The Stranger

Charlie Chaplin's most ingenious sound film (originally conceived by Orson Welles) is black as pitch and funny as fuck. A Bluebeard tale set in the 1920s, Monsieur Verdoux follows the titular Parisian bigamist as he checks in on his rich, doomed wives scattered across the country, all the while plotting the murders of the most vulnerable among them. Interestingly, Verdoux is not merely evil; Chaplin makes him as authentically caring and sentimental as he is crass and avaricious. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 267-5380. 7 and 9:30 pm, $8.50.) by Annie Wagner

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