Monsieur Verdoux

Nice movie of superstar Chaplin. Here in this movie he played a bad guy. Surprisingly I heard for the first time his nice voice, the other movies I saw of him were very old. Great story murdering rich women.

Not Chaplin's best film, but perhaps his most dangerous and subversive. The ending is heavy-handed, but his performance is restrained, and the "American Tragedy" comic scene with Martha Ray in a boat is hilarious.

This film not only shows how brilliant Chaplin was, but how you can center a movie about murder and a psychotic character without even showing violence, which seems to be mandatory in films nowadays. Even though Chaplin showed he could be great as a talking character in The Great Dictator, which is my personal favorite Chaplin film, Monsieur Verdoux shows how much of a master he was. Even when he talks, he is full of facial expressions and is the master of props.

Never mind Chaplin's shocking lack of skill at verbal humor (although there are a few amusing moments of black comedy to be found here). What makes it unbearable is his insufferable need to spew out little profundities all the time, horribly written and delivered with the distinct air of the Very Important Message. "Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference." Please spare me. Not quite as bad as Limelight, but there were several points when I could do nothing but groan.

It is said that this was Chaplin's own favorite. It is definitely his most risque, as he plays a calculated black-widower type who marries rich old ladies and kills them. Even the Great Dictator chatacter wasn't this shady. A real gem.

Probably Chaplin's most courageous film, he attempts to carve out a place for humanism in a world that he believes has given itself over to war and death-dealing. He does it through the blackest comedy of his career. While Chaplin beautifully renders numerous lengthy shots, witty dialogue, and the occasional use of physical comedy, that he does all this while also keeping his murderous protagonist likable is quite the achievement.

I'm not sure the ending feels 100% earned, but the shift from black comedy to doom is still the perfect way to end the movie. And you have to love Chaplin''s aside glances every time he fucks with the Hays code.

Odd choice and fit for Chaplin is more interesting than entertaining; feels like a Hitchcock film invaded by Chaplin’s sensibilities, creating an odd tension that is never quite resolved, despite Chaplin delivering his best (or at least most atypical) performance as the seductive killer. As expected, from a directorial perspective it’s the comic moments that work best, especially the brilliant boat sequence, and Chaplin’s direct gazes to the camera as he manipulates his victims to their doom.

Probably the strangest film of Chaplin's career: A cross between slapstick, film noir and social critique that, on a technical level was stale and about a decade behind its time, but on an intellectual level was about a decade ahead, with enough anti-capitalist philosophizing to fit into an early Bunuel film. I feel this is the sort of film that has more value on an academic level than an entertainment one, and yet it still remains a must-see part of the Chaplin canon.

A risky black comedy that challenged audience perceptions of Chaplin. He doesn't quite push the humour far enough at times, and it's let down by his courtoom monologue which contains the kind of overwrought social commentary that afflicts all of his talkies with him as the star. Fortunately, he gives what is arguably his best 'speaking' performance as Verdoux, a murderous but charming con man with a 'gift' for fleecing funds from unsuspecting women, and his direction is deceptively languid.

i duneo if i undertsoof it but it was kinda funny when he killd the ladys

Charlie Chaplin is not funny. Even when he's a murderer

A surprisingly became one of my favorite Chaplin movies since it was one of the few I hadn't heard about before I decided to write a report about him for a film class (and thus watched damn near every one of his feature length films and a bunch of his shorts). Arguably his darkest film (definitely his darkest with the character he was playing) and I was glad to see him do something beyond the tramp character. If you like any of his films definitely give this one a shot.

A really great concept, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Verdoux is the only character of any depth or interest, and Chaplin delivers the only notable performance. It has its share of funny moments, though occasionally Chaplin resorts to slapstick gags that feel like afterthoughts, just for old times sake. By the end it's painfully obvious that he's making some really hamfisted social commentary, and what could've been subtle is ruined.

Chaplin walks the creative tightrope better than anyone before or since. No one else would even have dared to attempt this . . . and only Chaplin can pull it off.

For the most part, it works. Chaplin's performance is quite good, playing Verdoux with perfectly modulated suaveness, and the gags are predictable but well played. The ending, though, gnaws at me. The whole enterprise leads to a moral that Chaplin presents with unbearable smugness, nearly cheapening everything that comes before. Some things work much better as subtext, and he would have been better off playing the whole film as dark comedy rather than framing it all as blatant social commentary.

A strange film that shouldn't work: The Little Tramp turned into an evil mastermind, an odd combination of some little slapstick routines overshadowed by a longer dark comedy, and a heavy-handed smack of political and social theory to wrap it up. No wonder its original audience didn't care for it. A little too ahead of its time; the brilliant comedic actor moving from pratfalls to philosophy. It's not perfect, but it is still worth a watch.

The crime story kept me entertained throughout, and the gags are pretty great, and that's more than enough for me to forgive Chaplin's lapses into pretentiousness.

A bit heavy-handed in its statement, but still masterful performances and direction.

This is remarkable, dark stuff from Chaplin and I loved the hell out of it.

Not as obnoxious as "Limelight" but definitely duller. Chaplin's charisma seems to be confined to cinematic silence; as a talker, he comes off as a pompous know-it-all -and, worse, an unfunny one. The jokes are tepid are best, the social commentary inane and the shots at profundity overblown and ham-fisted. Too bad because this concept could have flown with a more perceptive script.

I wish every scene was like the moonlight speech.

Chaplin gets a little heavy-handed, but this is still a very enjoyable dark comedy. The sheer moral ambiguity that dominates the film along with it's stinging, if overdone, social commentary make this a real gem and pleasure to watch. The comedy isn't always great, existing more in the situation and plot development than any of Chaplin's gags, but most if it works and the parts that don't aren't especially distracting. It probably could have stood to be a little shorter though.

A dark comedy where Charlie Chaplin plays a fey and mischievous Frenchman who murders old women? Count me the fuck in. The scene on the boat is balletic slapstick at its most devilish.

# 176

Not funny! Much of the humour is annoying as are the ridiculous caricatures, Verdoux is repulsive and you can't even appreciate his flaws due to how over the top everything is, the few attempts to endear him to us come off as far too sentimental, and the rationalisation that justifies Verdoux's actions is just plain dumb. The world is flawed so that means he's allowed to go around killing people - huh? Oh, and "Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind in to indifference." was cringeworthy.

Chaplin is genius and irreplaceable by all means!

170

Star Rating: ★★★★★

88.50

88.500

Excellent acting from Chaplin; great until the last 5-10 minutes.

Yeah, Schopenhauer!!!

Chaplin >>>>>>>> Everyone else

blah blah blah *knowing wink* blah blah blah blah *Charlie waxes poetic for an inordinately long time* blah blah blah ENOUGH!

"The film is not only an account of the moral slippage of one man but the record of a far larger, seemingly uncontrollable escalation." - Joshua Vasquez

Good idea for a comedy but not funny enough. Chaplin isn't at his best but weirdly fits in the role of Verdoux quite well.

Fantastic film.

182

Bold idea but the execution is so poor it managed to alienate me. Still, it's pretty amusing in places.

This was a different Charlie Chaplin movie...very unique concept and very interesting..Two Thumbs up...way up!!

Heavy handed at times, but a fun dark comedy from Chaplin. Always weird for me hearing Chaplin talking. Chaplin plays a man who marries and kills women for their money to support his "real" wife and child. It's all enjoyable but I didn't find much of it particularly funny with the exception of the boat scene and the scene at the aborted wedding. Chaplin was very much channeling the best of his silent self in the boat scene when he tries to hide the noose. A good film.

The world coerced Verdoux into making unethical decisions and he had to try and could only fail.

Charles Chaplin murder the tramp to reveal his sinister side. A brilliant black comedy from the now out-of-favor comic genius. He can murder as many women he'd like and I'll still love him. Also great to see Martha Raye at it again, though this would be the last time in one and half decades she'd appear in a movie. She was an excellent opponent to Chaplin's darker side!

#193

Chaplin takes a risk and succeeds in making a poignant, existential comedy about bumping off your wives for cash.

It's beautifully complex, but I didn't find it entertaining enough. Chaplin uses poetic language and charisma to fight the didactic and support the feeling/psychosis paradox. But the social commentary trumps. Along with the crime genre, Monsieur Verdoux has left with me with a yearning for satiety.