Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Carmen (1915)

The first of three 1915 adaptations of Prosper Mérimée’s novella Carmen, this Cecil B. DeMille film features Metropolitan Opera star Geraldine Farrar in her film debut (her second film production chronologically). The second 1915 adaptation, a head-to-head competing version by Fox Film Corporation starring Theda Bara that was released nationally on the same day as the DeMille film, is lost for modern audiences; the third 1915 film is Charles Chaplin’s spoof.

Producer Jesse L. Lasky convinced Farrar to follow so many other stage stars into motion pictures to expand her audience and increase her fame. After completing shooting on Maria Rosa (1916), Farrar was again paired with handsome leading man Wallace Reid and director DeMille to make one of the fiercest cinematic versions of Carmen. Farrar was noted for her fiery Carmen — both snakelike when slowly coiling around Don José, then rapidly lashing like a mountain cat when attacking someone in anger. Carmen was a sensation with critics and audiences, and the film was a success for star, studio and director.

Modern audiences will find Farrar’s performance compelling, for she commands attention when she appears on the screen and it requires an act of will to watch anyone or anything else.

— Carl Bennett

This DVD edition, originally prepared for home video in 1997, is from Cecil B. DeMille’s personal 35mm nitrate print (probably a 1918 rerelease print) held by the George Eastman Museum film archive and color-tinted and toned to specifications in DeMille’s papers. The full-frame, natural-speed video transfer holds up well for an older master, with reasonably good reproduction of the source print’s detail and tonal range, and looking good on today’s high-definition televisions capable of resolution upscaling. The source print is slightly contrasty, with some loss of highlight and shadow details, but the midtones remain somewhat detailed. Some moderate speckling and light dust are in the print, consistent with a print of this vintage, with little print damage otherwise. Timing marks on the end of reels have not been removed from the video transfer.

An introductory prelude opens the presentation of 75 minutes, with still frames and introductory text accompanied by an orchestral overture. A postlude of still frames and exerpts from the film, with text, accompanies the supplemental material of vintage audio recordings by Geraldine Farrar, “Habanera” (1914), “Séguedille” (1914), and “Mais moi, Carmen” (1915) with Giovanni Martinelli, adding to the program time. The running time of the film itself is just more than 56 minutes.

The orchestral accompaniment with operatic interpolations is superb, based on the original Hugo Riesenfeld music score adapted from Bizet’s opera, as conducted by Gillian Anderson and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

This VAI presentation of the film is our recommended home video edition of DeMille’s Carmen.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase thsi Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Also included is Charles Chaplin’s spoof of the two other motion picture versions of Carmen from 1915.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This budget DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print.

This film is accompanied by an audio montage of preexisting recordings.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Other WALLACE REID films available on home video.