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.)

Annie Wagner is The Stranger's former film editor. She was born and raised in Capitol Hill, but has since lived in such far-flung locales as Phoenix, AZ, Charlottesville, VA, and Wedgwood. After graduating...