No subject

drama mounts in power and suspense to the final catastrophe. There is the
stockmarket crash in which all the money Monsieur Verdoux had accumulated i=
n
the course of his business is wiped out overnight. Through mortgage
foreclosure, he loses the home which he had provided for his family. He
loses the family. He is apprehended by the police, tried, convicted and
executed.

But never once does Monsieur Verdoux step out of character, never does he
bend an inch to comply with the Hollywood formula. In court after his
conviction he admits his crimes but denies his guilt. "All business is
ruthless, I only did on a small scale what others do on a big scale." Then
he receives his death sentence and, with ominous reference to the prospect
of an atomic war, ironically bids adieu with the words: "I will be seeing
you all very soon,"

In the last scene of all, in the death cell awaiting the end, Monsieur
Verdoux remains true to himself. The inevitable priest comes to hear his
confession and administer spiritual consolation. It is a vain errand. There
was no repentent sinner waiting for him. Verdoux rises from his cot to meet
the priest with the sprightly manner of a welcoming master of ceremonies.
"Father, what can I do for you?"

He is taken aback; no Hollywood priest was ever received that way before.

"I want you to make peace with your God."

"I am at peace with God. My trouble is with my -fellow men."

The priest is obviously losing ground, but he tries again.

"May God have mercy on your soul."

"He ought to. It belongs to Him."

After that, there was nothing left for the priest but to start praying alou=
d
in Latin, which he promptly proceeded to do, as the executional squad
solemnly surrounded Monsieur Verdoux and marched him, the small-time,
unsuccessful murderer, to his doom.

The picture had to end on a note of defeat and despair which was implicitly
foreshadowed from the beginning. It is not a call to arms, but only a
protest and a warning. The lesson is negative but, for all that, powerful i=
n
its indictment of contemporary society. And powerful, too, in its indirect
indictment of Hollywood, of its sham and falsity, of its betrayal of the
artist's sacred duty to hold the mirror up to life and reflect it truly.

Monsieur Verdoux is dead, but in my opinion, his picture will live; the
vindictive and mendacious critics will not succeed in "killing" it. Perhaps
they have condemned it to a slow start by their brutal lynching bee. But th=
e
truth about *Monsieur Verdoux *will be advertized by word of mouth, and it
will make its way. It is a great picture and a brave one, too, hurled in th=
e
face of the Truman Doctrine and all the war-mongering. The people will
receive- it gladly, not only in America, but all over the world.