Monsieur Verdoux

Charlie Chaplin plays against type as the titular dapper Parisian family man who devises a Bluebeard-style plan to marry and murder rich widows under a variety of aliases. Inspired by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru the project originated with Orson Wellse and was meant to be a collaboration between these two titans of cinema, but Chaplin and Welles disagreed on too many aspects of the production. The picture adds an undercurrent of malice to Chaplin's well-established comedic screen persona and features some of his most inspired sight gags. But there is no getting around the episodic nature of the storyline, which often lumbers under the weight of its moralizing. It's an uneven mix of wild humor, overt sentimentality, and an oddly serious tone in many places.