© 2008 William Ahearn
The Bluebeard of Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1944 “Bluebeard” may not be the Bluebeard that you think it is. The term Bluebeard – usually used to describe a man that kills a succession of wives – is from an old French poem that was based on folktales. The source of these folktales is arguable but one rather interesting character rises up from the research: Gilles de Rais, a French nobleman who fought in support of Joan of Arc and was later convicted of killing dozens and perhaps hundreds of young children. Gilles de Rais is often named as the prototype of the modern serial killer.
More information on Gilles de Rais can be found here, here and here.
Another famous Bluebeard was Henri Desiré Landru who murdered 10 women during World War I. He would find rich widows, seduce them and have them sign over their fortunes and then kill them. (A variant of this shows up in “The Honeymoon Killers” and Charlie Chaplin made a comedy of the story in “Monsieur Verdoux.”) More on Landru can be found here, here, and here.
The story in this film uses Bluebeard as a generic term for someone killing women in a series. Ulmer – who made an essential American film noir in “Detour” – creates the mood and settings for what John Carradine would call his favorite performance. It’s not a particularly good film and that ever-present and annoying soundtrack makes watching this flick difficult at times.
What is interesting about this film is the exploration of motive. Carradine plays an artist and puppeteer who becomes disillusioned when he finds out that the woman he idolized is actually a bimbo. She was his model and now after he’s finished with the next model he kills her and dumps her in the Seine. And so it goes. This film – as well as “Monsieur Verdoux” – seems to take the view that while this behavior isn’t acceptable, it’s certainly understandable. That’s what is really disturbing about this film.
It’s available on AVI here.