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Film: Bluebeard
Year: 1944
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Writer: Pierre Gendron
Starring: John Carradine, Jean Parker and Nils Asther
Review:
This was a movie that I vaguely knew the title of because of it being a folktale. I know I saw a variation of this story with the film Elizabeth Harvest. This was also one that I tried to read years ago, ahead of when I probably should have, but didn't remember any of the details. When settling in to see this, seeing that this featured John Carradine intrigued me. This was watched as a Foray through the Fours film as well.
Synopsis: in Paris, an artist hires portrait models and after he finishes painting, he strangles them.
We start this with a body being found floating in the water. We then shift over to a poster that is here to get us as the viewer up to speed. It gives details about the 'Bluebeard' murders. There have been multiple women found in the river. There isn't much evidence to go from and the police are lost. They are requesting information to help solve it.
This then shifts us over to a group of ladies. One of them isn't scared of murders. Her name is Lucille (Jean Parker). With two of her friends, they go to a puppet show. It is there that she is introduced to Gaston Morrell (Carradine). They are smitten with each other. He is also one of the puppeteers. This company is his and he does all the costumes. His flirting with Lucille upsets Renee (Sonia Sorel). They are lovers and she is part of the show. It seems that he does this and comes back to her, but she's had enough. It is here that we learn that Gaston is this murderer. It is interesting that the bodies are found in the river because he has access from his home.
Things became complicated when Gaston, who is a painter, collaborated with Jean Mamarte (Ludwig Stössel), an art dealer. Jean knows Gaston's secret. He keeps it though due to how good the art is and more importantly for him, the price that he can sell them at. That is until a painting is sold to the duke of Carineaux (George Irving). Gaston is worried that someone will recognize the subject as one of the victims. He decides to go there to see if he can take it. Before he can, a police officer notices this and alerts Inspector Lefevre (Nils Asther).
This gives them a lead. The goal is to figure out who the painter is. This doesn't net as much as they wanted so it is decided to use Francine (Teala Loring). She goes undercover with another inspector posing as her father and see if they can entice Jean to give up who the painter is. Something of note, Francine is the sister to Lucille. The closer they get to the truth; the more unhinged Gaston becomes.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I'll admit that I was taken off-guard that this isn't about the tale of 'Bluebeard'. I did settle in though and didn't let that affect my enjoyment of what they we do get. This feels like a classic idea where the police or news reporters are dubbing a killer something and it sticks. An example would be like in 'Red Dragon' where the killer is dubbed 'The Tooth Fairy' due to biting their victims and where they called themselves 'Red Dragon'. Not that our killer wants to be called anything here but being in Paris and 'Bluebeard' being from French folklore, as well as women being targeted, works.
Now that I have that set up, let me delve into the murder mystery of this. It feels like the era where we are shown who the killer is by the end of the first act/start of the second. This then becomes more about the mystery of how the police figure out who that person is. What I like is that we're getting more into the psyche. The different clues that lead the police closer to the killer were good. There is even this great scene where we see Gaston use a certain leather item as a garrote. Lucille sees that it is torn so she mends it. That adds a creepy level to how things play out here. His motive is what it is which is on par with the era.
Since this is more focusing on the acting let me shift over there. I'll give credit to Carradine. What I like is that he comes off as suave when we meet him. The farther we get into the story we see that he has hang-ups. I thought he managed this well and developed the character. He fits the role. Parker is fine as the love interest. She seems like she'll get more in the beginning but disappears as we go on. Asther works as the inspector who oversees the investigation. I like Stössel as the shady art dealer who is willing to jeopardize everything for money. Other than that, I thought that George Pembroke, Loring and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. Most of the things I could find about this one is that it didn't have much of a budget. It is a poverty row film that had limited sets. The cinematography was fine for the era. It was limited there what they did. Something that is a perk were the close shots of the eyes for Gaston. That felt borrowed from what they would do with Bela Lugosi. Carradine's eyes aren't as striking. I thought that costumes to fit this era of Paris worked well enough. There isn't much in the way of effects. It also didn't need them either. There is jarring editing and a few times I wasn't fully sure what was happening. Other than that, the soundtrack was fine, but I don't remember much there.
In conclusion, I thought that this did interesting things. I like using the folklore of 'Bluebeard' to describe this killer. We are getting a misogynistic idea about the killings that were common for this era and one's past. There isn't much to this story aside from Inspector Lefevre trying to figure out who that killer is. Carradine was solid in his performance along with Asther. The rest of the cast was fine. This has slight issues with the filmmaking, but this didn't necessarily have the budget either. I think this is interesting enough to watch if you enjoy movies from the era.
My Rating: 6 out of 10