Bluebeard

The title of this film alone tells you exactly what kind of story you are going to get. Everyone knows the tale of Bluebeard and his wives. It was told to us as kids as a form of disturbing bedtime story more fitting for a campfire tale, yet we all heard it and remember it to this day. This film shares some similarities to the old pirate tale while also taking things in a somewhat different direction. It relocates the story to the streets of Paris and, instead of killing his wives, this Bluebeard is killing the women he paints because they remind him of the first woman he loved and painted, a woman who turned out to be a prostitute. 

Our killer is Gaston Morrell (John Carradine), a puppeteer and painter. When we first meet him he is being introduced to Modiste Lucille (Jean Parker) by her friend. There is an immediate attraction between them and she accepts a commission to design some costumes for his puppets. Later, he is confronted by a jealous Renee (Sonia Sorel), who performs in his shows. Renee argues with him and confronts him about the models who had posed for him who have all disappeared. In his anger, he strangles her and dumps her body in the Seine River. From there the film follows a familiar trajectory where a bit of carelessness provides the police with a lead on who is killing women on the streets of Paris. Eventually this brings them to Lucille, whose sister becomes one of the latest victims. 

John Carradine is doing an adequate, though somewhat theatrical, job portraying the killer. It gets the job done but falls back on a problem many actors had during the early years of sound films. He relies heavily on heavy expressions to convey emotion, something needed in the silent era that took several years to fully die out once performers adapted to the new format. There are far too many moments where the camera narrows in on his bulging eyes to sell his insanity or anger. Since the film never lets us wonder who the killer actually is, we have to depend on the performances to carry this film and that just doesn’t happen here. 

Carradine and Parker make for a charming enough couple, but, without the suspense of mystery, they can only carry it so far. So much of this is riding on that relationship that whenever it shifts focus away from them the film bogs down. There are also far too few actual murders on screen for such a story. Most of the deaths happened before the film began so there isn’t even that to drive any suspense. The final result is a rather subdued murder drama that drags its feet for over an hour and then ends on a rather poorly filmed finale that relies more on a cheap camera trick than legitimate ingenuity and excitement. 1944 - 72 minutes