
On the Channel: Chaplin’s Comedy of Murders
July 27, 2017
Charlie Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux is one of the most unsettling comedies of its era and a brilliant showcase for his talent for mixing modes of comedic performance. Read more »
Charlie Chaplin plays shockingly against type in his most controversial film, a brilliant and bleak black comedy about money, marriage, and murder. Chaplin is a twentieth-century bluebeard, an enigmatic family man who goes to extreme lengths to support his wife and child, attempting to bump off a series of wealthy widows (including one played by the indefatigable Martha Raye, in a hilarious performance). This deeply philosophical and wildly entertaining film is a work of true sophistication, both for the moral questions it dares to ask and for the way it deconstructs its megastar’s lovable on-screen persona.
Henri Verdoux, alias Varnay, alias Bonheur, alias Floray | Charles Chaplin |
Mona, his wife | Mady Correll |
Peter, their son | Allison Roddan |
Maurice Bottello, Verdoux’s friend | Robert Lewis |
Martha, Bottello’s wife | Audrey Betz |
Annabella Bonheur | Martha Raye |
Annette, her maid | Ada May Weeks |
Marie Grosnay | Isobel Elsom |
Her maid | Marjorie Bennett |
Yvonne, Marie’s friend | Helene Heigh |
Lydia Floray | Margaret Hoffman |
The Girl | Marilyn Nash |
Pierre Couvais | Irving Bacon |
John Couvais | Edwin Mills |
Carlotta Couvais | Virginia Brissac |
Lena Couvais | Almira Sessions |
Phoebe Couvais | Eula Morgan |
Prefect of police | Bernard Nedell |
Detective Morrow | Charles Evans |
Vicki La Salle | Vera March |
Jean La Salle, wedding guest | William Frawley |
Nutall, real estate agent | Arthur Hohl |
Flower shop girl | Barbara Slater |
Mr. Karno, wedding guest | Millard Sherwood |
First reporter | Herbert Vigran |
Second reporter | William Self |
Priest | Fritz Leiber |
Director | Charles Chaplin |
Produced by | Charles Chaplin |
Written by | Charles Chaplin |
Based on an idea by | Orson Welles |
Associate directors | Wheeler Dryden and Robert Florey |
Music composed by | Charles Chaplin |
Music arranged and directed by | Rudolph Schrager |
Cinematography | Roland Totheroh |
Camera operator | Wallace Chewning |
Art direction | John Beckman |
Assistant director | Rex Bailey |
Editor | Willard Nico |
Sound | James T. Corrigan |
Artistic supervision | Curt Courant |
Wardrobe | Drew Tetrick |
Makeup | William Knight |
Hair | Hedvig Mjorud |
Production manager | John McFadden |
Publicist | Russell Birdwell |
July 27, 2017
Charlie Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux is one of the most unsettling comedies of its era and a brilliant showcase for his talent for mixing modes of comedic performance. Read more »
By
March 29, 2013When the world’s favorite comedian asked his audience to see him as a sociopathic serial killer, he was venturing where cinema had barely dared to tread. Read more »
By
March 26, 2013Charlie Chaplin manages to make a ruthless murderer likable in his brilliant satire of middle-class morality. Read more »
By
March 26, 2013Charlie Chaplin manages to make a ruthless murderer likable in his brilliant satire of middle-class morality. Read more »
July 27, 2017
Charlie Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux is one of the most unsettling comedies of its era and a brilliant showcase for his talent for mixing modes of comedic performance. Read more »
By
March 29, 2013When the world’s favorite comedian asked his audience to see him as a sociopathic serial killer, he was venturing where cinema had barely dared to tread. Read more »
By
March 26, 2013Charlie Chaplin manages to make a ruthless murderer likable in his brilliant satire of middle-class morality. Read more »