Cecil B DeMille's CARMEN

Michael O'Regan · Post by **Michael O'Regan** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:43 pm

I caught the last hour of this today on TV.

Farrar is great. Very carnal, I thought.

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:22 pm

Yes it's a solid film.... Apparently Geraldine Farrar and Wallace Reid were one of the most popular movie teams of the teens....

What else of theirs has survived?

Post by **Christopher Jacobs** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:34 pm

DeMille's CARMEN is one of my favorite pre-1920 films, doing a great job of getting the story down to a fast-moving hour without wasting any time. Farrar may be minus her operatic voice, but she has a great screen presence and is a prototype for the film noir females who would entice and destroy a love-smitten naive "hero" while bringing both to their doom. Great picture! I wish more of her films were available. JOAN THE WOMAN is also quite good in a very different sort of way.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs
http://hpr1.com/film

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:44 pm

I have Farrar's Joan but have never watched it.

Post by **silentfilm** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:46 pm

If you have the David Shepard DVD of Carmen, make sure that you watch the reconstructed Burlesque on Carmen after the main feature. Chaplin's comedy may not make much sense before seeing the original, but it is a very funny spoof afterward.

Frederica · Post by **Frederica** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:58 am

Christopher Jacobs wrote:DeMille's CARMEN is one of my favorite pre-1920 films, doing a great job of getting the story down to a fast-moving hour without wasting any time. Farrar may be minus her operatic voice, but she has a great screen presence and is a prototype for the film noir females who would entice and destroy a love-smitten naive "hero" while bringing both to their doom. Great picture! I wish more of her films were available. JOAN THE WOMAN is also quite good in a very different sort of way.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs
http://hpr1.com/film

Wouldn't Prosper Merrimee's character be more the prototype? Carmen is opera's uber-tart.

Fred

dr.giraud · Post by **dr.giraud** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:46 pm

Frederica wrote:
Wouldn't Prosper Merrimee's character be more the prototype? Carmen is opera's uber-tart.

Fred

"Uber-tart" is exactly how Lubitsch & Negri present her in their CARMEN, which is also entertaining as all get out. The animal-in-heat way Negri's Carmen dumps her ex-soldier and follows after the matador at the end is something to see.

Unfortunately, the complete original German film--which I saw at a Lubitsch retro a few years ago--isn't available stateside, only the First National version, GYPSY BLOOD, which is missing some important scenes.

greta de groat · Post by **greta de groat** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:08 pm

While i think i enjoy Pola's characterization the most overall, Gerry has the my favorite finale. Her beating up on Jeanie MacPherson is pretty funny to boot. The more i see this one, the better i like it.

Michael O'Regan · Post by **Michael O'Regan** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 3:14 am

For UK viewers - CARMEN (DeMille version) is on Sky Arts 2 at 2pm today.

It's rare to get any silent stuff on UK television, but, in the past couple of weeks we've had METROPOLIS, DR MABUSE, SPIONE, CARMEN.

My cup runneth over....indeed!!

Peter Kalm · Post by **Peter Kalm** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:56 pm

dr.giraud wrote:
Unfortunately, the complete original German film--which I saw at a Lubitsch retro a few years ago--isn't available stateside, only the First National version, GYPSY BLOOD, which is missing some important scenes.

This finally answers a question that I had a while back about Gypsy Blood as the Grapevine version seems to have some scenes missing. Is the complete German version available on DVD? I would love to see it.

dr.giraud · Post by **dr.giraud** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:13 am

Peter Kalm wrote:
This finally answers a question that I had a while back about Gypsy Blood as the Grapevine version seems to have some scenes missing. Is the complete German version available on DVD? I would love to see it.

I don't think so. The German silent Lubitsch collection has the same films Kino released. I guess I shouldn't be surprised MADAME DUBARRY and CARMEN were passed over for ANNA BOLEYN and SUMURUN, but the former are much more entertaining. (IMHO)