Monsieur Verdoux

"The most extraordinary of all Chaplin's films." - Bosley Crowther, The Great Films: Fifty Golden Yeras of Motion Pictures

Henri Verdoux's business requires a lot of travel. His business involves wooing wealth spinsters, winning their confidence and bank accounts, then killing the hapless biddies before moving on to his next conquest.

Charles Chaplin turns his traditionally sunny sensibilities inside out with this sublime black comedy about a family man who secretly uses murder to support his beloved invalid wife and child. There's little of the immortal Tramp in Verdoux, yet the fastidious dandy is not lacking in comic graces. Most hilarious of all are the always-foiled attempts to dispatch the raucous Annabella (Martha Raye). When this most atypical Chaplin film opened, the world was not ready to look death in the face and walk away smiling. Today, Monsieur Verdoux ranks among Chaplin's best works. It is a killer comedy.