This tale of a man stalking women intent on murder reminded me of
Psicosis (1960). None of the murders here are as shockingly graphic as the famous shower scene in Psycho, but one comes close. "Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons" will never achieve the fame of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, but it makes Psycho look like a one trick pony, that trick being the famous shower scene (in fact, Hitchcock said that he made Psycho just for the shower scene), and it exceeds Psycho on plot, intrigue and suspense.
Henri Landru (
George Sanders ) is totally enchanted by a glamourous night club singer, Odette (
Corinne Calvet ). For some reason he fails to see something that is quite obvious, all she wants him for is his money. He makes only a modest living from dealing in fine art and antiques and so, to get his hands on enough money to keep the glamourous golddigger happy, he resorts to crime.
He answers a newspapaper small-ad from a woman wishing to sell her furniture. He hopes to make money from the deal. The lady Vivienne Dureaux (
Patricia Roc ) falls for Landru and trusts him completely. Before he can find the right buyer, she finds one herself and so he is cut out of the deal. Desperate for money to keep Odette happy, he tries to persuade Vivienne to let him invest the proceeds of the sale. She isn't keen on the idea, and driven by his obsession for Odette, the usually charming Landru becomes rather menacing. Vivienne become scared and backs away. She has a fall and is left unconscious. Landru kills her making the death appear to be suicide. The other buyer has not yet collected the furniture, so Landru steals it along with anything else of value in her flat.
The experience was an education for Landru and he embarks on a career of preying on vulnerable wealthy women. A previously honest man has made the conversion to a criminal and not merely a simple thief, he is a serial killer.
For a dark subject, there were brief moments when this film seemed like a comedy, albeit a macabre comedy, with Landru's comments making it seem more like a spoof of a murder film, but they are brief and don't spoil the film. Perhaps the brief moments of light relief even improve it.
It also had moments when it was unrealistic and annoyingly stupid with some scenes almost warranting a mention on the Goofs page, but to be fair, as the plot moves on, these shortcomings can be overlooked and I'm sure many people will watch it and enjoy it untroubled by such matters.
One example of unrealism is that Landru's first victim,Vivienne, had a sister, Giselle (
Ingrid Hafner ), who went to the police to report that her sister was missing. The police had an unidentified woman's body on their files, a case of suspected suicide, and so they would, presumably, have been on the lookout for reports of missing women, but the police inspector refuses to take any action and he dismisses the disappearance as not suspicious. Based on the flimsiest of evidence he claims that Vivienne has probably gone away with a man, when that unidentifed suicide victim was in fact, Giselle's sister.
Another example of lack of realism is a policeman who accepts Landru's explanation for being on a building site in the dead of night and shovelling soil into a trench. The policeman asks him what he is doing. Landru quickly conjures up an "explanation" and the policeman accepts it and goes on his way, he doesn't ask for identification or even ask his name. Landru was actually dumping two suitcases full of body parts into the trench.
Look out for more unrealistic details near the end.
Criticism over. Those weak spots are heavily outweighed by the good points of this film. It is intruging and each time Landru is about to knock off his next victim, he exudes menace in a way that easily ranks alongside the bulld up to Hitchcock's famous shower scene.
Without trying to imitate Hitchcock stylishly, this well-crafted film has a plot worthy of Hitchcock and enough intrigue, suspense and tension to match any of his films, and so I give it nine out of ten.
A point of interest. Landru plays a dealer in fine arts and antiques. In real life, Corinne Calvet (Odette) first studied criminal law at the Sorbonne, but then turned her attention to interior decoration specializing in fine arts and antiques.
