a woman
of paris

1923 ***** 78 mins.

The first thought that came to my mind after watching this film was this: Charles Chaplin should have taken to the director's chair more often. This is a true masterpiece of filmmaking. Charles Chaplin directed this compelling drama about a woman named Marie St. Clair (Edna Purviance) who is engaged to a man named Jean (Carl Miller). Jean's father dies, so he tells the Marie they will have to postpone their trip to Paris to get married. Well, the woman goes to Paris alone and becomes the mistress of "the richest bachelor in Paris" (Adolphe Menjou). Jean becomes a successful painter and meets up with Marie again. The love story is compelling, and this film very finely displays that love and heartbreak often go hand in hand. One will note that Chaplin does not appear in this film, except as an unrecognizable cameo as a railway porter. His direction is top-notch, the story engrosses, and the film flows with an ease that few films have. In the viewing of this film, one easily forgets that it is a silent film.
Number 9 on KRSJR Productions' 25 Greatest Motion Pictures of All Time.
Charles Chaplin is Number 10 on AFI's 100 Years . . . 100 Stars.
Not Rated.