A WOMAN OF PARIS (1923) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Charles Chaplin
Edna Purviance, Adolphe Menjou,
Carl Miller, Lydia Knott
At the time he made this, Charlie Chaplin was probably the most famous human being on the planet. So he took a risk. He made a movie in which he doesn't star. It's not even a comedy. It's a romantic melodrama about a young woman who moves from a small town to the City of Light, where she learns to enjoy the good life as the mistress of a playboy millionaire. Complications develop when she encounters her old boyfriend, now a struggling painter, and the millionaire announces his engagement to another woman. The humor is incidental, and all does not end well for everybody. Without Chaplin the star at the center of things, this is a good chance to appreciate Chaplin the filmmaker, and Edna Purviance, Charlie's frequent leading lady from the early days, has the best role of her career. You'll really have to look to spot Chaplin in a tiny cameo role.
