Charles Chaplin

Monsieur Verdoux

Monsieur Verdoux

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.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1947
  • 124 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #652

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Chaplin Today: “Monsieur Verdoux,” a 2003 documentary on the film’s production and release, featuring filmmaker Claude Chabrol and actor Norman Lloyd
  • Charlie Chaplin and the American Press, a new documentary featuring the director of the Chaplin company Roy Export, Kate Guyonvarch, and author Charles Maland
  • Illustrated audio interview with actor Marilyn Nash
  • Radio advertisements and trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and reprinted pieces by Chaplin and critic André Bazin

    New cover by Yann Legandre

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Chaplin Today: “Monsieur Verdoux,” a 2003 documentary on the film’s production and release, featuring filmmaker Claude Chabrol and actor Norman Lloyd
  • Charlie Chaplin and the American Press, a new documentary featuring the director of the Chaplin company Roy Export, Kate Guyonvarch, and author Charles Maland
  • Illustrated audio interview with actor Marilyn Nash
  • Radio advertisements and trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and reprinted pieces by Chaplin and critic André Bazin

    New cover by Yann Legandre
Monsieur Verdoux
Cast
Charles Chaplin
Henri Verdoux, alias Varnay, alias Bonheur, alias Floray
Mady Correll
Mona, his wife
Allison Roddan
Peter, their son
Robert Lewis
Maurice Bottello, Verdoux’s friend
Audrey Betz
Martha, Bottello’s wife
Martha Raye
Annabella Bonheur
Ada May Weeks
Annette, her maid
Isobel Elsom
Marie Grosnay
Marjorie Bennett
Her maid
Helene Heigh
Yvonne, Marie’s friend
Margaret Hoffman
Lydia Floray
Marilyn Nash
The Girl
Irving Bacon
Pierre Couvais
Edwin Mills
John Couvais
Virginia Brissac
Carlotta Couvais
Almira Sessions
Lena Couvais
Eula Morgan
Phoebe Couvais
Bernard Nedell
Prefect of police
Charles Evans
Detective Morrow
Vera March
Vicki La Salle
William Frawley
Jean La Salle, wedding guest
Arthur Hohl
Nutall, real estate agent
Barbara Slater
Flower shop girl
Millard Sherwood
Mr. Karno, wedding guest
Herbert Vigran
First reporter
William Self
Second reporter
Fritz Leiber
Priest
Credits
Director
Charles Chaplin
Produced by
Charles Chaplin
Written by
Charles Chaplin
Based on an idea by
Orson Welles
Associate directors
Wheeler Dryden
Associate directors
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

Current

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Charlie Chaplin manages to make a ruthless murderer likable in his brilliant satire of middle-class morality.

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