Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux

Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux (2003)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

The "Chaplin Today" series was something that was extremely hit-and-miss but this episode is certainly one of the good ones. Chaplin's MONSIEUR VERDOUX was a controversial movie when it was released and it still divides fans today in regards to its humor and style. Director Claude Chabrol, who filmed a similar film with BLUEBEARD, discusses the decisions made by Chaplin during various aspects of the film. The French director talks about various shots in the movie but his most interesting observation comes with the final shot where he connects the walk to that of The Tramp meaning that this killer can be anyone and you would never know it. Having seen the movie it's certainly an interesting take on the ending. He also talks about the famous staircase sequence, which he compares to the work of Hitchcock. The documentary not only covers the film but also what was going on behind the scenes with Chaplin having to battle being called a communist. There's also some discussion of the film being killed by critics of the time and there's even a funny audio clip where Chaplin tells the media to go ahead and just rip the film apart. To this day fans can't agree on the merit of this movie but it's certainly interesting hearing the various issues that it originally went through. It was even rejected by the production code at the time but Chaplin continued to make the film his way except during one where where he changed the dialogue from "Come to bed." to "Go to bed." Fans of the film or those wanting to know its history should really enjoy this 23-minute documentary.

Each of Chaplin's films showcased in The Chaplin Collection on DVD has a special feature documentary called Chaplin Today. Each of these half-an-hour shorts has well-known filmmakers discussing a particular film's influence on his career.

Chaplin Today: Monsier Verdoux is not up to Chaplin Today: City Lights, but it is one of the best of the Chaplin Today documentaries. The director chosen to speak is French cineaste Claude Chabrol, and he wildly hails Monsieur Verdoux as Chaplin's chef d'œvre. He guides us through the film, and discusses the scenes and shots he finds "most brilliant." He also talks a little of Chaplin's shooting style, and how that influences the final product.

This short does a good job of putting the film in its historical context, giving plenty of nice background information on the film and why it is considered today to be a classic. Anybody who watches Monsieur Verdoux should most definitely check out this short afterwards, but be sure not to watch it before because it will ruin the film's many comic surprises.

As we now know, Charles Chaplin was (perhaps erroneously) investigated for his presumed adherence to Communism, and his general left-leaning views. This coincided nicely with the release of "Monsieur Verdoux", and was not a good thing for Chaplin.

The year was 1947, and Chaplin was asked by American patriot groups to be barred from the United States and his film was boycotted. How many theaters it ended up in, I do not know... but not nearly enough people saw it, that is for sure.

Political problems aside, the censors hated the film because of its perceived blasphemy and the moral message. So he had to make some changes (and really, it is probably a miracle that it was released at all given the subject matter).

This brief documentary looks at these things, and other aspects of Chaplin's life in the 1940s. It really is a must-see.