Was Edna Purviance robbed of stardom
Posted: February 3rd, 2008, 5:45 am
I think CharlieChaplin fan will know this better than me, but as far as i believe A Woman Of Paris was at the time of release in 1923 a box office failure and as a result Edna never apart from alledged cameos never worked again. Though i do wonder about the later film that was never made A Woman Of The Sea and why the negative was destroyed.
i don't think even the director Charlie Chaplin lived to see AWOP go on to be regarded a cult classic some 50-yrs after it was made. for him it wasn't so bad, he had all those other great films he made to look back on. however, for Edna it seems tragic that she died in the late 50s believing, other than her comedies with Charlie, she never made it in dramatic roles and that some 30-yrs after her death suddenly the film is hailed as a masterpiece.
as to the negative of A Woman Of The Sea that's anyones guess. i read that Edna suffered from a lack of confidence, but an expert on her told me that wasn't the case. i even wondered if it was because for some strange reason Chaplin didn't direct the film, prefering to give it to Joseph Von Sternberg, who gained the reputation of being a difficult man to work for in his prime years in the 1930s
I personally believe however, Edna was all ready a great actress in the Chaplin movies. she was brilliant in The Kid and had her moments in the likes of The Imigrant and Easy Street
i don't think even the director Charlie Chaplin lived to see AWOP go on to be regarded a cult classic some 50-yrs after it was made. for him it wasn't so bad, he had all those other great films he made to look back on. however, for Edna it seems tragic that she died in the late 50s believing, other than her comedies with Charlie, she never made it in dramatic roles and that some 30-yrs after her death suddenly the film is hailed as a masterpiece.
as to the negative of A Woman Of The Sea that's anyones guess. i read that Edna suffered from a lack of confidence, but an expert on her told me that wasn't the case. i even wondered if it was because for some strange reason Chaplin didn't direct the film, prefering to give it to Joseph Von Sternberg, who gained the reputation of being a difficult man to work for in his prime years in the 1930s
I personally believe however, Edna was all ready a great actress in the Chaplin movies. she was brilliant in The Kid and had her moments in the likes of The Imigrant and Easy Street