7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A dapper Parisian family man loses his job as a bank clerk. In order to support his wife and child, he devises a plan to woo and marry rich widows under a variety of aliases, then murder them for their money.
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Martha Raye, William Frawley, Isobel Elsom, Marjorie BennettDrama | 100% |
Dark humor | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Charlie Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; documentary film directed by Bernard Eisenschitz; new documentary featuring Chaplin specialist Kate Guyonvarch and author Charles Maland; new video essay featuring an audio interview with actress Marilyn Nash; and radio ads. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and reprinted pieces by Chaplin and Andre Bazin. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Something for the heart...
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"This new digital transfer was created on a 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Image Systems' Phoenix wasused for small dirt, grain, noise reduction, and jitter.
The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a sound negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.
2K Scanning: Irene Messina, Adriana Noviello/L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna, Italy.
Colorist: Lee Kline."
Excluding a few inherited vertical lines and extremely light scratches that could not be fully removed with current digital tools (see screencapture #10), the film looks remarkably healthy. The new 2K digital restoration has obviously enhanced detail and contrast and dramatically improved clarity. The indoor and outdoor sequences both look quite wonderful now, with close-ups in particular often conveying very good depth (see screencapture #14). The variety of blacks, grays and whites are also lush and stable. Grain is very well resolved and evenly distributed throughout the entire film. There are no traces of sharpening corrections. Also, there are no purely transfer-specific anomalies, such as banding and aliasing, to report in this review. Viewers who like to project their films will also be pleased to know that from start to finish the film remains tight around the edges. All in all, the new restoration has produced marvelous results, and I feel confident stating that Monsieur Verdoux has never looked as healthy and vibrant as it does now. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
Charlie Chaplin composed the soundtrack for Monsieur Verdoux. There are sequences where the music is prominent for a short period of time, but overall dynamic movement is indeed quite modest. Clarity and depth, however, are excellent. The dialog is consistently crisp, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, I did not encounter any problematic audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review. Background hiss is also not an issue of concern.
The riskiest and most thought-provoking of all Charlie Chaplin films, Monsieur Verdoux enters the Criterion Collection having undergone a new 2K digital restoration. The film looks healthy and vibrant now, the best it ever has. Also included on this Blu-ray release are two very good documentaries that shed some light on the controversy surrounding the film's release and Chaplin's history with the American press. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
1957
1923
1940
1936
1952
1921
1925
1931
1984
1970
1944
1942
2012
Choice Collection
1958
1968
2009
2014
1975
1976
2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle
1967