1253 A Woman of Paris

[domino harvey]

TK

[domino harvey]

Stunned they chose this over the other MIA Chaplins (A King in New York and Chaplin Revue)

[yoloswegmaster]

Not too much of a shock considering they were touring the new restoration last year. I'm just surprised they didn't release this on 4K.

Also, can someone correct me if I'm wrong but the reason why we aren't see the original version is because of Chaplin's Estate?

[domino harvey]

Is this the first disc appearance of this film to not pair it with A King in New York? I expected sister releases at any rate

[GaryC]

Is this the first disc appearance of this film to not pair it with A King in New York? I expected sister releases at any rate

The Curzon Artificial Eye Blus of 2015 were separate releases.

[Peacock]

What a terrible announcement. Criterion bravely put out the original Gold Rush (albeit listed as an extra) on Blu but couldn’t be bothered fighting to put the original version of The Woman of Paris out, by far the best Chaplin awaiting a Region A Blu.

Looks like if you were waiting for the Criterion you should instead get the 2023 French Blu which includes both versions of the film and some of the same extras.

[TechnicolorAcid]

If it helps Criterion does have the removed 1923 scenes included in the extras and the key difference is that 2 versions of The Gold Rush are radically different, especially in regards to the fact that the 1942 version becomes a sound film so logically it makes sense to have both versions on that disc. Of course, I haven’t seen either version so perhaps the 1976 cut is completely different in how the story plays out compared to the original 1923 cut.

[ryannichols7]

they set that precedent with The Kid but if the French disc includes it, hmm..

like TA I haven't seen this one yet so can't speak to it. I know Chaplin was notoriously revisionist, sometimes it wasn't too bad (The Circus and The Kid) but The Gold Rush was for sure most impacted

[Saturnome]

I'm sure A Woman of Paris was tinted, too.

[yoloswegmaster]

I emailed Criterion about the 1923 version not being included, and they responded with this:

The 1923 version was taken out of circulation by Chaplin not long after its initial release. He revisited the film in 1976 (as he did with several of his earlier works around that time), removed some shots, and composed a new score. That new version, which is what the 4K restoration master represents, was considered the official version by Chaplin. His preference continues to be honored by the Chaplin Estate, and therefore, we are only able to include the deleted shots from the 1923 version, and not the entire film.

It sounds like the Chaplin estate controls what is released in the U.S. but not around the world.

[Red Screamer]

If I remember correctly, the changes he made outside of the score were somewhat minor (including perhaps making Chaplin's cameo slightly shorter?), but I guess we will see the exact cuts when the edition comes out.

[Stefan Andersson]

Discussion of versions released, frame rate differences and more:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36688

[yoloswegmaster]

So this French release doesn't actually contain the original version?

[Red Screamer]

Yeah, their discussion is confusing as well. I saw the new restoration theatrically and it does include Chaplin’s cameo as the porter, for example, I just thought the original cut had a longer version of it. But maybe not.

[Stefan Andersson]

I haven´t seen the French disc myself.

A Dec. 23 post (+ followup comment) on Nitrateville seems clearly worded:

"Word is that the French disc does not include the uncut version of the film, just two different encodings of the cut version, one of them at a slower frame rate.
That's exactly it: the version restored in 2019 was transfered in a simulation of 22 fps (one frame out of 11 is repeated), and it's still the same exact cut as the 1977 version."

More details re; French release, in several posts by kishiro and others here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... 978&page=2

Especially relevant quote:
"the Image DVD of A King in New York / A Woman of Paris is uncut for both films." Haven´t seen these either myself.

[domino harvey]

Image’s A King in New York is LESS cut than any other home video release (by about ten minutes or so, I think?), but it still has a good selection of deleted material (included from the original cut on the disc)