A Burlesque on Carmen

1915

Action / Comedy

32
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 1924 1.9K

Plot summary

A gypsy seductress is sent to sway a goofy officer to allow a smuggling run.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
October 02, 2019 at 08:30 PM

Top cast

Charles Chaplin as Officer Darn Hosiery
Peter Sellers as Narrator 1951 UK Sound Version
Edna Purviance as Carmen - the Gypsy
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
279.1 MB
968*720
English 2.0
NR
24 fps
12 hr 31 min
Seeds ...
503.92 MB
1440*1072
English 2.0
NR
24 fps
12 hr 31 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by springfieldrental 7 / 10

Chaplin's Shorter Version Much Improved

"Carmen" the 1845 novella by Prosper Merimee and the Georges Bizet opera have been adapted on screen numerous times since 1913. The oldest existing film version is Cecil B. DeMille's October 1915 "Carmen."

"Carmen," set in 1830 Spain, dealt with smugglers who conscripted the female gypsy to persuade a high-moral young Army officer manning the city gates to allow the group in to sell their goods. Naturally, the officer succumbs to Carmen's sexy whiles and his slippery slide down the corrupt ladder begins.

The themes in Carmen was especially popular in the mid-1910's during the time DeMille directed his movie, which was nominated by the American Film Institute in its Top 100 Most Passionate Films Ever Made. A month after the DeMille effort, Raoul Walsh released his "Carmen" a month later with Theda Bara, a lost film.

In one of Charlie Chaplin's final films for Essanay Studios, the comedian produced "A Burlesque on Carmen" in December 1915, based on the DeMille movie. Edna Purviance starred as Carmen,.

Chaplin's contract had expired shortly with Essanay after he made his "Carmen" because the studio had failed to meet his higher salary demands. Once he left, the studio added discarded footage Chaplin had shot as well as it created a subplot with Ben Turpin, extending the 30-minute short. Furious about the inferior movie that came out, Chaplin unsuccessfully sued the studio, causing much bitterness between them. A recent restoration of what Chaplin's original intentions were produced a highly-praised comedy that is recognized as one of his more intelligent movies in his resume.

Reviewed by CitizenCaine 6 / 10

Ambitious Parody Of Carmen

Chaplin directed and starred in this parody of Cecil B. DeMille's Carmen, which was released only two months before this film. Chaplin plays Don Jose as Darn Hosiery in full period military regalia. It's one of his few films that we don't see any indication of his tramp costume. Edna Purviance, of course, plays Carmen, the tantalizing temptress and cigarette factory girl. The film, while containing some brief bits of slapstick, for the most part follows a more subtle comedic approach. It mirrors the actual story of Carmen quite well. Chaplin plays the dramatic, sympathetic, and jealous parts of Don Jose surprisingly well considering his limited dramatic experience in films at the time. The film packs a lot of story and action in its time frame, despite the often lengthy production time the story usually requires. There are several fun Chaplain-like moments that arrive like lost friends when we least expect them. The closing moment in the film juxtaposed with the familiar death scene of Carmen is pure Chaplain. It's an ambitious departure from most of his earlier work. **1/2 of 4 stars.

Reviewed by WolfieLol 5 / 10

A Weird Mix

Chaplin short films were always creative, that is because this was an experimental time for him. Of course, he wouldn't reach his cenit until he made full length films with a basic ground to hook the audiences, the hook was humane and beyond the initial state of his character Charlot, exploring beyond the slapstick and clown actions that defined him before. This short it's probably an earlier exploration of how a dramatic atmosphere would mold the character to explore further opportunities.

I appreciate the exploration Chaplin did with this and other shorts, but the amazing balance between comedy and drama that created the legend, wasn't felt in this one, and for a fatal reason.

Operas often deal with exaggerated drama, dealing with fatality most of the time, a consequence of human conflict. But the most used of these tropes is the "Othelo complex", exaggerating the awful consequences of unmessured jealousy to the top, involving murder and guilt.

Carmen, by Bizet. Deals with such fatality. And, being a parody of such piece, this short film in particular show us, one of the few times where the eternal Little Tramp becomes an impulsive and animalistic man, killing the female protagonist because of an outburst, and facing death just when the guilt finally destroyed him.

Being a parody, both characters return to life, showing a small and heartwarming gag involving a fake knife, just when the end titles appear and the image fades out. However, the damage was already done by the time I watched this, many years ago, late at night in a local channel, an image I didn't wanted to see for a special reason...

The Little Tramp often played some mischievous antics in order to survive, escape or simply mess around with a particular fella. But the heart of the Tramp was always good and noble. The climax of Chaplin's career showing this eternal character in action, was of course; the final speech from The Great Dictator, the culmination of what Chaplin was creating ever since he embraced the hat and the stick.

Seeing the eternal master killing a woman out of unnecessary jealousy was a huge impact and a disservice to the character he was forming. But again, this was an experimental time for the legend, and this failure was a deep lesson to explore further ways to combine comedy and drama without involving a trope that didn't fit his character.

Carmen, being another classic, it's a hard piece to make a parody and this short often had to deal with those impediments. It's not a pretty dinamic short piece, most of the time it's static, and too square to develop newer ideas to make it funnier. The ending it's the proof of that statement, it's the same ending as the opera, same tragic ending, with just a "funny" epilogue to lift the morale of the audiences who wanted to see Charlot, but encountered Don José...

(On a higher note, if Chaplin wouldn't dedicate so much time to create an inmortal character such as Charlot and became more of a character actor, he would rock it. Without looking at Chaplin as Charlot, his performance as Don José it's impressive and could opened the gates for him to become a different type of silent legend. Maybe in other universe, let's just enjoy Charlot instead)

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