MOVIE · 1947

Monsieur Verdoux

ComedyCrimeDrama124 min

In the 1930s, laid-off banker Henri Verdoux begins courting wealthy widows, marrying them under false identities and killing them to keep money flowing to the wife and child he supports in secret. Charles Chaplin is Verdoux, all courtesy and precision on the surface as his double life grows harder to manage. Martha Raye turns up as one of the women who refuses to fit neatly into his routine. Directed by Chaplin, the film recasts his screen persona around marriage, class, and murder, with comedy threaded through a story of financial desperation and carefully planned violence.