. . . applies to the 143-second excerpt from the MONSIEUR VERDOUX (1947) feature film that the Criterion Company included on Disc 2 of its GREAT DICTATOR home entertainment release. This bit deals with a stock market crash, and Charlie Chaplin's character--Henri Verdoux--tells his broker, "Sell everything I have AT ONCE!" to which the latter replies, "Are you mad?! You were wiped out hours ago!" Then there's some newsreel footage of a couple World War Two Era dictators, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Among the initial details of the market crash shown here are newspaper headlines, such as this one from Le Figaro: "Stocks Crash: Panic Follows" and another from "L'Humanite: "Banks Fail; Riots Ensue." Then there's some footage of a mob of normal people breaking out the windows of a Fat Cat Bank, and a random Money Mogul about to shoot himself because, as the Holy Bible says, "The love of Money is the Root of All Evil." Another Venal Banker jumps out of a high-rise window. This excerpt ends with the Hitler\Mussolini collage, capped by a "Le Figaro" headline, "Nazis bomb Spanish Loyalists; Thousands of Civilians Killed."

I was expecting a comedy but this film is a mixture of things. There are some very enjoyable comedic parts and the story itself is somewhat humorous. But many parts and aspects are more dramatic. It's interesting to note that Orson Welles was originally set to direct this movie and wanted to cast Charlie Chaplin. It was then Chaplin who bought the rights, directed and starred in it and introduced the idea of it being a black comedy rather than a serious crime drama.Chaplin looks at the camera a lot. It feels like he's breaking the rules but he gets away with it for some reason. It's like he's watching the movie with us and making fun of the other characters. Everything he does is deliberate. All the delightful facial expressions (fake smiles, looks of romance or confusion or smugness), the comedic pauses, his speaking intonation (he's one of the few silent film stars with a great voice as well) and of course the slapstick falls. One of my favourite parts was when he going to meet with a lady he hadn't seen for a long time and he prematurely flirts with both the house maiden and the lady's friend before finally seeing her.There are some nice details to Monsieur Verdoux's character. He is a vegetarian (as Hitler apparently was) and refuses to hurt animals, even a tiny caterpillar, and yet he is happy to kill adult women for their money. Well, perhaps he is not happy. But he feels it is necessary under the circumstances. Maybe he's putting them out of their misery and making good use of the funds. He seems to partially justify his moral reasoning to himself but he also knows he is not exactly a good man.There is a really nice scene in the middle of the film that changes its trajectory and feeling. Verdoux plans to test a new poison on a woman who ends up being quite interesting. She is not like the other women he meets. She seems down-to-Earth, perhaps hurt or vulnerable. Not a superficial person, someone who really thinks for herself. I was unexpectedly affected when he offered her money and she became emotional. I guess kindness is one of those profound things that can move you whenever it happens.I think I would enjoy Monsieur Verdoux more on a second viewing now that I understand what it is. It's a strange little movie. It raises some interesting moral questions, has a quirky and memorable main character and contains some hilarious moments but also some touching ones. I suppose it's a comedy drama. But the difference isn't always obvious. Perhaps you might laugh when you're not meant to or be affected by something that seems silly. In any case, I'm glad to have made this movie's acquaintance and I did enjoy many parts of it. One idea did resonate with me: that people are often more confronted by a single death than by thousands. Numbers sanctify.

This is a brief review of Charlie Chaplin's last six feature films.A comical take on Lang's "Metropolis" (1927), Chaplin's "Modern Times" opens with the words "a story of industry and individual enterprise, humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness!", an ironic jab at the mantras of industrial capitalism. The film then finds Chaplin reprising his iconic role as "the tamp", a poverty-stricken but lovable outcast whose ill-fitting clothes epitomise, amongst other things, his inability to fit in.The film watches as the tramp struggles to survive in a depressed economy. Like "Metropolis", it satirises labour, management and dehumanising working conditions. Elsewhere life for the worker is seen to be precarious, alternatives to playing the game are but death or prison, giant clocks speak to the daily grid of blue-collar workers, bosses are shown to be obsessed with speed and production, the property class relies on police brutality and all-encompassing surveillance, and the workplace itself is painted as an absurdest torture chamber. The film ends with the tramp on a road, America's future uncertain."Modern Times" made waves when it was released. It was banned in fascist Germany and Italy, then allies of the West, and scorned by those in power in the United States. It was also heavily praised in the Soviet Union and France, particularly by philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merlau-Pony. The film's middle section, which featured Chaplin waving a red flag and unwittingly leading communists and worker unions, would get Chaplin on several government watch-lists.Chaplin followed "Times" with "The Great Dictator". Hollywood studios wanted the film scuttled, so Chaplin financed it himself. It contains two criss-crossing plots, one about a Jewish barber who is essentially persecuted by Nazis, the other about a brutal dictator, a stand in for Adolf Hitler. Funny, scary and sad, the film would rock the US establishment. Hitler was, at the time, a US ally and good for business. What's more, he was viewed by those in power as a tool to destroy communist Russia. For many, Chaplin was a "subverisive" who was "inciting war with an ally". Deemed particularly offencive was a last act speech in which Chaplin urges the people of the world to "love one another", "throw away international barriers" and foster an "international brotherhood". Though deliberately vague, this speech was viewed as inflammatory. Was Chaplin extolling the virtues of the United States or the Soviet Union? Regardless, the US' approach to the conflicts in Europe promptly shifted. It became an ally with Russia, Hitler became the enemy and Germany attacked Russia. In the blink of an eye, "Dictator" went from being sacrilege to prophetic.Chaplin, British, was born into extreme poverty and often found himself sleeping on the streets of London. As such, he identified with his "tramp" character completely, as did millions word-wide, who saw themselves in the tramp: desolate, poor and forever bumbling down life's highways. Prior to shooting "Times", Chaplin would embark on a tour of the world, intent on seeing the effects of poverty. He'd talk to many prominent figures, most notably Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Einstein and Gandhi.As Chaplin grew in consciousness, so would FBI files on Chaplin. He was put under government surveillance and forced to appear before a Senate subcommittee in 1941 where he was accused of being "anti American" and an "unofficial communist". Many newspapers, including the Times, began a campaign attacking Chaplin, and called for his deportation. In the mid 1940s he was charged with the Mann Act and the FBI would collude with newspapers to smear Chaplin as a sex maniac who "perverted American culture". From here on, conservative political pressure groups would attack each new Chaplin release. Some of his films would be boycotted or outright banned. In 1947 he'd be brought before the HUAC committee.Chaplin followed "Dictator" up with "Monsieur Verdoux". A black comedy, the idea for which came from Orson Welles, the films stars Chaplin as a bank clerk who loses his job and so murders women for cash and land. The film's point is explicit: if war is an extension of diplomacy, then murder is the logical extension of business. And so banking terminology is used to rationalise murder, weapons manufactures are idolised and the poor are condemned for trying to play by the rules of the wealthy. "Numbers sanctify!" Chaplain says, pointing to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the ruthlessness of post-war capitalism; kill millions and you're a hero.Next came "Limelight", Chaplin's ode to silent film. Elegiac and autobiographical, the film stars Chaplin and the legendary Buster Keaton as two fading comedians. A meditation on time's passing, the film's also relentlessly optimistic; man must assert his will, his desires, no matter how glum the times! The film would be banned from several US theatres. Chaplin himself was swiftly banned from entering the US and several of his assets were seized. He'd live in Switzerland henceforth."A King In New York" followed. It finds Chaplin playing an usurped "dictator" who seeks refuge in America. Also autobiographical, the film pokes fun at various aspects of US culture, its irrational hatred of all things left-wing and the way in which humans are both always branding and refuse to look beyond the political, beyond superficial branding, to tolerate even the slightest bit of difference or dissent. Chaplin's son would play a hilarious anarcho-communist, but the film as whole messily mixed silent gags with sound comedy.Chaplin's "A Countess from Hong Kong" confirms that Chaplin's films were moving from the lower to the upper echelons of society. Here Sophia Loren plays a Russian "tramp" who is taken in by a wealthy politician (Marlon Brando). His worst feature, the film watches as "humane" capitalism benevolently absorbs the "detritus" of Russia and Asia. Chaplin accepted an honorary Oscar in 1972. He received the longest standing ovation in Oscar history.7.9/10

Henri Verdoux (Charles Chaplin) is a prim and proper man who kills for a living. He seduces middle age women, steals their money, kills them, and dispose of their bodies. To him it's just a way of living. He invests his money in the stock market and support his wife and son in their country home. Even in the end, he sees nothing wrong with his killings. "Wars, conflict - it's all business. One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow!" This is very much about Charlie Chaplin's performance and the character. One of my favorite show is Dexter. The difference between the two is that Dexter struggles whereas Verdoux does not. Verdoux is as amoral as they come. It doesn't make for a compelling watch. Chaplin tries to inject a lot of humor in this character by portraying lot of odd behaviors and funny errors. It's cute but none of it made me laugh.Overall I do commend Chaplin for pushing the envelope by creating an unique character. It makes up for the slow pace and unfunny jokes.