CONTACT/TERMS OF USE            HELP WANTED

MONSIEUR VERDOUX at Film Forum



Charles Chaplin, Martha Raye in Monsieur Verdoux

In The New York Times, J. Hoberman discusses Charles Chaplin's 1947 dark-cum-sentimental comedy Monsieur Verdoux — my favorite Chaplin flick, partly because of its subversiveness, but mostly because of Martha Raye's presence. (Hoberman completely ignores Raye in his article.)

"One spell was broken and another cast: the world's most beloved clown became his adopted land's most reviled figure. As the cold war coalesced in 1947, Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp mutated into the monstrous Monsieur Verdoux, a professional bigamist and serial killer supporting his family by marrying and dispatching a succession of wealthy widows.

"Monsieur Verdoux, opening Friday for a weeklong run at Film Forum, is subtitled 'A Comedy of Murders,' and, as the French critic André Bazin observed, it turns the Chaplin universe upside down. The erstwhile tramp is here an honest bank clerk driven to homicide by the 1929 stock market crash. Condemned to death at the movie's end, he declares his crimes paltry compared with those of Western civilization: 'As a mass killer, I'm an amateur by comparison.'"

 

Dino Risi

Leonard Schrader Tribute at LACMA

Clint Eastwood Interviewed in THE GUARDIAN

Ken Russell on PHALLIC FRENZY

Jean-Luc Godard Heeds Palestinian Boycott Calls

CHOP SHOP: Q&A with Ramin Bahrani

Joseph Pevney

Sydney Pollack Appreciation in the NEW YORK TIMES

Sydney Pollack

SANGRE DE MI SANGRE: Q&A with Christopher Zalla

 

If you liked this post, please share it:


Continue Reading: Olive Thomas and Film Restoration in Holland

Previous Post: 2008 Student Academy Awards Photos

CHICAGO d: Cecil B. DeMille
Josephine Baker Collection DVD Set
Norma Talmadge Film Series at the Donnell Media Center
Bette Davis - OF HUMAN BONDAGE: Biggest Oscar Snubs #1
THE SACRIFICE Review Part III
Silent THE WIZARD OF OZ, Vittorio De Sica's BICYCLE THIEVES, Lilli Palmer on TCM


Text © 2004-2012 Alt Film Guide and/or author(s). Not to be reproduced without prior written consent.


1 Comment to MONSIEUR VERDOUX at Film Forum

  1. Taylor
    January 4, 2009 | Permalink

    I love Martha Raye! Couldn't figure out that whole lawsuite business because of Bette Midler's For The Boys.

Leave a Comment

All comments are moderated and may take some time before they are posted. Comments are welcome on posts old and new. Note: Different views and opinions are perfectly fine, but courtesy is imperative. Abusive/bigoted comments and/or remarks will be deleted, and abusive commenters may be banned.

Also, please note that Alt Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

Loading

SUBSCRIBE / RSS