in bigamy, marrying wealthy women only to murder them for their fortune.

More a black comedy than a genuine crime thriller, in line with Charles Chaplin’s style, but Orson Welles’ certainly has his footprints all over this one as well.

Chaplin received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay, but this is one of his performances that certainly should have been in the running for Best Actor.

8/10