A Woman of the World
 Film poster in Swedish | ||
| Starring |
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| Directed by | Mal St. Clair | |
| Produced by | Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky | |
| Written by | Pierre Collings | |
| Studio | Paramount Pictures | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures | |
| Released | December 28, 1925 | |
| Runtime | 70 minutes | |
| Country | United States | |
| language | silent films | |
| AMG Info | All Movie Guide | |
| IMDB Info | 0016548 on IMDb | |
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This film marked my introduction to Pola Negri, and now that I've seen it I'd like to know if any of her other movies are as bizarre as this one. Perhaps "bizarre" isn't the most descriptive word for "A Woman of the World", but it sure is schizo. For much of the way it's an offbeat light comedy with stylish cinematic touches, primarily a satire on the already outmoded 'Vamp' film cycle of the 'Teens and on small-minded small town mores (easy targets both). Towards the climax, however, it unexpectedly turns into something else, a lurid melodrama with a denouement that is downright ludicrous. Depending on your tolerance for Hollywood malarkey of the silent era you may find the entire exercise deeply silly or, if you're in the right frame of mind, highly enjoyable. But you're not likely to forget the sight of Miss Negri, wild-eyed, brandishing a horsewhip!
The opening scenes are set on the Riviera, where Pola --playing a Countess named Elnora Natatorini, no less-- is involved with a man who means so much to her she's had his "crest," a skull and butterfly design, tattooed on her forearm. (It doesn't look anything like a family crest, but the design sure would be popular with Goth kids today.) Bear in mind that in 1925 tattoos were not often found outside the sea-going community, and were even less commonly found on women. Could it be that the Countess also smokes cigarettes? You bet she does: Turkish ovals, in a long and be-jeweled onyx holder. At times Miss Negri seems to be doing a Theda Bara impersonation, and like the notorious Vamp of Great War days the Countess Elnora is a true femme fatale, attracting men of all classes and ages and driving them nuts without half trying. But this time the tables are turned: she finds that her current man is dallying with another woman, so with much high drama she breaks off with him and abruptly decides to head for the other side of the world to forget. Specifically, she travels to the American Midwest to stay with distant cousins, in an Iowa town called Maple Valley.
Here's where we sit back in anticipation of laughs as the scenario follows the time-honored Fish Out of Water template. Maple Valley is one of those dusty little one-horse towns where the men wear suspenders and straw hats, ladies knit on the front porch and gossip, and everyone's very excited about the new water works. In small-town America the Countess Elnora looks like a creature from another planet with her pale powdered skin, dark makeup, pearls, fur stoles, etc. (And word quickly gets around about that tattoo.) Then again, to our eyes Elnora's cousin Sam looks like he just stepped out of the funny pages: Sam is played by one-time Keystone comic Chester Conklin, complete with his thick glasses and walrus mustache. The casting of Pola Negri and Chester Conklin as cousins must be one of the most unlikely familial pairings in the history of the cinema. They both look like comic strip characters, but ones drawn by different cartoonists. You just have to roll with it. Maple Valley, meanwhile, is dominated by a stern, Puritanical D.A. named Granger (well played by Holmes Herbert) who takes one look at Elnora and assumes that she's a "loose woman" from a neighboring town, in search of fresh trade. After getting off to a start like that their relationship can hardly get worse, and sure enough it's a thorny and perilous path they tread, flirting awkwardly at times but just as often regarding each other as natural enemies.
It seemed to me that most of the humor in this film is aimed not at the Countess or her pretentious behavior but rather at the small-mindedness and provincialism of the townspeople. When the Countess is introduced at a tea party she must grit her teeth and endure a lot of boorish palaver, and later she's expected to raise money for the local Ladies' Club by standing at a booth under a sign reading 'Talk to a Real Countess for 25 cents.' By this point the tone of the film has darkened, for the Countess' emotional entanglements with both Granger and his young assistant have resulted in public controversy. Ultimately, the Countess confronts the hypocritical Granger at a meeting of the town council. Armed with a horse-whip, she flogs him bloody before the shocked assembly of village elders. And then? The Countess and the stuffy D.A. get married, and presumably live happily ever after! As I said up top, the finale is both lurid and ludicrous, but you can't take A WOMAN OF THE WORLD too seriously even when things get twisted. It was meant as an escapist trifle, flagellation and all, and as such it holds up nicely. Pola Negri comes off as a sensuous, warm presence. Her performance style is somewhat 'heightened' but never to the point of looking foolish. However melodramatic her behavior may have been off-camera she's not afraid to poke a little fun at herself here, and that's an endearing trait. Silent movie fans who are curious about Miss Negri will enjoy this unusual film, and of course the Keystone buffs will savor the antics of her unlikely Cousin Chester.
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