Chaplin's War Trilogy

<p> The book examines Charlie Chaplin's evolving perspective on dark comedy in his three war films <I>Shoulder Arms</I> (1918) <I>The Great Dictator</I> (1940) and <I>Monsieur Verdoux</I> (1947). In the first he uses the genre in a groundbreaking manner but yet for a pro-war cause. In Dictator dark comedy is applied in an antiwar way. In <I>Monsieur Verdoux</I> Chaplin embraces the genre as an individual in defense against a society out to destroy him. All three are pivotal films in the development of the genre in film with the latter two movies being very controversial for their time.</p>