Review of Monsieur Verdoux (1947) by Nacho S — 06 Jan 2011

I really love so many elements of the film, including its great story. Monsieur Verdoux has a great talkie performance by Charlie Chapman (the first talkie I've seen him do), and his comedic timing is still right on.

The original story by Orson Welles is great, but I feel like it lacks in organization within the script. Some of the women were brought up too many times or too long. The old woman that he kills after looking out the balcony was an awful actress.

I couldn't even listen to a word she said after a while. But every single shot in her house is absolutely beautiful. I laughed a lot throughout the film, and I understand what it says (in fact it might have spelled it out a little much), but it just needed to be told in a better way.

The film was a little over 2 hours, and I can just think of some moments that could have been cut down or taken out completely. But overall, it's a good film.