A Burlesque on Carmen

"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.

If you look at the whole career of that madcap genius Cecil B. DeMille, his style and preoccupations changed considerably over time, but one thing was evident from day one – his unshakeable pomposity and over-confidence. That is why he was always a ripe target for satire. Getting an early shot in on the heels one of DeMille's earliest successes was Charlie Chaplin, with his farcical yet precisely aimed Burlesque on Carmen.

These were the days when people would go to see a popular picture many times over. Chaplin too has clearly studied the original, and played upon the familiarity it would have had with audiences of the time. He has mimicked the sets, set-ups and even copied many of the titles verbatim. He even bases gags around very minor aspects of the DeMille film such as the soldiers and smugglers pushing at the door. All this provides a rich environment for Chaplin to tweak into hilariously disrespectful mayhem.

This doesn't appear to be an especially popular or well-known short, perhaps because without the genuine little tramp and modern setting it is not considered kosher Charlie. Personally I feel it is one his best Essanay pictures, for a number of reasons. Virtually the whole of Chaplin's act was satirical on some level, whether he was lampooning the upper class, social norms or modern fads, and generally the bigger the target the bigger the laughs. And simply because of its period trappings it allows him to do funny business with props and situations he would never normally get hold of, such as the numerous gags involving his sword. With his semi-faithful recreation of a contemporary drama, you get to see the considerable straight acting talents of Chaplin and his leading lady Edna Purviance, in a role unlike any other she played, but one she is very suited to. You also have John Rand being very funny in his own right, and Leo White getting the lengthiest and most creative pummelling he ever received from Charlie. Burlesque on Carmen is a unique standout in Chaplin's career, but also great fun to watch.

All of which brings us to the all-important statistic –

Number of kicks up the arse: 0 (although it does contain practically everything else)

I must admit, I don't find Charlie Chaplin as funny as Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy and The Little Rascals. What says more to me about Chaplin is his pathos rather than comedy. His genius was in his pathos, depicting the grim reality of working class Victorian and Edwardian life. His comedy was merely a vehicle to communicate his pathos. Therefore, I did not find this funny, but I struck a chord with his pathos.

I saw the 1951 UK version of this. It was narrated by Peter Dellars of all people and be sounds like Pete Smith. This version is also based on the 4 reeler version which Chaplin sued to stop being screened (Essanay added two reels to Chaplin's original version after he left for another studio!

So because they added a dumb narration to an additional two reels that was added after the fact, it's hard to review.

On one hand I can't evaluate it because of the silly narration that keeps getting in the way. On the other hand if it wasn't there I would have likely shut this off.

Except for The Gold Rush, I've never like Chaplin much. I found him way to simplistic and at the same time too broad. I know he was huge back in the day, but I just don't "get" him. Maybe this movie being 113 years old tells us why.

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.