Perfection? Arguably not; Verdoux has clunky moments and some flat casting, but with an able assist from the great comedian Martha Raye, Chaplin's latter-day greatness is readily apparent.

In its uncanny depiction of a weakling whose crimes pale against those of the war-mad society around him, it's a near masterpiece.

Chaplin generates little sympathy. His broad-mannered antics, as a many-aliased fop on the make for impressionable matrons.

Chaplin is marvelous as the cutthroat Casanova, and his scenes opposite a fabulous Martha Raye as the most indestructible of his conquests are the movie’s best.