Co-director of South West Silents and Film Noir UK James Harrison explores the Criterion Collection's new Blu-ray release of Charles Chaplin's A Woman of Paris (1923) plus a chance to win a copy!
Back in 2021 I was in the process of programming a number of silent film titles for South West Silents’ City and Silent Film series. These special themed strands, in collaboration with Bristol Ideas’ Festival of the Future City, very much showcased the relationship between silent film and cities captured on camera in the early decades of the 20th Century. By chance, this is a project which we are continuing in March 2025 with our ‘Montage, City and Silent Film’ double bills.
The 2021 strand however centred around ‘Paris and Silent Film’ and included French classics such as Crainquebille (1922), Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge (1924), Le Mystère de la tour Eiffel (1928), Au Bonheur des Dames (1930) and Rene Clair’s Le Silence est D’or (1947) as well as Hollywood’s own perception of the French capital and it’s revolutionary citizens in Griffith’s Orphans of the Storm (1921).
Charles Chaplin’s A Woman of Paris (1923) had been in the lineup; as well as Entr’acte (1924), Paris Qui Dort (1924) and L'Argent (1928), but, as always with these things, when it came to programming it all; I realised we really didn’t have the space to include everything. Something had to go. And A Woman of Paris was one of those titles that met “la chop!”
But was I right to drop Chaplin’s 1923 film? “But why do you want to screen it?” someone asked me when I was pondering over it in 2021, “It’s not even funny”. “That’s not the point tho” I replied.
In fact, I began to release that many had the same feeling; many of which hadn’t even seen the film. For them, A Woman of Paris is an oddity in Chaplin’s filmography. It sits between The Kid (1921) and The Gold Rush (1925); two masterpieces which would most certainly overshadow anything sitting between them.
But A Woman of Paris is a masterpiece. It is a film that secures Chaplin’s artistry as a pioneering filmmaker overall and far more than a genius locked in a comic sphere. His directing is flawless and to the point and his storytelling (which Chaplin wrote) is sharp.
As for everything happening in front of the camera; Edna Purviance is perfect in the film as Marie St. Clair, a figure who beautifully glides through every shot and holds every scene. It’s her presence during the large set pieces, in this case, entertaining Parisian parties that really makes herself shine. Purviance’s approach and attitude within the entire film gives us the sense of confidence that she was able to build up over the past eight years working alongside Chaplin.
Another actor holding their own in A Woman of Paris is Adolphe Menjou playing as Pierre Revel. If anything, Menjou, is the perfect example of falseness, on and off camera. A stylish persona who oozes, charm, refinement and sophistication and always wants the upper-hand. Menjou’s performance could well just be a performance of Adolphe Menjou himself instead of Chaplin’s Pierre Revel to be honest. Both are very much of the same ilk of Erich von Stroheim’s ‘the man we love to hate’ persona. Paramount went one further in 1927 by casting him in the lead as the womanising Marquis de Marignan in A Gentleman of Paris. So very much the perfect individual to play such a pompous character.
But A Woman of Paris is Edna Purviance’s film. It’s a film that Chaplin specially designed and produced for her and her alone. It’s a film that should have established the next stage in Purviance’s career. But it didn’t. And it’s a real shame. A Woman of Paris is as perfect as any Chaplin film that had come before or come afterwards.
This new Criterion release most certainly reinforces this fact with new essays by Pamela Hutchinson and Jeffrey Vance (a video one for Vance in fact), a 2023 documentary by Arnold Lozano called Archive Commentary: About “A Woman of Paris” as well as a host of MK2 produced material which were originally compiled for the DVD release of A Woman of Paris in 2000 and much more.
So had I been naive to drop A Woman of Paris so suddenly when programming ‘Paris and Silent Film’ in 2021? Probably. But I guess I made up for it two years later when we had a special screening for the film’s 100th Anniversary. I highly recommend you buy this new release from Criterion.
Thanks to the Criterion Collection UK team we have a brand new copy of A Woman of Paris (1923) up for grabs as well as a Criterion tote bag; just send us your answer to the question below via our contact page by mid-night on Sunday 30th March to be in with a chance. Good Luck!
Question: Who played Edna Purviance in Richard Attenborough's biopic Chaplin (1992)?
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