Carmen (1915 Cecil B. DeMille film)
Carmen | |
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File:Carmen (DeMille) film poster.jpg
Film poster
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Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille |
Produced by | Jesse L. Lasky Cecil B. DeMille |
Written by | William C. deMille |
Based on | Carmen by Prosper Mérimée |
Starring | Geraldine Farrar |
Music by | Hugo Riesenfeld Samuel L. Rothafel |
Cinematography | Alvin Wyckoff |
Edited by | Anne Bauchens Cecil B. DeMille |
Production
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Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates
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Running time
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65 minutes (4512 feet: 5 reels) |
Country | United States |
Language | English intertitles |
Budget | $23,429[1] |
Box office | $147,599[1] |
Carmen is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.[2] 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.[3]
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 the attention of Carmen.
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)
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.[4] "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.[5]
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."[6] "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."[6]
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.[7]
See also
- Carmen, lost film adaption of Carmen also released in the November of 1915 directed by Raoul Walsh
- The House That Shadows Built (1931 promotional film released by Paramount)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Carmen at IMDb
- Carmen at AllMovie
- Carmen is available for free download at the Internet Archive
- Review from Motion Picture News, printed alongside a review for the Walsh production
- Use mdy dates from January 2015
- Pages with broken file links
- 1915 films
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- Articles with Internet Archive links
- 1910s drama films
- American films
- American drama films
- American silent feature films
- American black-and-white films
- Films directed by Cecil B. DeMille
- Films based on romance novels
- Films based on Carmen
- Films set in Spain
- Films set in the 19th century