Customer Reviews

Woman of Paris, A/Sunnyside [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I would say that "A Woman of Paris" is Charlie Chaplin's answer to Woody Allen's "Interiors," except that Allen was not even born when Chaplin directed this 1923 film. Chaplin's first production for United Artists, the comedian only appears in an unrecognizable cameo as a porter lugging a trunk in this drama that features Edna Purviance. As Chaplin's leading lady Purviance made almost forty films with the comedian from 1915 to 1926 and with this dramatic effort he was trying to make her a bankable star independent of his comedies.

"A Woman of Paris" (Released September 26, 1923) is the story of Marie St. Clair (Purviance), a girl from a small French town who plans on eloping to Paris with her lover, Jean (Carl Miller), a would-be artist. Her father disapproves and when Jean leaves her at the train station, Marie ends up in Paris by herself and becomes the mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel (Adolphe Menjou). In time, Marie runs into Jean again, and is forced to choose between money and love. The fact that there is sin on the one side and the sanctity of marriage comes into play because "A Woman of Paris" is ultimately pure melodrama, beautifully photographed by Roland Totheroh.

Audiences in 1923, of course, were disappointed to find that Chaplin had produced a film that was not a comedy, although there are a couple of decent comic sequences. The film was quickly pulled from release and while it did nothing for Purviance's career, although she turned in what is arguably the most memorable and effective performance of her film career, it did boost that of Menjou. Yes, "A Woman of Paris" suffers in comparison to Chaplin's other films, but as a period melodrama it is certainly above average. The film was not the biggest failure of Chaplin's career; that would be "A Woman of the Sea" (a.k.a. "Sea Gulls") another film featuring Purviance, which he produced but did not direct in 1926. When that film bombed, Chaplin destroyed the negatives. Chaplin was obviously bothered by the response to "A Woman of Paris," re-editing it and composing a new score for the film in the 1970s that was not released until after his death.

"Sunnyside" (Released June 15, 1919) was one of the comedies that Chaplin made for First National Pictures, the studio he signed with after his happiest days at Mutual. However, this was the least of those efforts, probably because Chaplin rushed to get it out. Having developed his own way of creating his comedic masterpieces, being under the gun was rather unproductive. The story begins with the Tramp working as a handyman on a farm, where he develops a crush on the pretty girl next door (Purviance). Unfortunately, his Boss (Tom Wilson) is out to work him to death, and then we get to an extended fantasy sequence with lots of nymphs. There is a nice little bit with the horse doctor, but overall this is a substandard Chaplin comedy.

When you put "A Woman of Paris" and "Sunnyside" on the same videotape, you end up with what less laughs per capita (or per minute) than any other Chaplin videotape. But if you view Chaplin's one extant attempt at drama in the right context, it is certainly worth viewing. Still, this is not a place for the beginning Chaplin afficiando to start. You would want to see all of the Mutual shorts along with Chaplin's feature films before you take the time to check out these two efforts.

This film isn't bad at all to me . You just need to watch it through carefully and in my opinion , it's his best drama ever , even better then Limelight . Although it does'nt have any comedy in it the plot is pretty good and some sequences are almost heartbreaking . The quality of the film is very good and the way Rolie Totheroh the cameraman took the shots was excellent . The people Charlie chose to play the cast was good too . Too bad the film was a failure in 1923 and chaplin failed in making Edna have a future career in drama . The only reason why I give this video a 4 is because the short comedy Sunnyside is very weak and hardly made me laugh at all .

I haven't seen this film yet, but I wanted to balance the one dismissively negative review on here. "A Woman of Paris" is much admired for its pioneering use of subtlety and suggestion, and sounds like a fine drama. I haven't seen "Sunnyside" yet, either, but it is generally known as one of the weakest of Chaplin's independent shorts.

A woman of Paris is a miserable excuse for a movie, however the film short, "Sunnyside" is pretty good though.