View source for Bluebeard (1944 film)


{{Missing information|the film's theatrical release|date=October 2020}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
|name           = Bluebeard
|image          = Bluebeard.jpg
|caption        = Theatrical release poster
|director       = [[Edgar G. Ulmer]]
|producer       = {{ubl|Leon Fromkess|[[Martin Mooney]]}}
|screenplay     = [[Pierre Gendron (actor)|Pierre Gendron]]
|story          = {{ubl|[[Arnold Lippschitz]]|Werner H. Furst}}
|based_on       = ''[[Bluebeard|Barbe bleue]]''
|starring       = {{ubl|[[John Carradine]]|[[Jean Parker]]|[[Nils Asther]]}}
|music          = {{ubl|[[Leo Erdody]]|[[Charles Gounod]]}}
|cinematography = {{ubl|Jockey Arthur Feindel<br>(front for)<br>[[Eugen Schüfftan]]}}
|editing        = [[Carl Pierson]]
|studio = [[Producers Releasing Corporation]]
|distributor    = Producers Releasing Corporation
|released       = {{Film date|1944|11|11|United States}}
|runtime        = 72 minutes
|country        = United States
|language       = English
|budget         =$167,567.42<ref name=laird>{{cite book|author=Mank, Gregory William|publisher=McFarland|year=2018|title=Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy}}</ref>
| gross          =
}}
'''''Bluebeard''''' is a 1944 American [[historical film|historical]] [[film noir]] directed by [[Edgar G. Ulmer]], starring [[John Carradine]] in the title role.<ref>{{citation|title=Bluebeard|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036653/|access-date=October 23, 2020}}</ref> The film also stars [[Jean Parker]]. The film is based on the famous French tale ''[[Bluebeard|Barbe bleue]]''<ref>{{cite book|title=Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World|author=Haase, Donald|author2=Duggan, Anne E.|author3=Callow, Helen J.|date=February 12, 2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610692540}}</ref> that tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of one wife to avoid the fate of her predecessors. The film is registered in the [[public domain]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Leon Fromkess|title=Bluebeard|url=https://archive.org/details/Bluebeard|publisher=PRC Pictures, Inc.|access-date=October 23, 2020}}</ref>

==Plot==
All Paris is frightened by the murders attributed to "Bluebeard". [[Dressmaker|Modiste]] Lucille is introduced to Gaston Morrell, a [[puppet]]eer and painter, by her friend. They are attracted to each other, and she accepts a commission to design some costumes for his puppets.

At home, Morrell is confronted by a jealous Renee, who performs in Morrell's puppet show and is his lover. When she wonders what became of the models who had posed for him, he strangles her, then dumps her body in the [[Seine River]].

Art dealer Jean Lamarte is aware of Morrell's homicidal tendencies, but keeps his secret, as Morrell's paintings fetch high prices. However, the normally discreet Lamarte makes a mistake in selling Morrell's last work to a duke. When the duke exhibits his collection, a policeman on guard recognizes the portrait as being that of one of Bluebeard's victims.

Inspector Lefevre of the [[Sûreté]] calls in one of his best undercover agents, Francine, who happens to be Lucille's sister. She and her "father" go to Lamarte to have her portrait done. Lamarte is on his guard, but her father is willing to pay a very large commission to find the man responsible for the duke's painting, and Lamarte's greed overcomes his caution.

Morrell has decided to give up painting (which triggers his murderous compulsion) out of love for Lucille, but Lamarte pressures him into one last picture to make him financially independent. However, Francine recognizes him, having met him briefly earlier at her sister's apartment, and Morrell has no choice but to dispose of her. Certain that Francine and her father were working for the police, Lamarte tries to flee, but Morrell catches him and kills him too, before escaping. The only clue he leaves behind is the [[cravat (early)|cravat]] he used to strangle Francine.

At Francine's funeral, Inspector Lefevre shows Lucille the cravat. She knows it belongs to Morrell, as she had mended it for him. When she confronts Morrell, he tells her the story behind his crimes. As a starving art student, he had nursed back to health a woman who had fainted, fallen in love with her, and painted her portrait. She left without warning. When his painting was chosen to hang in the [[Louvre]], he searched for her to tell her the news, only to discover that she was a prostitute. Enraged by her contemptuous response, he strangled her. But ever since then, every model he painted turned into her in his mind, and he was compelled to kill her again and again. When Lucille tells him she is going to the authorities, he starts strangling her too, but the police break in. Lefevre saw that Lucille recognized the cravat and had her followed. After a chase across the rooftops, Morrell falls to his death into the Seine.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
*[[John Carradine]] as Gaston Morrell
*[[Jean Parker]] as Lucille Lutien
*[[Nils Asther]] as Inspector Jacques Lefevre
*[[Ludwig Stössel]] as Jean Lamarte (as Ludwig Stossel)
*[[George Pembroke]] as Inspector Renard
*[[Teala Loring]] as Francine Lutien 
*[[Sonia Sorel]] as Renee Claremont
*[[Henry Kolker]] as Deschamps Lutien
*[[Emmett Lynn]] as Le Soldat 
*[[Iris Adrian]] as Mimi Roberts
*[[Patti McCarty]] as Babette
*[[Carrie Devan]] as Constance
*[[Anne Sterling]] as Jeanette Le Beau
*[[Harry Cording]] as Policeman (uncredited)
*[[Frank Darien]] as Inquiry Judge (uncredited)
*[[Mabel Forrest]] as Woman (uncredited) 
*Eddie Hall as Paul (uncredited)
*John Maxwell Hayes as Man (uncredited) 
*[[George Irving (American actor)|George Irving]] as The Duke of Carineaux (uncredited)
*[[Ethelreda Leopold]] as Laughing Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
}}

==Production==
{{expand section|date=October 2020}}
Carradine was paid $9,333.32.<ref name=laird/>
Eugen Schufftan was uncredited as cinematographer due to union restrictions at the time of this film.  Instead, he is listed on some prints as "production designer". The art director [[Paul Palmentola]], a veteran of low-budget films, designed the sets.

==Reception==
Author and film critic [[Leonard Maltin]] awarded the film 3/4 stars, calling it "Surprisingly effective".{{sfn|Maltin|Green|Edelman|2010|p=69}} Dennis Schwartz from ''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'' gave the film a grade A, "Though not exactly a horror story, more a psycho serial killer tale that turns out to be a spellbinding chiller that mixes sleaze with thrills in an inventive way that only a great filmmaker such as Ulmer can get away with."<ref name="schwartz06">{{cite web|author=Schwartz, Dennis|title=bluebeard1944|url=https://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/bluebeard1944.htm|website=Sover.net|publisher=Dennis Schwartz|access-date=October 23, 2020|archive-date=June 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621131932/http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/bluebeard1944.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Nigel Honeybone of the ''horrornews.net'' said that "[The film] is badly in need of a restoration, but as it’s not likely to get one, there’s no point in waiting."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://horrornews.net/2098/film-review-bluebeard-1944/|author=Honeybone, Nigel|title=Film Review: Bluebeard (1944)|access-date=October 23, 2020}}</ref>

''Bluebeard'' was released on [[DVD]] on April 21, 2000. Mark Zimmer of the ''Digitally obsessed.com'' praised the DVD's developer, All Day Entertainment for presenting the film in the "near top-notch form", adding that "[it is] a pleasure for devotees of classic horror films".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=38|author=Zimmer, Mark|title=Bluebeard|website=Digitally Obsessed|access-date=October 23, 2020|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919112836/http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=38|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Walter Albert of the ''Mystery Fancier'' praised its visual effects and compared them to ''[[You Only Live Once (1937 film)|You Only Live Once]]'', a 1937 film by [[Fritz Lang]].<ref>Albert, Walter. ''The Mystery Fancier'', (May–June 1982). '''6'''(3).</ref>

The film also got 100% positive reviews from 12 critics on film aggregator site [[Rotten Tomatoes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1002732-bluebeard|title=Bluebeard|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=October 23, 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of films in the public domain in the United States]]
*[[List of American films of 1944]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
'''Bibliography'''
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book|last1=Maltin|first1=Leonard|last2=Green|first2=Spencer|last3=Edelman|first3=Rob|title=Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLtaAAAAYAAJ|date=January 2010|publisher=Plume|isbn=978-0-452-29577-3}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

*{{IMDb title|0036653}}
*{{TCMDb title|5866}}
*{{Internet Archive film|id=Bluebeard}}

{{Edgar G. Ulmer}}
{{Bluebeard}}


[[Category:1944 films]]
[[Category:1944 American films]]
[[Category:1944 English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s crime thriller films]]
[[Category:1940s historical thriller films]]
[[Category:1940s serial killer films]]
[[Category:American historical thriller films]]
[[Category:American crime thriller films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Films based on Bluebeard]]
[[Category:Films directed by Edgar G. Ulmer]]
[[Category:Films set in Paris]]
[[Category:Films set in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Gothic films]]
[[Category:Producers Releasing Corporation films]]
[[Category:English-language crime thriller films]]
[[Category:English-language historical thriller films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Bluebeard (1944 film)|access_date=2026-02-27}}