MONSIEUR VERDOUX
DIRECTOR: CHARLIE CHAPLIN
UK, 1947
“VERDOUX stars Chaplin as the mustachioed Bluebeard in beret and cravat whose charming manners and good looks cloak a deep-seated, murderous hatred, festering since the loss of his longstanding job as a bank clerk. The film includes such unforgettable moments as Verdoux snipping roses in his garden while an incinerator rages behind him and his infamous pre-guillotine salvo, an indictment of humanity’s cyclical follies. Plagued with censorship problems early on and temporarily pulled from distribution in the US at the height of the Cold War Hollywood witch-hunts, VERDOUX was initially vilified for its risqué societal critique.”—Andréa Picard, Cinematheque Ontario. (124 mins.)