Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Charles Inslee, Marta Golden, Margie Reiger, Billy Armstrong

STORY

What begins as an ordinary afternoon in the park quickly becomes anything but ordinary when Charlie encounters an attractive young woman and her family. After a little flirting, a little mischief, and the inevitable Chaplin complications, Charlie finds himself invited into their home—only to discover that the girl's father is someone he's already managed to antagonize.
When Charlie needs a disguise to avoid being recognized, he comes up with an audacious solution: shave off his famous mustache, put on a dress, add a hat, and reappear as an entirely different person.
And remarkably... it works.
Soon the household is caught in an escalating comedy of mistaken identities, romantic confusion, flirtation, and deception as Chaplin gleefully plays with everyone's assumptions about exactly who this mysterious new "woman" might be.

AIN BACKSTAGE SECRETS & AINTOIDS

AINtoid: Charlie Becomes the Leading Lady!
The centerpiece of A Woman is Chaplin's transformation into a female character—and he commits completely to the performance.
Gone are the familiar mustache, baggy trousers, oversized shoes, and recognizable silhouette. Chaplin changes his posture, walk, gestures, and facial expressions along with the costume.
The joke works because he doesn't merely put on a dress.
He creates another character.

AINtoid: Goodbye, Famous Mustache!
Removing Chaplin's tiny toothbrush mustache makes an astonishing difference.
By 1915, that mustache was already becoming one of his most recognizable trademarks. Without it, Chaplin's remarkably youthful face suddenly becomes visible.
Watch closely when he appears in disguise.
For audiences accustomed to the Little Tramp, simply seeing Chaplin without his famous mustache must have been part of the surprise.

AINtoid: Chaplin Had Done This Before
A Woman wasn't Chaplin's first appearance in female clothing.
During his Keystone year, he had already experimented with gender disguise in films including A Busy Day and The Masquerader.
But A Woman gives the idea considerably more room to develop, turning the disguise into an essential part of the plot rather than simply a quick visual joke.

AINtoid: The Tramp Was Still a Rascal
Anyone who knows the tender Little Tramp of City Lights may be surprised by Charlie's behavior in some of these early films.
The 1915 version could be flirtatious, opportunistic, combative, and wonderfully naughty.
That's part of what makes watching these early shorts so fascinating. Chaplin was still experimenting with the character, gradually transforming this mischievous troublemaker into the compassionate underdog who would eventually capture the world's heart.

AINtoid: Edna and Charlie Were Becoming a Team
Edna Purviance again appears opposite Chaplin during the year their legendary screen partnership began.
Chaplin had discovered Purviance shortly after joining Essanay, and she quickly became his principal leading lady.
Her calm, natural screen presence was the perfect counterweight to Charlie's comic mayhem—and their partnership would continue through some of the most important films of Chaplin's career.

AINtoid: Another Day in Chaplin's Dangerous Park
Once again, Chaplin begins his adventure in that most hazardous location in silent cinema:
the public park.
Parks were perfect locations for silent comedy because characters from different backgrounds could naturally cross paths. Lovers, husbands, wives, policemen, thieves, children, and Charlie could all occupy the same space without requiring much explanation.
Add one park bench and Chaplin could practically manufacture a movie.

AINtoid: Nearing the End of the Essanay Adventure
Released in July 1915, A Woman came during Chaplin's enormously important year with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company.
He had already become famous at Keystone, but Essanay gave him greater freedom to experiment with story, character, pacing, and directing.
Those experiments helped prepare Chaplin for the extraordinary Mutual films that would follow in 1916 and 1917.

AINtoid: Watch the Performance, Not Just the Dress
The costume provides the obvious joke, but Chaplin's physical transformation is where the real filmmaking lesson lies.
Watch how differently he moves once disguised.
Chaplin understood that a character wasn't created simply by clothing. Silhouette, posture, rhythm, expression, and movement told an audience who they were watching.
For a silent performer, the body was dialogue.

AIN CURATOR'S NOTE
If anyone ever needed proof of Charlie Chaplin's extraordinary physical control, A Woman provides it.
We know that face.
We know that walk.
We know that mustache.
We KNOW Charlie Chaplin.
And then he removes a few familiar ingredients, changes the way he carries himself, puts on a dress—and suddenly we're watching someone else.

That's what makes A Woman more than simply another early slapstick comedy. It's a wonderful demonstration of Chaplin's understanding of character through movement.
Of course, he also uses his transformation to create absolute romantic havoc.
Because this is still Charlie.
Watch the posture. Watch the hands. Watch the walk. And especially watch how the other characters respond to this mysterious new arrival.
More than a century later, there's something wonderfully audacious about watching one of the most recognizable men on Earth make his most recognizable character disappear before our eyes.

Charlie Chaplin has left the building.
The new leading lady has arrived.