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." Famed opera singer Geraldine Farrar played the gypsy Carmen. Being a silent movie, however, her golden voice wasn't heard on screen. But in its premier and selected cities, Hugo Riesenfeld's original film score was played by an orchestra alongside the projected film.

"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.

Farrar, born and raised in Melrose, Massachusetts, became a world famous opera singer, starring in numerous higly-regarded operas. "Carmen" was her film debut, a performance drawing praise from a number of newspaper reviews. One critic wrote, "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."

Playing opposite Farrar was Wallace Reid, called "the screen's most perfect lover." Having a successful film career for five years before he appeared in this Lasky Feature Play Company feature, Reid went on to play opposite cinema's top leading silent film actresses. He passed away at the young age of 32 from an addiction of morphine caused from being stressed in the middle of a hectic movie production schedule.

Hard to imagine trying to make a silent film out of an opera, but DeMille manages to pull it off, more or less. Opera star Geraldine Farrar plays the title role; she leads a young officer (Wallace Reid) to ruin. Of course, she gets hers in the end ... or in the chest, in this case.

Farrar is okay in her part, but really excels when she is in beyotch mode. Reid seems little more than window dressing at the start, but he gets more interesting as he gets more ticked off. Farrar plays him like a cheap drum.

A mid-thirties Pedro de Cordoba plays a bullfighter; it's interesting to see him this young. There is also a good catfight between Farrar and another gypsy.

The version I saw on YouTube was tinted and restored, and contains themes from the opera.

As some of the other reviewers have said, Geraldine Farrar is quite extraordinary in this film. She is most evidently having the time of her life, freed from the shackles of the operatic stage and the tyranny of those conventions which demand conformity. Her instincts were obviously spontaneous, and her body language and facial expressions go far beyond what was expected in an operatic performance, in those days and even now. "You have killed me, but I am free!" You can sense this freedom in every frame of the movie. The restored film is beautiful, amazingly clear and vibrant, with the tinting adding greatly to the effect. The one thing I found jarring, however, was the music! Gillian Anderson (the conductor, not the actress) performed a labor of love in resuscitating Hugo Riesenfeld's original orchestral score, complete with vocal soloists, but for all that, frequently the music is at odds with the film, despite -- or perhaps because of -- being excerpted from Bizet's opera. There are too many episodes in the film that have no direct counterpart in the music, and I feel it would have been better to give a Carl Davis or his brilliant equivalent the freedom to write a totally new score, especially since the film is based on Merimee's novel rather than the opera libretto of Halevy. Until that happens, I'll prefer to watch the film without sound, but watch it I will!

CARMEN (1915) is Cecil B DeMille's adaptation of the famed opera, starring operatic legend Geraldine Farrar in the title role. Carmen is an independent minded, sultry Gyspy girl who agrees to seduce an idealistic army officer, Don José (Wallace Reid) in order to distract him from smuggling activity. José falls in love with Carmen and becomes part of a love triangle that leads to tragedy.

The script distills the essence of the opera into a movie that runs just shy of an hour, eliminating extraneous characters and focusing on the main plot threads. Carmen and Don José receive the most emphasis in this treatment. Geraldine Farrar had played this role on stage over 60 times before making the film. Farrar is truly mesmerizing, playing Carmen with abandon and verve. Her expressive performance and strikingly unusual beauty made it impossible for me to take my eyes off of her. She really embodies Carmen very well, teasing and tempting, then showing ferocious independence and an iron will. Although accustomed to the stage, where larger than life acting was the order of the day, Farrar successfully scaled her performance for the camera. It's a big performance, to be sure, but her work has its subtleties as well. Wallace Reid is also very believable as the once upright army officer whose love turns to obsession and leads to tragedy. Reid was one of the early superstars of American cinema, and he also proves very charismatic. There is undeniable and abundant chemistry between Farrar and Reid. Pedro de Cordoba also does fine work as Escamillo, a bullfighter who loves Carmen.

The work of the actors is in general quite well done, in line with the style of the time but not so much as to be laughable today. The cinematography is for the most part competent rather than brilliant, but there are touches of innovation here and there, like DeMille's fondness for chiaroscuro lighting. There is also some intriguing tinting during the scene in the bar where Carmen dances for José and his response arouses the jealousy of her real love, Escamillo. Close-ups are used sparingly, but effectively, particularly when it comes to Carmen.

Although lacking the grandeur (and, of course, the music) of the opera, CARMEN succeeds in presenting the main thrust of the story, and the main interest today rests on Geraldine Farrar's charismatic performance, as well as her chemistry with Wallace Reid. SCORE: 8/10.

Sunday January 15, 4:00pm The Paramount Theater

By 1915 Geraldine Farrar had established herself as premier soprano of the opera world. With radio nearly a decade away, her phonograph records had found their way into millions of homes. These audible wonders of the modern age made Farrar immensely popular. Records could not convey the wonderful theatrics of her performance on the stage. She held a captive audience from La Scala to San Francisco and chose the moment of her greatest popularity to step in front of the camera. Farrar was drawn into this other new and equally exciting indulgence of motion pictures by one of the greatest popular directors of the day, Cecil B. DeMille. For two years she was the jewel in his crown, making six feature films for DeMille, five with her co-star Wallace Reid. Film work also allowed Farrar to rest her fragile voice after years of abuse. Her brilliance and intensity on stage was fully realized in these films, which made Farrar unique in both the worlds of opera and film. No other performer had ever approached this simultaneous degree of popularity and success. Legions of obsessed young fans even referred to themselves as "Gerry–flappers". Among the brightest stars in the universe of twentieth century entertainment, Farrar also became a great social leveler, horrifying the class conscious opera world by lowering herself to the level of common everyday moviegoers. In turn, the price of a ticket offered the illusion of entering the privileged world of Grand Opera. There are sadly only two of these six films known to survive today, they are however, likely the best, Carmen and Joan The Woman. They are also among the very best works of C. B. DeMille. Carmen is the story of a wild and beautiful gypsy girl from Seville. She seduces handsome young Don José, ruins him, betrays him, and in the passionate climax of the story he seeks his revenge. Few tales have gained such admiration and have been retold in film and on the stage as often. Carmen was the greatest role of Geraldine Farrar's illustrious career and the signature piece for which she was known around the world. She played the dark-haired cigarette girl of Prosper Mérimés' novella with ferocious intensity for decades. Signing this legendary star to a multi-picture contract with his greatest director Cecil B. Demille was quite a feather in the cap for Jesse Lasky. Wisely, DeMille insisted Farrar shoot another film, "Marie Rose" first, so she could acclimate to the film environment. The first picture was then held back until after Carmen was released. On screen Farrar displayed a magnetic and effortless, natural quality. Two scenes in particular are tremendously exciting, the first, a knockdown drag-out fight between Carmen and another girl in the cigarette factory was added to the original story for the film, the other is the spectacular finale at the bullring. The fight, with DeMille's future screenwriter Jeanie Macpherson, created such a sensation it has been included in most versions of the story ever since.