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Carmen
Carmen
	Film poster
Directed by	Cecil B. DeMille
Written by	William C. deMille
Based on	Carmen; by Prosper Mérimée
Produced by	Jesse L. Lasky; Cecil B. DeMille
Starring	Geraldine Farrar
Cinematography	Alvin Wyckoff
Edited by	Anne Bauchens; Cecil B. DeMille
Music by	Hugo Riesenfeld; Samuel L. Rothafel
Production; company	Lasky Feature Play Company
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	October 31, 1915; November 1, 1915 (general release);
Running time	65 minutes; (4512 feet: 5 reels); 57 minutes (edited 1918 re-release)
Country	United States
Language	English intertitles
Budget	$23,429
Box office	$147,599

Carmen

Carmen is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.^[3]^[4] The film is based on the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. The existing versions of this film appear to be from the re-edited 1918 re-release.^[5]

Plot

Don José, an officer of the law, is seduced by the gypsy girl Carmen, in order to facilitate her clan's smuggling endeavors. Don José becomes obsessed, turning to violent crime himself in order to keep her attention.

Cast

Geraldine Farrar as Carmen
Wallace Reid as Don José
Pedro de Cordoba as Escamillo
Horace B. Carpenter as Pastia
William Elmer as Morales
Jeanie Macpherson as Gypsy girl
Anita King as Gypsy girl
Milton Brown as Garcia
Tex Driscoll
Raymond Hatton as Spectator at Bullfight (uncredited)

Production

DeMille had intended to film a musical version of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen; however, its libretto was under copyright, so DeMille instructed his screenwriter brother William to base his scenario on the public domain novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. The novella's Carmen was more wilful and manipulative than the opera version. For instance, William included a cigarette factory fight scene from the book which was not found in the opera.^[6]^[7]

Composer Hugo Riesenfeld arranged the orchestral score, his first of many for film, which was based on that of Bizet's opera. It was performed at the premiere and other prestigious screenings.^[8] There have been two restorations of Riesenfeld's score: the first was by Gillian Anderson, recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1996.^[8] Timothy Brock recorded the second in 1997 with the Olympia Chamber Orchestra. Both recordings have accompanied various releases of the restored film on home video.^[9]

Reception

Carmen was praised as a "triumph of superb acting and magnificent scenery" in Motion Picture Magazine. "No small share of this artistic success is due to Mr. Wallace Reid's sympathetic interpretation of Don José," they added.^[10] "The 'Carmen' film will, in its own way, stand alongside 'The Birth of a Nation' as an epochmaker," Photoplay said in their review. One of their few complaints was on the film's faithfulness to Carmen's character of the Mérimée story.^[11]

The New-York Tribune described it as "The most interesting example of the new art of the photoplay. Miss Farrar's personality is admirably suited to the screen, and her facial expression was excellent."^[12] "Geraldine Farrar's 'Carmen' makes as dramatic an appeal to the eye as her voice ever did to the ear," said The San Francisco Call & Post, "The resolution of Geraldine Farrar, the beautiful and gifted star, to employ her talents in the attaining of success in the films is one of the greatest steps in advancing the dignity of the motion pictures. Miss Farrar's 'Carmen' in the films is the greatest triumph the motion picture has yet achieved over the speaking stage."^[12]

Geraldine Farrar came in fourth place in the 1916 "Screen Masterpiece" contest held by Motion Picture Magazine for her performance as Carmen, with 17,900 votes. She was the highest ranking actress and was behind Francis X. Bushman in Graustark, Henry B. Walthall in The Birth of a Nation, and the number one winner, Earle Williams, in The Christian. Theda Bara's performance of the same role received 9,150 votes.^[13]

Canadian controversy

The film was released during the early years of World War I when allied countries, including the British Commonwealth, were at war with Germany. Biographer and film critic Edward Wagenknecht reports that a contretemps briefly clouded Farrar’s screen debut in Carmen. Farrar, while in Canada—a Commonwealth country—had made public comments that were interpreted by some Canadians as pro-German. Farrar, an American by birth and a Bostonian by upbringing, had forged many personal and professional friendships on the continent of Europe during her operatic career. Among her intimate admirers were members of the German imperial family. The United States was not at war with Germany, and as such “Farrar did not think it necessary to join in the crusade of hate then raging.”^[14]

Paramount movie producer Jesse L. Lasky, alarmed at the prospect of losing market shares among nationalistic movie patrons in Canada, took steps to correct it. Wagenknecht writes:

Lasky gravely assured his Canadian customers that Farrar had been paid outright for her work in Carmen and would receive no profits from [ticket sales], after which, one may hope, they could view it with a clear conscience…^[15]

Preservation

Complete prints of Carmen are held by the George Eastman Museum, Gosfilmofond, the Museum of Modern Art and the BFI. The MoMA and Eastman prints are on 35 mm film.^[16]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Birchard, Robert S. (2004). "16. Carmen". Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813138299.
^ ^a ^b "De Mille's Costs-Gross". Variety. March 21, 1928. p. 5. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
^ "Progressive Silent Film List: Carmen". Silent Era. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
^ "Carmen". afi.com. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
^ Higashi, Sumiko (1994). Cecil B. DeMille and American Culture: The Silent Era (University of California Press), p. 217. ISBN 0-520-08557-4. Anne Bauchens' credit as a co-editor on this film is consistent with a 1918 release date for a re-edited version. After Carmen, Bauchens' next editing credit was the 1918 film We Can't Have Everything. The absence of editing credits for Bauchens on DeMille's 1916 and 1917 films would be surprising if the version of Carmen that she edited had been released in 1915.
^ Birchard, Robert S. (2009). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. p. 141. ISBN 9780813138299.
^ Anderson, Gillian B. (2005). "Geraldine Farrar and Cecil B. DeMille". In Christopher Perriam, Ann Davies (ed.). Carmen: From Silent Film to MTV. Rodopi. p. 26. ISBN 9789042019645.
^ ^a ^b Anderson, Gillian B. "Carmen". Gillian Anderson, conductor. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
^ "Charlie Chaplin Collectors' Guide: A Burlesque on Carmen (1915)". Brenton Film. August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
^ Naylor, Hazel Simpson (January 1916). "As Others See You". Motion Picture Magazine. Chicago: Brewster Publications. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
^ Johnson, Julian (November 1915). "The Shadow Stage". Photoplay. New York: Photoplay Publishing Co. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Newspapers of the Nation Praise Production". Motion Picture News. New York: Motion Picture News, Inc. November 6, 1915. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
^ "Screen Masterpieces". Motion Picture Magazine. Chicago: Brewster Publications. May 1916. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
^ Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 170-171: See extensive footnote no. 13
^ Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 170-171: See extensive footnote no. 13: Ellided portion concludes “...if there is such a thing in wartime.”
^ "American Silent Feature Film Database: Carmen". Library of Congress. Retrieved March 30, 2024.

References

Wagenknecht, Edward. 1962. The Movies in the Age of Innocence. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. OCLC: 305160

External links

Carmen at IMDb
Carmen is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
Review from Motion Picture News, printed alongside a review for the Walsh production