Main Cast: Charles Denner, Danielle Darrieux, Michèle Morgan, Juliette Mayniel
Release Year: 1963
Country: IT/FR
Run Time: 108 minutes
Plot
This black comedy is based on the dastardly deeds of French serial killer Henri-Desire Landru, who wined, dined, scammed, and dismembered over 10 women during WW I. He obtained his victims by placing ads in the Personals section of the paper. He then chose wealthy dowagers in their fifties. First he would woo them to his villa. Then he would con them into forking over their fortunes. Finally he would kill them, chop them up, and immolate the pieces. He is finally captured after he is recognized by the sister of one of the victims. Landru swears that he is not a psychotic killer, that he only did it so he could continue to support his family in the bourgeoisie style that they were accustomed to. During his trial, Landru refused to plead for himself one way or the other; he showed no remorse at all. He was guillotined on February 25, 1922. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Stéphane Audran - Fernande Segret; Mary Marquet - Mme. Guillin; Henri Attal; Sacha Briquet - Assistant prosecutor; Mario David - Prosecutor; Francoise Lugagne - Mme. Landru; Claude Mansard - Defense Attorney; Jean-Louis Maury - Commissioner Belin; Hildegarde Neff - Madame Ixe; Denise Provence - Mme. Laporte; Catherine Rouvel - Andree Babelot; Dominique Zardi - Gendarme; Claude Chabrol; Jean-Pierre Melville - Georges Mandel; Serge Bento - Maurice Landru; Raymond Queneau - Clemenceau; Robert Burnier - Presiding judge
Credit
Maurice Albray - Costume Designer, Claude Chabrol - Director, Jacques Gaillard - Editor, Pierre Jansen - Composer (Music Score), André Girard - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jacques Saulnier - Production Designer, Jean Rabier - Cinematographer, Carlo Ponti - Producer, Georges de Beauregard - Producer, Francoise Sagan - Screenwriter
The Good Time Girls (1960) ·Wise Guys (1961) ·The Third Lover (1962) ·Bluebeard (1963) ·Ophélia (1963) ·The Tiger Likes Fresh Meat (1964) ·Marie-Chantal vs. Doctor Kha (1965) ·An Orchid for the Tiger (1965) ·Line of Demarcation (1966) ·The Champagne Murders (1967) ·The Road to Corinth (1967) ·The Does (1968) ·The Unfaithful Wife (1969) ·This Man Must Die (1969)
1970s
The Butcher (1970) ·The Break Up (1970) ·Just Before Nightfall (1971) ·Ten Days Wonder (1971) ·Dr. Popaul (1972) ·Wedding in Blood (1973) ·The Nada Gang (1974) ·A Piece of Pleasure (1975) ·Innocents with Dirty Hands (1975) ·Death Rite (1976) ·The Twist (1976) ·Alice or the Last Escapade (1977) ·Blood Relatives (1978) ·Violette Nozière (1978)
Quiet Days in Clichy (1990) ·Dr. M (1990) ·Madame Bovary (1991) ·Betty (1992) ·The Eye of Vichy (1993) ·Hell (1994) ·A Judgement in Stone (1995) ·The Swindle (1997) ·At the Heart of the Lie (1999)
