There was a documentary on the making of GWTW that included a screen test in which Lana Turner played Scarlett and Melvyn Douglas played Ashley in the scene at Tara after the war where Scarlett tries to talk Ashley into running away with her. They just aren't any good. The sheer, sinister stupidity of this address — with its Shavian, do-gooder nihilism — was summed up superbly by Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler: "Chaplin, to his eternal shame, ended the film not with a call to oppose fascism, and its murderous hatred, but rather — because he was following the shameful Hitler-friendly Soviet line at the time — ended his film with a call for all workers in the world to lay down their arms — in other words to refuse to join the fight against fascism and Hitler.". But I like both. Once Arsenic can work, not a repeater, even for Cary. Test your film knowledge by guessing the winner in this Oscar's quiz. Charles Chaplin hired famed press agent Russell Birdwell to publicize this film. 731 731. Naturally, Verdoux’s claim did not find favour with the censorship officials. Monsieur Verdoux paved the way for these and subsequent black comedies. … Thank you Monsieur, I have. One true crime case that captured imaginations generations before Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer were born was that of Henri Landru. Kick back with Kathy and your fellow Club members in person aboard one of our annual cruises. Thomas DeQuincy wrote his satirical "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" in 1827, although Orwell's "Decline of the English Murder", penned in 1946, has proven more enduring. The audience is forced to distance itself from Monsieur Verdoux in order to reflect on what the filmmaker is trying to express. I'm with you Elise on Gable, it may be a generational thing. Lucy might have had a different career all together. The message & the pics used does not make me want to run out & buy their product. 2018 Preview SONG TIME Main Title - Monsieur Verdoux. If everyone in Hollywood loved "the poor" as much as they love their fortunes, we wouldn't have to listen to inane sermons about "income inequality". Brava. You'll notice by watching several of Irene Dunne's movies. Unfortunately, at the time Monsieur Verdoux was released in 1947, almost no one else shared that view. Verdoux: Oui, Monsieur, I have. © 2020 Mark Steyn Enterprises (US) Inc. All rights reserved. So far, so whatever. I recommend it. Join now! Unlike many silent stars, Chaplin had nothing to fear from the coming of sound; along with his other considerable talents, he had a beautiful speaking voice. Pointing to the paperback murder mystery one of my colleagues had in her lap, I asked: "So how many people get killed in that book you're reading?". reply #4. Our judgment is clouded by knowing the final products of "GWTW" and "I Love Lucy" and liking them as they are, but if we wiped our memories and started over, I wonder if we would have liked Lucille Ball, who was a good dramatic actress, being Scarlett O'Hara. What might have been! So all along, his kindly, loveable "Little Tramp" character had served to camouflage an altogether nasty man, who Simon Callow concluded, based on Peter Ackroyd's devastating biography, "was barely human at all.". By jane grace, 6 years ago on Off Topic Discussions. That didn't seem right like a good fit, but it seems Douglas could have been Rhett Butler. The film ends with a speech from Verdoux that's the anthithesis of the one which caps The Great Dictator: that idealistic and queasily naïve call to "fight for a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness" at the same time science and progress were being used to melt children into soap. The details were contested by both men, but in short: Welles approached Chaplin in the 1940s, proposing that he star in a film about Landru. Rumors have persisted that Chaplin's 1915-1923 leading lady Edna Purviance made an appearance in the film. When those two friends leave, and Chaplin and Raye walk (without any reason) five feet to the center of the room, there is a hidden/not-so-hidden cut (at 1:39). Anyone unfamiliar with Chaplin's brilliant silents could be forgiven for presuming that Monsieur Verdoux had been made by a different man altogether. Recently I saw Douglas in a movie with Irene Dunne -- "Theodora Goes Wild" (1936) -- that was great fun to watch and a good movie. For a movie, you have to weave your views into a compelling story if you want people to pay to see it. Monsieur Verdoux, 1947 The following lines were deleted from the speech, presumably to satisfy the Breen office: “To be shocked by the nature of my crime is nothing but a pretence… a sham! 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