Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

Murder is Murder, Whether Done for Duty, Profit or Fun; Chaplin Attempts to get the Beast to Acknowledge Its' Reflection

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. October 16, 2007

"Monsieur Verdoux" was a disaster at the American box-office...

Abandoning for the first time his character of Charlie the Tramp and creating the new and intriguing one of "Monsieur Verdoux," Charles Chaplin subtitled his first film in seven years "a comedy of murders." This was meant to shock, as was the picture's attack on war and on capitalism as the source of war, not to mention its ironic sidelights on Christianity--but to shock us to our senses...

"Monsieur Verdoux" managed to shock the American middle class, but not in the way its maker had intended... The public connected the distasteful message of this "crazy" film with vague memories of scandals in Chaplin's personal life and his supposed left-wing leanings...

The screen's greatest actor, its most important creative figure, the most famous man in its history, known to more of his contemporaries than even the central figures of the great religions, Chaplin for the first time tasted defeat and failure...

"Limelight," which appeared five years later, was booked into only 3,000 theaters instead of the 12,000 which in earlier days had always been eager for any Chaplin film... This debacle had nothing do with the quality of the picture but stemmed from the efforts of pressure groups which, incensed at Chaplin's defiance of accepted moral and economic standards, exerted all their power to persuade exhibitors not to show and the public not to attend it... Only its tremendous European success, as in the case of "Monsieur Verdoux," saved it from financial catastrophe...

But bigotry and hate were not the only reasons for the failures of these two highly personal confessions... They are the films of a man who has withdrawn to a distance to observe the human comedy, and it is from a distance that he sends us his messages... Their Sophoclean irony and detachment are matched by a latent savage anger and an infinite compassion... They deal in high style with our highest concerns... Above all they seek to speak the truth, not the acceptable truth, not necessarily the whole truth, but the truth as an aging man leaving illusions behind sees it... If they have a film counterpart, it is Von Stroheim's "Greed," and, pressure groups or no, they were bound to meet the fate of "Greed."

January 8, 2007

an ironic delight of a movie

I first saw the movie when I was 17 years old and was smitten immediately by its dark, perverse humor, and especially the performance of Martha Raye. It is worth buying just for her performance alone, a classic of comedy. Some of it seems a bit awkward and not smoothly done, such as the speeding wheels of the train to indicate travel and time passing. And some of Chaplain's shticks such as the way he counts bills seem a bit gratuitous but these flaws don't do much damage to the whole. One of Chaplain's best if not the very best. December 24, 2006

KILL A MILLION THEY CALL YOU A HERO; KILL ONE AND THEY KILL YOU

THe first scene filmed by Chaplin is the final execution scene in which he sums up the philosophy of the whole film and CHaplin's own pacifist philosophy. If we invade other nations to steal their oil, etc., and kill thousands of innocent bystanders, women and childrne in the process, why are we called heroic and patriotic, but if we delight some lonely old widows and fill their dreams and then relieve them of their sorrow in order to feed our suffering family, why are we a villian?

And why does the grotesquely rudely American Martha Raye (The model for so many current comediennes?) survive? I guess because she was a lottery winner for her wealth, and not a silly lonely old widow.

Check out the streetwalker. Cute. But then corrupted by wealth and gaining money through her munitions manufacturing lover and thus in favor of war and therefore Verdouz loses heart whereas he once admired her pragmatism


September 6, 2006

HOORAY FOR RAYE!

When Chaplin set about to tell the tale of MONSIEUR VERDOUX, he wanted an actress for the role of the indestructible Annabella who could hold her own in the comedy department. He looked no further than stage/radio/movie star Martha Raye, who was known for her improvisational skills and was fearless when it came to comedy. Raye considered this the high point of her career, to have been chosen by the man she considered The Master as a co-star. Without exception, critics hail the rowboat scene when Verdoux is trying vainly to murder the obnoxious Annabella as the highlight of the film. Given the right director, Raye was matchless in comedy and also proved to be a capable dramatic actress in a precious few roles (Jumbo, The Gossip Columnist). Watch this film, if only to appreciate the comedy genius of Martha Raye. Oh, Chaplin ain't bad either. April 22, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...