Wedding/garden party — appropriate, as we’re dining with friends in their garden (pizza stove!) this evening. Very middle-class.
Verdoux is finally marrying Madame Grosnay — he’s said it with flowers, and now will say it with a ring, followed by uxoricide. This is the scene where, per IMDb, Edna Purviance is supposed to appear (the Inaccurate Movie Database also suggests that she’s in LIMELIGHT too, but we’ll pluck that canard when we come to it. Per David Robinson and Simon Louvish, Chaplin considered casting Edna as Mme. Grosnay, and shot tests (do they survive?) before, by mutual agreement and with mutual relief it seems, the plan was abandoned.
Lots of matronly ladies at the wedding (above), but no obvious Ednas. Would we be sure to recognize her?
But look who does appear: Fred Karno! (Centre, light grey suit)
Well, Fred Karno Jr, though I don’t know how you can be called Junior looking like that (he’s apparently in his fifties). Apparently the son of Chaplin’s mentor/impresario also pops up in THE GOLD RUSH as some dance hall rando. But here he’s introduced by name, so it’s a real homage.
Chaplin for some reason presents us with an array of frontal close-ups of guests — one is Gertrude Astor, former movie queen. The idea seems to be to suggest that Verdoux is overwhelmed by all these faces — he’d wanted a quiet wedding, for understandable reasons, but the darn thing metastasized. The lack of any sign of discomfiture in Verdoux face (his back is to camera immediately after the CUs) kind of prevents the effect coming across.
We now get Keystone farce-comedy, fairly scandalous for the era I guess. The script seems at pains not to confirm Verdoux as being married to Annabella, but he’s clearly already committed bigamy (more distressing to the censor than murder). It would be more delicious to have one of his wives at the wedding, but that’s apparently not allowed. (Chaplin reports considerable back-and-forth with the Breen Office.)
Verdoux backs into Annabella who is backing into him — they apologise without recognising each other, but seconds later, after some would-be-clever dialogue — he hears her rather distinctive laugh, and this time his face is aimed right at us —
Manfully, he resists the traditional spit-take. This is a more refined, garden-party-variety non-spit-take.
Then someone says it’s Madame Bonheur, and Verdoux is in profile so he can spit-take all over his guests.
Verdoux ducks into the summer-house, then sees Annabella Bonheur through the glass and literally ducks. The camera swoops over his back and into a single on Annabella, without breaking the glass (there is none).
Exiting the conservatory as Annabella enters it, Verdoux seeks refuge under a table, where he pretends to M. Karno that he’s looking for a lost sandwich (“Just an ordinary sandwich, a slice of bread between two pieces of meat.”) This puts me in mind of Fernando Rey at the end of DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE. Given Bunuel’s acquaintance with Chaplin, the reference may be intentional.
Very nice composition in depth as Verdoux-Varney makes his getaway — we can see a friend looking out the window he’s just leapt from, the hallway he’s belted back through, the door he’s fled through and the wall he’s vaulting, as well the stair down which Mme Marie Grosnay (Isobel Alsom in place of Edna) has descended to catch a fleeting glimpse of her departing erstwhile groom.
One might reflect that in truth, it is Marie who has had the lucky escape.
TO BE CONTINUED
shadowplay 