The lesser-known of Charlie Chaplin’s canon might still place among the finest films ever made, and his greatest scholars and acolytes will tell you A Woman of Paris has always deserved such label. It began the run of feature-length masterpieces that was The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator (which should also include Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, A King in New York, maybe even A Countess from Hong Kong) but remains semi-obscure––an oddity perhaps partly explained by Chaplin’s own classification as “the first serious drama written and directed by myself,” and one soon be amended by Janus Films’ U.S. release of a 4K restoration.
Ahead of its December 22 premiere at Film Forum, there’s a new trailer and poster. The former suggests a strong, faithful rendering from Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Timothy Brock, who has newly conducted Chaplin’s original score; the latter so strongly evokes a 1923 theatrical release that I assumed it was the original one-sheet with new titles attached.
Find preview and poster below:
“The first serious drama written and directed by myself,” goes the opening title. For his premiere United Artists release, Charlie Chaplin chose a sophisticated drama sans himself (apart from a heavily disguised cameo), with his frequent leading lady Edna Purviance as the eponymous femme kept by rich philanderer Adolphe Menjou.
