Alex da Silva Charlie Chaplin (Monsieur Verdoux) plays the murderous adulterer who was sent to the guillotine. His story is based on the life of killer Henri Landru. Sounds a bit heavy for Charlie Caplin? No matter, CC accomplishes it with a finesse to be admired and throws in some comedy along the way.The film starts off in a slightly disappointing manner - a screwball, slapstick scene as we are introduced to a family who are worried that an immediate relative has gone missing. She has. Cue our introduction to Monsieur Verdoux. Almira Sessions (Lena) is amongst this initial family scene and she pops up near the end as well. She plays for comedy and needs to be murdered. Another character that should be bumped off is Chaplin's wife Martha Raye (Annabella) – what an annoying woman – but she is crucial to several comic sequences in which Chaplin gets to pull out some classic routines. But I must stress that it is Chaplin who is funny NOT Martha Raye.The dialogue as delivered by Chaplin is clever and humorous until the final scenes where he gets preachy. He does have a point, but I'm not sure his comparison works. Are serial killers the same as capitalist politicians? That's quite a leap to make.I certainly sympathized with Chaplin and rooted for him to get away with his wrong-doings! I'm sure his victims would have seen the funny side if only they could have seen the inner torment that they were putting him through. His methodical quick-thinking is to be looked up to. Ha ha.

Christopher Reid I was expecting a comedy but this film is a mixture of things. There are some very enjoyable comedic parts and the story itself is somewhat humorous. But many parts and aspects are more dramatic. It's interesting to note that Orson Welles was originally set to direct this movie and wanted to cast Charlie Chaplin. It was then Chaplin who bought the rights, directed and starred in it and introduced the idea of it being a black comedy rather than a serious crime drama.Chaplin looks at the camera a lot. It feels like he's breaking the rules but he gets away with it for some reason. It's like he's watching the movie with us and making fun of the other characters. Everything he does is deliberate. All the delightful facial expressions (fake smiles, looks of romance or confusion or smugness), the comedic pauses, his speaking intonation (he's one of the few silent film stars with a great voice as well) and of course the slapstick falls. One of my favourite parts was when he going to meet with a lady he hadn't seen for a long time and he prematurely flirts with both the house maiden and the lady's friend before finally seeing her.There are some nice details to Monsieur Verdoux's character. He is a vegetarian (as Hitler apparently was) and refuses to hurt animals, even a tiny caterpillar, and yet he is happy to kill adult women for their money. Well, perhaps he is not happy. But he feels it is necessary under the circumstances. Maybe he's putting them out of their misery and making good use of the funds. He seems to partially justify his moral reasoning to himself but he also knows he is not exactly a good man.There is a really nice scene in the middle of the film that changes its trajectory and feeling. Verdoux plans to test a new poison on a woman who ends up being quite interesting. She is not like the other women he meets. She seems down-to-Earth, perhaps hurt or vulnerable. Not a superficial person, someone who really thinks for herself. I was unexpectedly affected when he offered her money and she became emotional. I guess kindness is one of those profound things that can move you whenever it happens.I think I would enjoy Monsieur Verdoux more on a second viewing now that I understand what it is. It's a strange little movie. It raises some interesting moral questions, has a quirky and memorable main character and contains some hilarious moments but also some touching ones. I suppose it's a comedy drama. But the difference isn't always obvious. Perhaps you might laugh when you're not meant to or be affected by something that seems silly. In any case, I'm glad to have made this movie's acquaintance and I did enjoy many parts of it. One idea did resonate with me: that people are often more confronted by a single death than by thousands. Numbers sanctify.

Ross622 "Monsieur Verdoux" is unlike any other Chaplin film that I have ever seen before for two reasons only, reason 1 the story is much different than Chaplin's stories to his other films for example The Kid (1921),and The Gold Rush (1925), reason 2 because Chaplin doesn't usually play villains in his movies and in this movie he does play the bad guy for the first time ever in his career and as a result he was deliberately snubbed for a best leading actor Oscar as well as an Oscar for best director but only got a screenplay nomination. The movie tells the story of a killer named Henri Verdoux (played by Charlie Chaplin) who murders women in order to support his wife and son (that is a true idea for Orson Welles to give to other filmmakers that were working around the time he started working in Hollywood), this movie is not only one of the best movies of 1947 it is one of Chaplin's best movies period alongside The Kid and the gold rush.

gudpaljoey-677-715384 I saw this film as a child and found it amusing. I watched it last night on TCM, and was happy that I was no longer a child. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this picture seems to condemn the traditional moral structure of our civilization. It justifies the murder of innocent women by a spurious comparison with the murder of innocent people that result in war between states. Gulp. The makers of this film are positing the idea that everybody's doing it so it must be alright. Everyone has a right to amorality or even immorality, but they shouldn't expect murder of any sort to be acceptable behavior that should go unpunished by society.