Rent A Woman of Paris (1923)

A diverting melodrama - A Woman of Paris review by RJ

An attempt by Chaplin to broaden his horizons by making a serious drama in which he did not feature (apart from in a brief cameo) as an actor. I would regard this as Chaplin's first proper feature film (I think The Kid is a transitional film between shorts and features) and it's actually pretty good. It is rather melodramatic - particularly the ending which overreaches itself in pursuit of pathos - but it's engaging and full of good performances.

If I'm honest, I found this a nice change from the antics of The Little Tramp, which I sometimes find hard to warm to. It's a shame that the film was not well received at the time, as this resulted in Chaplin giving the public what they wanted and going back to the tramp for his next film, The Gold Rush. For better or for worse, his career could have been very different if the public had embraced this film.

The 'Chaplin Today' featurette on the blu-ray release is worth watching. There are some interesting comments by Liv Ullmann, Michael Powell and others which helped to contextualise the film and which made me think about it in ways I hadn't considered on my initial viewing.

All Set Up, Nowhere to Climb - A Woman of Paris review by griggs

Chaplin directing without Chaplin on screen, and you can feel him pushing to be taken seriously for it. That effort shows in every frame.

The opening sets the tone, and it’s the wrong call. Everything’s pitched at maximum tragedy before the story’s properly begun, and that register hangs over the rest of the runtime. Paris, the affair, Adolphe Menjou being amusingly bored with his own decadence — none of it gets room to breathe, because scene one’s already told you this is Serious and Sad. Tonal whiplash, just slowed right down.

Menjou comes off best, mainly because he seems like the only person on set not buckling under the weight of it all. Edna Purviance, stuck mostly looking stricken in increasingly nice outfits, doesn’t get the same chance.

By the time it reaches for its big swings, there’s nowhere left to climb. It peaked early and spent the rest of the film trying to outdo itself.

A heavy hand, and a film that never quite recovers from it.