A Burlesque on Carmen (1915)

Instant Favorite.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Director: CHARLES CHAPLIN. Screenplay: Charles Chaplin. Based on the 1846 novel by Prosper Merimee and its 1875 operatic adaptation by Georges Bizet (music) and Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy (book and lyrics). Photographed in black-and-white by Roland Totheroh and Harry Ensign. Scenic artist: E.T. Mazy. Assistant director: Ernest Van Pelt. Producer: Jesse J. Robbins. An Essanay Production.Copyright 3 April 1916 by Essanay Film Manufacturing Co. U.S. release: 5 April 1916. Running time: around 35 minutes at a speed of 16 frames per second.Copyright title: CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S BURLESQUE ON CARMEN.NOTES: A burlesque not so much on the novel and Bizet opera, but on the two rival 1915 versions: the De Mille epic starring Geraldine Farrar, and the William Fox production starring Theda Bara. Would you believe it, Chaplin's burlesque was then itself burlesqued — by James A. Fitzpatrick, of all people — as Chip's Carmen, released a month or two later. Both Chaplin's and Fitzpatrick's juvenile burlesques were then forced to compete with yet another burlesque of Fox/De Mille, this time in cartoon form! In addition to the two "straight" U.S. productions and the three lampoons, "Carmen" was also represented in 1916 American cinemas by the May release of Ugo Serra's Italian epic. The latter really swamped the market with no less than 226 prints in circulation in the U.S.A., compared to only 15 for the De Mille picture!Chaplin had no intention of making a four-reel movie. He intended, as usual, to edit it down to two. But Essanay, perceiving the market was "hot" for Carmen and that they could charge double rates for a double two-reeler, went ahead with the four-reel release. Chaplin sued Essanay to prevent distribution, but lost.COMMENT: Chaplin was right! At four reels, Carmen out-stays its welcome. In fact it's a bit disappointing all around. No long-lost masterpiece this! Even the photography seems inferior to the usual high standard of Chas Chaplin productions. Nonetheless, it certainly has immense curiosity value — as a rare full house of critics at our recent Hollywood Classics screening testifies. The problem is that the film is just not funny enough to sustain its present length.

Burlesque on Carmen (1916) is Charles Chaplin's parody of Georges Bizet' famous opera.Chaplin isn't the famous tramp this time but a Spanish officer Darn Hosiery who falls for the beautiful and dangerous gypsy temptress Carmen.Chaplin's number one girl Edna Purviance plays Carmen.One good reason to watch this movie is to see those two working together.Together they created magic.And there's also the fantastic cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin playing the part of Remendados.Even though Chaplin could do much better than this it still isn't a bad movie.He was incapable to make a bad movie.For me it would be hard, if not impossible to give less than eight stars to a Chaplin movie.Chaplin was not only a fine movie maker but he was also a talented writer of books.I own his autobiography and at the moment I'm reading 'My Trip Abroad (1922)'.So he could do much more than act the clown on films.The ending of this movie is dramatic but I was happily surprised to see Charlie and Edna get up after he's stabbed them both.Like a knife could ever kill Chaplin and his girl!

This combination of Charlie Chaplin's familiar slapstick and mannerisms with some of the plot ideas from "Carmen" works pretty well. Although Chaplin retains many of the features of his usual screen persona, playing even a parody version of Don José is still a change-of-pace that he handles well. Edna Purviance combines enough of the expected Carmen character with her own style that so often complemented Chaplin in numerous successful comedies.Note that, of the two "Burlesque on Carmen" titles that list Chaplin in the cast, this (the 1915 filming) is the one to see for Chaplin fans. The 1916 release was created when someone apparently decided that it might be a good idea to take this perfectly good original and pad it with a lot of extraneous, non-Chaplin footage to produce a much longer movie.Parody is an inherently fragile genre. For it to produce anything of lasting value, the source material has to be both familiar and worthwhile, and then the adaptation has to be clever without forcing too many artificial parallels. Many parodies are over-praised upon their release, enjoy a vogue while their source material remains popular, and then fall into deserved obscurity.The story of "Carmen", though, has a timeless combination of themes, and yet it is not at all stuffy or highbrow. While the original classic is now, unfortunately, less widely-known than it was in Chaplin's day, the material itself is still far more worthwhile than are the pop culture elements that are used as fodder for many parody films of the present era. While by no means one of his very finest efforts, Chaplin's "Burlesque on Carmen" is an enjoyable comic adaptation of the basic story, and for that reason it will always retain an appreciative, if small, audience.

You gotta be a fan of the little man but I found Burlesque on Carmen dull, unimaginative and totally not funny.Chaplin is retelling the story of Carmen and plays a big role himself as Don Jose. It's a story about men and the women they love, although it's unclear why one would love such a woman as Carmen, as she is playing the men against each other.As I said I didn't think much of it. Chaplin made dozens and dozens of better movies so you can leave this one on the shelve.Oh and I'm curious what the difference is between this movie and the 1915 version... or is it just an IMDB mistake?On the whole: 3/10.