The Monsieur Verdoux reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Monsieur Verdoux

Monsieur Verdoux is film that debuted in 1947. It is best described as a black comedy. Charlie Chaplin was the producer, director, lead actor, and score composer, and writer. The film does not feature Chaplin's classic Tramp character, and did not do well when it first premiered. It has gained enough of a following now to be considered a cult film; Chaplin fans are divided on whether it represents a good piece of work or not. Its dark humour, so strikingly different from Chaplin's usual sentimentality, is perhaps better appreciated in these more cynical times.

The idea for this film was suggested to Chaplin by Orson Welles, inspired by the case of Henri Désiré Landru.

Since the picture is a talking picture, there is some comedy in the dialogue as well as some physical comedy.

Warning: Plot details follow.

The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. He has a wife and a child. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been layed-off. To make money, he marries wealthy widows and the murders them. This behavior eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.

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