Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons

This tale of a man stalking women intent on murder reminded me of Psycho (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.

My only complaint about this film is that the anti-hero, Henri Landru, is played by George Sanders. Now Sanders was a fine actor...but with his melodious British accent, he seemed oddly out of place because his character was supposed to be French...and everyone else in the film has a French accent! Still, considering all I liked, I can live with this.

When the story begins, Henri meets a very mercenary woman (Corinne Calvet) and she sweet-talks a lot of money out of him. But he's not a wealthy man and cannot afford such a 'lady' and instead of just dumping her, he goes on a killing spree in order to become a rich man and to be able to afford her! So, again and again, he finds widows and manages to trick them out of their money and he kills them...and in a few cases brutally so. What's next? See the film.

Henri Landru could have been a pathetic and thoroughly stupid character...and that would have harmed the film. Fortunately, while he is at first an old fool, he doesn't stay stupid forever and his cleverness and persistence make the story interesting...as were some of the murders...which were amazingly grisly for the time. Well worth seeing and an exciting tale.

This is quite a stylish suspense, which would not have been the same if not in black and white. George Sanders portrays a middle-aged man losing his head for a mercantile young temptress (a very good performance by Corinne Calvet), and finding himself driven into a series of cold-blooded murders. Sanders makes the film what it is with his convincing portrayal of an obsessed and relentless character. If not for the dull ending, this would have been a great film noir; however, it does not live up to Sanders' charismatic and sarcastic appearance, which seems to be squeezed into a predictable thriller. Nevermind, still quite enjoyable. 6/10.

Look what you have-you've got George Sanders sleepwalking through the roll of Landru (and he sleepwalks so hysterically) and you've got Billy Wilder's brother directing (I guess Billy had other fish to fry at the time) and on top of all this you've got Corinne Calvet looking desperately alluring. The best part of this whole thing is watching George gleefully dusting off the old babes. The mundane dialogue is delivered in campy style by George at all times. Definetly and acquired taste but oooh la! la!

This one had me scratching my head. It's directed by Billy Wilder's brother and written by his nephew. I wondered if someone thought they were making a comedy, but Billy had gotten all the sense of humor in the family. Either that, or someone thought that Chaplin's MONSIEUR VERDOUX was too silly.

George Sanders plays his usual faux-charming role, but without any wit in the writing, he's very dull. He's in love with a young singer, but all she's interested in is money, so he decides to kill other women so he can give their jewelry to her. This goes on for a while in a manner that is neither horrific nor funny.

This movie was banned in Finland. I'm not sure why they bothered.