Hugo

2011 movie

Rating: 18/20

Plot: An orphan living in a train station tries to repair a robot that his father found in storage at a museum. He befriends the daughter of a crotchety old toy shop owner and tries to avoid being caught by the station inspector while he keeps the train station's clocks running.

Just a stunningly beautiful work of art and a lovely ode to silent cinema, especially the work on a director I won't mention even though it doesn't seem to stop anybody else who writes or talks about the movie. Now the big surprise in this was already spoiled for me because I'd read Brian Selznick's beautiful novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Knowing the story's secrets didn't ruin it for me, and I still teared up, probably because of Ben Kingsley's wonderful performance as that director whom I will not mention. This is a touching movie with plenty of humorous bits, mostly provided by Sacha Baron Cohen's station inspector. The movie's got whimsy and heart, and it's also gorgeous. France is France, but I also loved the way the camera maneuvered around the clock gears or the people packing the train station. I also really enjoyed the recreations of the early films, too. This is a great adaptation of a very cool young adult book and a movie seemingly made for fans of movies.

Buster and Chaplin footage is in this, and Django Reinhardt also makes an appearance. Well, an actor playing Django Reinhardt.

Art School Confidential

2006 black comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Jerome enrolls in an inner-city art college after high school graduation. He finds that art's a competitive game. He falls for a girl featured in the college brochure, a girl who, luckily for Jerome, does a little nude modeling for the drawing students in John Malkovich's Intro to Drawing class. An arch rivalry forms with another first-year student, Jonah, who seems to be standing in his way romantically and artistically. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose. Oh, snap!

You have to look closely, but there is a brief Charlie Chaplin spotting in this movie.

This is 1/2 of a satirically fun comedy and 1/2 of a really dark satirical downer. Despite some foreshadowing, some dropped hints that things might turn uglier, it was still a little jarring. It forces you to switch the brain on though. So much of this centers on the main character, a straight man in a movie crowded with some more eccentric personalities. I liked the kid who played him, Max Minghella, a guy you almost recognize, then think you're just confusing him with Justin Long or somebody, and then later find out that he was in The Social Network. John Malkovich has a subtly comedic role as a drawing teacher/triangle artist. I enjoy Malkovich in comedies; of course, I think Malkovich actually might think all of his movies are supposed to be comedies. My favorite periphery lunatic is straight from the lunatic fringe, a failed Bukowski-esque artist played by Englishman Jim Broadbent. He's great and gets the best lines--"What are you laughing about, laughing boy?" and "I have to get back to my masturbation," a line followed immediately by The Facts of Life theme song. Despite this being a bit uneven and pretty thematically heavy, I enjoyed this enough to wonder if I really actually liked Zwigoff's Ghost World more than I think I did.

The Gold Rush (again)

1925 movie

Rating: 19/20

Plot: Same as it was the last time I wrote about this movie.

Here's the deal. Friday was a wasteful party day at my school, and my team decided to show the students a movie. It was decided that the team would watch Old Dogs, the classic film featuring the comedic stylings of Robin Williams and John Travolta. I protested mightily, not because I didn't think my students would enjoy Old Dogs, but because I don't really care what my students like and didn't have any interest in watching Old Dogs. My teammates wouldn't listen to me, but I decided to bring in my own movie to show the students in my classroom. "But they'll like Old Dogs. You can't show a silent movie to them." "Yeah, they would like to eat chocolate frosting straight out the can for lunch every day--doesn't mean it's good for them." I gave the good news to my students. They groaned and whined. I told them that I was only doing it because I loved them. They reached for their weapons. I quickly started the movie. I had my students write down their ratings (figured I'd get more honest ones that way), and here's what they had to say. They'd probably better articulate their feelings about The Gold Rush if they had a better writing teacher.

Elizabeth: 17/20. It was good. Funny, interesting.
Harley: 13/20. It had a lot of comedy, but there was just too much. It had romance and little action.
Candice: 10/20. It was OK I guess. It had interesting parts.
Sean: 16/20. Narrated, would've been better if own voices
Kayla: 20/20. Unique
Jasmine: 10/20. It was okay the action wasn't that bad but we could tell it was fake.
Robin: 9/20. It was boring. Well at least to me it was. There were some funny parts here and there.
Morgan: 1/20. A waste of my time, boring. (Morgan later admitted that she rated and wrote that during the opening credits.)
Kris: 5/20. This was moderately humorous movie back in the "20's" but as times change, the hearts (?) of funny does too. It is also has no audio which means there is more showing the audience what happens rather than telling us. Overall it was an OK movie. It was better than it seemed.
James: 15/20. It was funny, and the narrator said different things than they were. (Note: Funny-looking kid.)
T. T. : 15/20. Boring, funny, good but depressing. (I can't even figure out who "T.T." is.)
DeArion: nr. DaArion snuck out of my classroom and didn't watch the movie. He apparently watched Old Dogs somewhere else.
Makaela: 5/20. It is at least a motion picture. It wasn't very interesting to me. (Note: I couldn't figure out what she meant with "It is at least a motion picture." I finally figured out that she was talking about how it was silent but at least the characters were moving.)
Brad: -20/20. (Note: This kid's a doofus. He whined loudest of all before the movie started, put his head down for a lot of the first fourth, and watched the last three-fourths with interest. I even caught him laughing.) Terrible.
Mireya: 18/20. Because you had to imagine what they were saying. It was funny because of the man. I like when the house was going to fall.
Jared: -20/20. It's retarded. It's black and white. (This kid's grade just plummeted.)
Kore: 15/20. It was funny and good. But it was boring.
Bria: 11/20. Boring.
Courtlyn: 2/20. To be honest, I hate black and white movies, and I would of liked the other movie.

I was disappointed. They watched with interest and laughed at the appropriate times. I really thought they were liking this more than they said they did. Oh, well. What should I show them next time? (Must be G or PG.)

Confessions of a Superhero

2007 documentary

Rating: 15/20

Plot: The ups and downs of the lives of four people who dress up as superheroes and walk Hollywood Boulevard to pose for pictures with tourists and collect tips.

Nice objective look at four interesting and, for the most part, likable individuals. There's thankfully no narration, but there is some questionable editing. You get to meet Superman (see poster), a guy who kind of looks like Christopher Reeve, has noticeable sweat stains in the armpit of his suit, makes dioramas in his spare time, and has an obsession with Crystal Gayle. His story takes him (the year hero Reeve dies) to a Superman Festival in Metropolis, a town with lots of crime according to one resident because lots of black people have moved in. He enters a Superhero look-a-like contest and has a nice surprise up his sleeve. His appraisal of his Superman memorabilia collection? Over a million dollars! You get to meet the Hulk, a black wanna-be actor who finally gets his big break in a kung-fu spoof of Game of Death called Finishing the Game, a guy who worries that his bad teeth could keep him from reaching his acting aspirations and who feels like a loser. He wears a mask with a mouth in a perpetual scream that made me laugh. You get to meet the girl-next-door former high school cheerleader and prom queen with some self-esteem issues who made her way to Hollywood to become an actress but wound up as Wonder Woman instead. She's got an agent, she has some auditions, and we see enough of her to think that she might actually have a shot. And then there's Batman, a guy with some serious issues that need to be addressed before he kills a bunch of people. Again, according to him. He's a delusional Batman with a checkered past, a guy who seems to lie quite a bit. At least that's what the Hulk thinks. Batman also says several times that he looks like George Clooney, something that gives him hope that he'll eventually make it. I guess he might from certain angles to a person with severe vision problems. They're essentially panhandlers, but they're lovable panhandlers. Happy in what most sensible people would call their delusions, these underdogs are really easy to like and root for. I can't believe how much I cared about Superman's look-a-like contest, but I really really wanted him to win that thousand bucks. I love a scene where Superman is dumping wads of cash out of his underpants following the arrest of Elmo. (That sentence doesn't seem like it makes complete sense.) There's also footage of a music video that he appears in with a little person. There's lots of great, funny footage, but they're almost moments you feel bad for thinking are funny because you really do feel for these people. Well, maybe not Batman. He just needs some help. Lots to learn in this one though. Superman tells us that Ghostrider doesn't smoke, and we know he's right even when Ghostrider tells him, "I'm made of fire!" Marilyn Monroe informs us that "Orientals" are cheap. We learn that Mr. Incredible and Elmo are a bit too aggressive with tourists. Good stuff.

City Lights

1932 romantic comedy

Rating: 20/20 (Jen: 16/20; Emma: 2/20; Abbey: 1/20)

Plot: After interrupting the unveiling of the city's new statue, a little tramp has a pretty good day. He meets a beautiful but blind girl selling flowers. It's love at first sight. He also befriends a drunken millionaire after saving his life and gets to spend the night on the town with him. He has a series of misadventures while trying to use his new friendship to help out the flower girl.

Any discussion of this movie really should start with the ending, a perfect one that gets me every time. There are lots of humorous moments (unless you're a girl in the third or sixth grade apparently) but there's nothing outrageous here. No scaling the side of a building or running from police or being attacked by monkeys while on a tightrope here. The humor is quiet and graceful. The opening scene is also great (and you get to hear Chaplin's voice for the first time; sort of), and it's followed by a lot of funny episodes, highlighted by the boxing scene and a trip to a restaurant with the millionaire. There's magic in every scene with the tramp and the blind girl. It's the little things that develop their relationship and set up one of the best endings in movie history. Chaplin stubbornly refused to make this his first talkie, and I'm so glad he did. Words would have ruined this one. City Lights is Chaplin's masterpiece and one of my favorite movies.

A King in New York

1957 comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Following a revolution in his European country, King Shadhov retreats to New York. He's got ideas about making the world a better place with atomic energy, but he finds himself penniless after his trusted confidante flees with everything he brought to America. Fortunately, he's tricked into attending a dinner party that turns out to be a sort of reality show, and companies are all of a sudden willing to pay him thousands of dollars to use his dickfarts to sell products. At some point, he meets the son of communist parents and winds up having to defend himself against charges of being a communist.

This really takes its time getting anywhere, and once it does, you almost wish it hadn't. You could never accuse Chaplin of being too subtle, so the political stuff in this, especially with what was going on with Chaplin and America, isn't surprising at all. What was surprising to me was that there were actually some funny moments in this one. There's some fun satirical stuff here about commercialism, movies, and fame in America. This is also worth seeing because it showcases Chaplin's acting chops. I'm always surprised to see Chaplin not overdo things in this later films. It's not Monsieur Verdoux or the earlier silent classics, but I liked it better than Limelight.

Tillie's Punctured Romance

1914 silent comedy

Rating: 12/20

Plot: Swindling city chap Charlie elopes with farm girl Tillie in order to get at her daddy's money. They move to the city, and Charlie abandons Tillie when she gets into a little bit of trouble. Later, Tillie inherits a large chunk of money from her uncle, and Charlie has to knock her off her feet again.

This is only worth watching for historical reasons if it's worth watching at all. It's the first feature-length comedy and Chaplin's first film. Marie Dressler as Tillie, however, is really the most interesting aspect of the film. There's nothing special about what Chaplin does, the movie isn't funny at all, and it really doesn't even make much sense. Most of the comedy involves the characters kicking each other in the behind. I wish I would have counted the amount of times the characters kicked each other. I bet it was about as much as the average kung-fu movie though. Tillie's Punctured Romance failed to make me laugh; heck, it failed to make me even smile. The Birth of a Nation from 1915 might actually be funnier.

A Galaxy Far, Far Away

2001 documentary

Rating: 8/20

Plot: Attempts to document the eccentrics who geek over Star Wars obsessively, interviewing the toy collectors, the costume-wearing conventioneers, and the weirdos who waited in line forty-two days before the premiere of The Phantom Menace.

Just like Trekkies except with a different franchise, a lot less objectivity, and a lot more snarkiness. Filmmaker Tariq Jalil is as much a "character" in this movie as Michael Moore is in his. I don't need to see footage of Tariq Jalil and his buddy surfing the Internet to find other aspring filmmakers willing to shoot footage of people standing in line for Episode 1. I didn't need to see footage of Jalil interviewing a reporter from a Los Angeles news show and then showing the exact same interview from the station's camera that appeared on the evening news. You made it on the news, Jalil? Los Angeles now knows you're a maker of documentaries? Good for you! Jalil's voice is incredibly annoying and the approach to the subject matter was condescending. There's some entertainment value here if you just let the visuals and the people speak for themselves. What's not to love about a hip hop Boba Fett or breakdancing stormtroopers or a band in Star Wars costumes (a really tall Yoda on bass guitar) singing about, well, Star Wars? But when Jalil tries to make it much more by juxtaposing his footage of people buying Star Wars toys with people in Kosovo fighting for food, I really lost interest. And patience. This shouldn't have been a documentary about how witty Tariq Jalil can be.

Here he is. He's important.

Mister Lonely

2007 Harmony Korine film

Rating: 13/20

Plot: A lonely Michael Jackson impersonator living in France meets a Marilyn Monroe impersonator who lives on an island with a bunch of other celebrity impersonators. Her husband is Charlie Chaplin and daughter is Shirley Temple. Also occupying the island are the Three Stooges, Sammy Davis Jr. Abraham Lincoln, James Dean, a Pope, Madonna, Queen Elizabeth, Buckwheat, and Little Red Riding Hood. Michael Jackson decides to live with them, and they work together to put on a fantastic stage show. Meanwhile, a priest in South America teaches his nuns to fly.

Well, it's Harmony Korine's best movie yet. His work is still just a little unhinged, a little uneven, a little too silly. There are large chunks of this movie and single shots that are really brilliant. It's sprinkled with great, unforgettable imagery that is either bizarrely poignant or poignantly bizarre. Korine's either got a good eye or is developing one (I can't remember Julien Donkey-Boy that well and have intentionally forgotten the dismally awful Gummo), and there are a lot of Herzogian moments in Mister Lonely. Werner himself plays the priest (he was also in Donkey-Boy, Korine and he apparently have a mutual respect for each other). There's something about watching Buckwheat giving the Pope a bath or the Three Stooges shooting sheep that is endlessly entertaining. And most of the scenes with the nuns are really beautiful. But just like Gummo, this sort of has that weird for the sake of weird thing that makes it seem more masturbatory than artistic. If I could figure out what it all adds up to, I think I'd like it a lot more, but I'm not really convinced it even adds up to anything at all. Lots to like--the raw originality, the odd beauty, some great music--but it's just not enough. Channel it, Harmony!

Modern Times

1936 silent comedy

Rating: 18/20

Plot: Modern times is hard times as the Tramp and his recently-orphaned love interest try to survive. The Tramp works in an assembly line until a series of misfortunes force his employee to have him committed. When released, bad luck continues to follow him around until he meets the girl and then it follows both of them around.

Interestingly, I didn't really like this movie the first time I saw it, probably about fifteen years ago. I love it now though, not just as a comedy but as a cry against a too-modern world and the negative effects that technological innovations can have on society. This was Chaplin's last silent (it does use sound effects very cleverly and, even more cleverly, there are several moments when spoken voices can be heard but they are only heard through machines), made several years after everybody else was making talkies, and it's cool watching him stick to his guns and make something so quietly poetic and visually wonderful in the midst of the changing industry. Chaplin often came at you with a heavy fist, but the message here is definitely below the surface of the comedy. There are some classic scenes--the automated eating machine, the Tramp being sucked into factory gears, a roller-skating-while-blindfolded stunt, troubles with waiting tables. I also love the way the music (Chaplin's, of course, and according to co-star and wife, obsessed over) works with the action, making the visual hijinks of the Tramp almost cartoony. Speaking of music, it should be noted that Chaplin's voice is in this one during a scene where he sings a nonsense song (seems dirty to me) in a restaurant. The combination of dada lyricism and pantomime is pretty brilliant there. The gripe could be made that this movie is too episodic and, yes, probably a bit sappy, but it's still a timeless classic that will likely always manage to entertain.

Limelight

1952 talkie

Rating: 14/20

Plot: Calvero, a washed-up theatrical clown, saves the life of fellow tenant Terry the ballerina following her suicide attempt. He helps nurse her back to health, teaches her to walk again (she couldn't psychologically), and gives her the confidence to dance. Meanwhile, he dreams of a triumphant return to the stage for one final bow. Terry mistakes her feelings for Calvero as romantic love, but the old clown knows better.

Well, I certainly expected to like this one more. Muddled by dialogue, philosophically hokey and dippily sentimental, this one just seems so talky and dated at times. Thing is, based on story and sentiment alone, this would have been a fantastic movie to end a career on for Chaplin, but he should have insisted on making it a silent movie. It could have been a beautiful farewell, and the melodrama would have been a lot easier to swallow. Chaplin won a belated Oscar for his score, but the music is actually a little too much at times. This is not to say that there aren't some good moments and some very well-written lines. "Life is wonderful if you're not afraid of it" is a terrific line. This is, by the way, the only feature film with both Chaplin and Buster Keaton, but the latter's role is very very small and you really wouldn't even know it was him unless you knew it was him.

The Great Dictator

1940 social comedy

Rating: 16/20 (Dylan: 11/20)

Plot: Following a crash landing during World War I, a Jewish barber loses his memory. He doesn't leave the hospital to return to his normal life for years, and things have changed. Adenoid Hynkel, who looks surprisingly a lot like the barber, has taken control of Tomania, and is planning to take over the world and persecute the Jews. The barber falls in love with the neighbor girl, Hynkel falls in love with a giant beach ball, the barber does his best to avoid capture by the stormtroopers, and Hynkel threatens Benzino Napaloni with salami (a phallic symbol). Meanwhile, the man whose life was saved during WWI by the barber stumbles onto the scene and is sympathetic to the Jews' cause.

Jimmy Stewart won the Oscar, but Chaplin was pretty damn good playing dual roles in this. There's a strange dichotomy here. There's the typical physical comedy you'd expect to see from Chaplin's silent movies combined with some surprisingly natural funny dialogue. This was Chaplin's first talkie, and the humor comes a lot more naturally than a lot of late 30's comedy. The improvised faux-German stuff is absolutely hilarious. Not all the comedy works, and some of it that takes place in the ghetto isn't entirely comfortable, but there are definitely some classic scenes--most of the WWI slapstick and sight gags, the scene with Hynkel dancing with the inflatable globe, a fantastic shave-to-the-music scene, the coin-in-the-pudding scene. On the other side of the coin, you've got a lot of melodramatic stuff (probably worse than many late 30's dramas) and the more serious stuff, the best example being Chaplin's passionate speech at the very end of the movie. It's a long speech, and I'm not sure Chaplin blinks during it. I'd always stayed away from this one for some reason (I believe this leaves only one more Chaplin feature-length film I need to see--oddly enough the one with Buster Keaton in it), but it was a lot more enjoyable than I had anticipated. You've at least got to appreciate Chaplin's ballsiness in making this thing. Hitler reportedly watched it twice; I wonder whether or not he liked it. He was known for having a great sense of humor.

The Circus

1928 comedy

Rating: 17/20 (Emma: 16/20; Abbey: 20/20)

Plot: The Tramp, hungry and broke, waddles onto the grounds of a circus. While checking out the scene, he's mistaken for a pickpocket and chased into the big top by the po-po. The crowd laughs uproariously which inspires the ringleader of the struggling circus to hire him as a clown. He isn't very good at it. He does, however, fall in love with the oft-abused daughter of the circus's owner.

Hmm. I'd always heard this was not a very good movie and that Chaplin himself ignored it completely when writing about his career. My girls and I thought it was hilarious. Lots of great (Keaton-esque) gags--the chase scene, a hall of mirrors, some magic tricks, an irritable horse, a tightrope act, troublesome monkeys, a lazy lion, lots of kicking--and that pathos that's in so many of Chaplin's films. The ending is especially touching although it could be argued that it's very artificial and impossible to buy. If you could only see one silent comedy and have always had a desire to see Charlie Chaplin depantsed by monkeys, this is the flick for you!

One note: When Chaplin's character first meets his love interest, an equestrian, she reveals that she actually is part of the circus. He looks behind him at a poster of a female sword swallower and gets a look in his eyes that suggests he's thinking of something other than swords. It's a cool bit of bawdiness that slipped past. I was really hoping the movie would end with a scene Vincent Gallo could be proud of but was disappointed.

The Kid

1921 silent comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: The Little Tramp stumbles upon an abandoned baby boy (the love child of a struggling artist and an aspiring actress) and after initially trying to get rid of him, finally decides to raise him as his own. Five years later, the tramp and the kid are working hard just to get by. The mother, now a successful performer, wants her kid back.

A bit overly sentimental, definitely a product of its time, with too many scenes that are just a little too precious. Most of the comedy works though, and I did laugh out loud, especially during the infamous "giant erection" scene. This stuff's timeless. In an age where everybody overacts, it's really an impressive performance from Jackie Coogan who, as a child actor, you'd almost expect to overact. At one point (still before he was ten), Coogan was one of the highest paid actors. The Kid doesn't seem as complete as the later Chaplin movies, and there's a dream sequence near the end that I absolutely can't stand. It seems tacked-on and completely unnecessary even though Charlie Chaplin flies during it.

Notes: Don't believe everything I type here. The "infamous" "giant erection" scene seems made up. Jackie Coogan being highly paid might be true. Flying Chaplin? That just sounds like a terrible band name.

The Gold Rush

1925 silent comedy

Rating: 19.1/20 (Abbey: 20/20, Emma: 3/20, Dylan 11/20)

Plot: The little tramp ventures to the Klondike in search of riches. After a run-in with a bear, a wanted criminal, and a burly miner, the little guy finds himself fighting against the elements in a dilapidated cabin. He eats a shoe. The weather clears up enough to allow travel to town where he meets and falls in love with a showgirl named Georgia, and what he perceives as a return of affection is more valuable to him than gold. When the burly miner pops into the picture once again, however, there is also a renewed prospect of gold and the chance that the little fellow could once again afford a second shoe.

Confession: I may have bumped this up 1 or 2 rating points because it's a classic and I didn't want to disappoint winter rates.

My second favorite Chaplin movie, and I'm happy that at least one of my kids enjoyed it. I'm always surprised with how funny this is. It's not 1920's-silent-film funny where I can just appreciate the humor. It's actually still funny. But if it was just funny, it wouldn't be great. It's also got heart, and there are some really poignant moments when Chaplin first spots Georgia at the dancehall and later at the cabin he's staying at when the girls don't show up for a New Year's Eve party. The story is also tightly written, allowing the romance and the action-adventure to intermingle with the slapstick and other visual gags smoothly. This, by the way, would probably be the silent comedy that I would recommend to somebody who has never given them a chance.

Jen took this picture:

I'm Not There

2007 biopic

Rating: 17/20 (Jen lasted ten minutes. She said, "I don't like this," and then fell asleep.)

Plot: The life and career of Dylan 1961 to circa 1980 using six and a half characters representing the early myths detailing his arrival on the scene and pre-career meanderings, the early days in Greenwich Village as the spokesman for a generation he didn't really want to speak for, the plugged-in "Judas" period, the years he wanted to disappear lowlighted by a devastating divorce and a motorcycle accident, the 70's revival, and his dip into contemporary Christian rock 'n' roll.

The more you know about Dylan, the more you'll enjoy this. In fact, I don't think this would make much sense at all to anybody who hasn't at least had a cursory glance at the life and times of the icon. Clearly not a movie for everyone (too artsy, somewhat pretentious, difficult, masturbatory, fragmented, self-referential), I think the multi-genre, multi-perspective, richly-textured and fractured approach adds up to an utterly fascinating piece of art. This makes the average biopic and that Across the Universe look like complete garbage which, of course, they mostly are. I'd expect no less from the guy who made a film based on the life of Karen Carpenter using only Barbie dolls though. Tremendous acting top to bottom; standing out most was Cate Blanchett in a role I frankly expected to be disappointed by. Boy, she sure had the mannerisms and cadence down. This is also great visually with some surreal touches, black and white Fellini-esque cinematography, artsy-fartsiness galore, and some interesting editing choices that are hard to ignore. Flashy and pompous enough to hate except that I thought it was pretty brilliant and loved it instead. The whole thing's like a stained-glass window dropped by clowns. But in a good way. Being a huge Dylan fan couldn't have hurt though.

"Come down from there. You're going to get yourself killed!" David Cross as Allen Ginsberg? See you later, Allen Ginsberg!

I'd love to talk about this one with somebody who doesn't know much about or just doesn't like Bob Dylan. I'd also like somebody to tell me whether or not I should see Velvet Goldmine again. I remember hating it.

Picture deleted.

Monsieur Verdoux

1947 black comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Following economic depression, the charming title character loses the bank job held for 30 years. Forced to find a way to support his invalid wife and young son, Verdoux starts a new business--find wealthy women, persuade them to put their finances in a vulnerable position, and then kill them. He travels via train, juggling his actual family and his numerous financial possibilities, and tries to outwit captors.

Written by Charlie Chaplin based on an idea given to him by admirer Orson Welles, this is a pretty tightly structured dramatic comedy. There are some old timey slapstick moments (rarely involving Chaplin himself and mostly involving the family of one murdered woman), but for the most part, this has the feel of something a lot more modern. The plot is similar to Kind Hearts and Coronets, possibly a superior film, but fractured in that the murderer has to drift back and forth between those he's interested in killing. The characters grow a little bit instead of just popping into the movie as props to be killed. There's not a laugh-out-loud moment in this. Instead, the humor depends on dramatic irony where a large part of the dialogue between characters takes on double and even triple meanings. Initially, I suspected Verdoux's character would suffer from being too flat, but there was room for growth, and it's brilliant how it's easy to feel both hatred and empathy for the man. I believe this is the first Chaplin movie in which he isn't the Little Tramp, and he made it pretty easy to forget that it was him in the first place. My wife didn't know when I asked her. Aside from two spots when he sort of winks at the audience through that fourth wall, there's not much Little Tramp in this at all, and his performance as the title character is really good. I also liked the photography, in particular a shot involving a staircase and another involving a door, a hallway, and a window and another involving a greenhouse. There were also a few extended scenes that managed to maintain both humor and suspense. The only gripe I have is a little preachiness at the end with an attempt to thematically tie in Chaplin's ideas (pacifism mostly, but also some really pessimistic ideas about politics and humanity including possibly his opinions on dropping the twin big ones on those poor Japanese women and children). Seemed a tacked-on stretch to make Monsieur Verdoux too much of a symbol, and the lack of subtlety was unnerving. Chaplin, by the way, was booted out of the country for his views in the early 50's, and Monsieur Verdoux flopped majestically.

Look! I watched this movie with an unpleasant stain on the front of me!