Monsieur Verdoux Poster Original Daybill Re-Issue Charles Chaplin
Daybill Poster.Monsieur Verdoux is a 1947 American black comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, who plays a bigamist wife killer inspired by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, and Marilyn Nash. This was the first feature film in which Chaplin's character bore no resemblance to his famous "Tramp" character (The Great Dictator did not feature the Tramp, but his "Jewish barber" bore some similarity). While immediately after the end of World War II on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean appeared a spate of films, including in 1946 It's a Wonderful Life and A Matter of Life and Death, which drew on so many people's experiences of loss of loved ones and offered a kind of consolation, Monsieur Verdoux had an unapologetically dark tone, featuring as its protagonist a murderer who feels justified in committing his crimes. The film was nominated for the 1947 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. It also won the National Board of Review award for Best Film and the Bodil Award for Best American Film. In the decades since its release, Monsieur Verdoux has become highly regarded.
