Monsieur Verdoux
Monsieur Verdoux | |
---|---|
File:Monsieur verdoux57.jpg | |
Directed by | Charles Chaplin |
Written by | Orson Welles (idea) Charles Chaplin |
Produced by | Charles Chaplin |
Starring | Charles Chaplin Martha Raye William Frawley Marilyn Nash[1] |
Cinematography | Roland Totheroh Curt Courant (uncredited) |
Edited by | Willard Nico |
Music by | Charles Chaplin |
Distributed by | United Artists (1947 release) Columbia Pictures (1972 re-release) Janus Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 124 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Monsieur Verdoux is a 1947 black comedy film directed by and starring Charles Chaplin. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, and Marilyn Nash.
Plot
The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine. The film ends as Verdoux is being led to the guillotine in the prison courtyard after dismissing his killing of a few as no worse than the highly-praised killing of large numbers in war.
Production
The initial idea for the film came when Orson Welles was inspired to cast Chaplin as a character based on serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. He sought to direct the film with Chaplin as star, but Chaplin backed out at the last minute, not wanting to act for another director. According to Welles, Chaplin bought the script from Welles and rewrote several major sections, including the ending and what Welles said was "the funniest sequence in Verdoux"; the only specific scene to which Welles lays credit is the opening. He also acknowledges that Chaplin claims to have no memory of receiving a script from Welles, and that he believes Chaplin is telling the truth when he says this. Welles believed that a version directed by him would have been better, as he considered Chaplin a "genius" as an actor, but merely competent as a director; however, Welles urgently needed money, and so signed away all rights to the script.[2]
Another story suggests that although the script had yet to be written, Welles wanted Chaplin to play the lead role. Chaplin, deciding that he didn't want to have to write the script with Welles, opted out, saying in effect "If it isn't written yet, I'm not interested." After seeing the film, Welles insisted on receiving a screen credit for the story idea.
The lead character kills to make money, hence he is not (in his eyes) a murderer. Since the film is a talking picture, there is some comedy in the dialogue as well as some physical comedy. Chaplin tended to work with a repertory company of actors who performed exclusively in Chaplin's films. Monsieur Verdoux, atypically for a Chaplin film, features some familiar Hollywood actors, including Martha Raye, William Frawley and Fritz Leiber, Sr.. Rumors have persisted that Chaplin's 1915-1923 leading lady Edna Purviance made an appearance in the film. Chaplin biographer David Robinson wrote that Purviance did return briefly to the Chaplin Studios and prepared for a small role in the film, but that she did not go before the cameras.
Reception
This was the first feature film in which Chaplin's character bore no resemblance to his famous "Tramp" character (The Great Dictator did not feature the Tramp, but his "Jewish barber" bore sufficient similarity), and consequently was poorly received in America when it first premiered. However, it was more successful in Europe. The film and its dark themes were ill-suited to the American political and cultural climate of the time (less than two years after World War II ended), and Chaplin's popularity and public image had been irrevocably damaged by multiple scandals and political controversies prior to its release.[3]
Chaplin was subjected to unusually hostile treatment by the press while promoting the opening of the film, and some boycotts took place during its short run. At one press conference to promote the film, Chaplin made his speech, then invited questions from the press with the words "Proceed with the butchering".[4] Since then, it has gained enough of a following to be considered a cult film.
Despite its poor critical and commercial performance, the film was nominated for the 1947 Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).
In 1964, Chaplin allowed Verdoux to be re-released along with several Chaplin films to play at the New York Plaza as part of a Chaplin film festival. The film was not only the biggest hit of the entire festival, it broke box-office records for the Plaza.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Actress Marilyn Nash dies, Starred with Chaplin in 'Monsieur Verdoux'". Variety Magazine. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ^ Bogdanovich, Peter and Welles, Orson This is Orson Welles, HarperPerennial 1992, ISBN 0-06-092439-X
- ^ Peary, Danny (1988). Cult Movies 3. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. pp. 136–140. ISBN 0-671-64810-1.
- ^ Flores Alvarez, Olivia (9 October 2008). "Monsieur Verdoux: Charlie Chaplin's post-WWII film is a comedy of murders". Houston Press. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
External links
- Monsieur Verdoux at IMDb
- Monsieur Verdoux at AllMovie
- DVD Journal article by Mark Bourne
- 1947 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 1940s comedy-drama films
- American black comedy films
- American comedy-drama films
- American criminal comedy films
- American satirical films
- Black-and-white films
- Films directed by Charlie Chaplin
- Films about capital punishment
- Serial killer films
- United Artists films