guisreis Although it is hard to follow the story of Carmen opera in this spoof (it is quite confusing), that is a very funny short from genius Charles Chaplin. Charlie does not play his tramp here, but a military called Darn Hosiery, a tramp-like version of Don José. There are numerous hilarious situations, making the fans not to miss the little tramp. Chaplin's slapstick is brilliant as usual. Just imagine comedian like Chaplin with military costumes, weapons, and making their gestures... It is as if the comedian were in an amusing park! The fencing (judo?!) scene is excellent! Intertitles make as laugh a lot too. Edna Purviance had one of her best performances in my opinion, as Carmen. Great end!

Tom Gooderson-A'Court Charlie Chaplin's 13th Essanay film is loosely based on Georges Bizet's famous opera Carmen and stars Chaplin as Darn Hosiery, a Spanish Officer on watch at a popular smuggling point. Local barman Lillas Pastia (Jack Henderson) persuades an attractive gypsy girl, Carmen (Edna Purviance) to distract the guard while they smuggle their goods. Despite having no interest in the man Carmen uses her charms to distract Hosiery who ends up in a love quartet for the gypsy's heart.Burlesque on Carmen is an above average Essanay picture and features some nice subtle comedy as well as the usual trips, kicks and pokes. It also features the first noticeably decent performance from Chaplin regular Edna Purviance.Purviance who appeared in every one of Chaplin's Essanay films and went on to appear in over thirty with the comedian over an eight year period had up to now, in my opinion, merely been a background prop for Chaplin to move about and turn his attention to when necessary. Often, through no fault of her own she would play characters with names such as 'A Woman', 'Girl' or 'Maid' but here as Carmen, with a proper fleshed out character, she shines. She is saucy and flirty yet firm and strong headed and is at the forefront of the story. It's nice to see her finally come into her own.What's also nice is for Chaplin to take the action away from his traditional locations such as a house or park and transplant the plot to Spain. This gives him the excuse to try different sets and costumes, many of which add to the humour. He has great fun with a rather bushy military moustache and finds humour in his Uniform. The imagined heat of the Spanish sun also gives Edna Purviance a chance to show her face (and body), often hidden under bonnets and shawls. This is the first instance where I actually noticed the lightness of her hair as it is so often hidden from view. As I mentioned at the top there is a fair bit of subtle humour here to go along with the more obvious attempts. I loved how Chaplin slyly stole a beer and the looks he gave his fellow officer when trying to get 'time alone' with Purviance were fantastic.For me the biggest laugh came when Chaplin is annoyed at a man blowing a horn. He carefully positions himself behind the man, lifts up the back of his tunic, unsheathes his sword, sharpens it, raises it above his head and then kicks him up the arse before returning the sword to its sheath. I loved the misdirection and patience of the joke. Overall I laughed out loud around five or six times which puts it towards the top of the Essanay films in that respect.The final few minutes are surprisingly dark, even for a comedian famed for his pathos. I was totally shocked by just how grim it was and was glad for the final reveal even if the relationship didn't make much sense.www.attheback.blogspot.com

Petri Pelkonen Burlesque on Carmen (1916) is Charles Chaplin's parody of Georges Bizet' famous opera.Chaplin isn't the famous tramp this time but a Spanish officer Darn Hosiery who falls for the beautiful and dangerous gypsy temptress Carmen.Chaplin's number one girl Edna Purviance plays Carmen.One good reason to watch this movie is to see those two working together.Together they created magic.And there's also the fantastic cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin playing the part of Remendados.Even though Chaplin could do much better than this it still isn't a bad movie.He was incapable to make a bad movie.For me it would be hard, if not impossible to give less than eight stars to a Chaplin movie.Chaplin was not only a fine movie maker but he was also a talented writer of books.I own his autobiography and at the moment I'm reading 'My Trip Abroad (1922)'.So he could do much more than act the clown on films.The ending of this movie is dramatic but I was happily surprised to see Charlie and Edna get up after he's stabbed them both.Like a knife could ever kill Chaplin and his girl!

Cineanalyst Chaplin liked Cecil B. DeMille's "Carmen"; this, I think, was his only effort devoted to parodying a sole film. I disliked DeMille's "Carmen"; neither the direction, nor narrative impressed me, and Geraldine Farrar was annoying. Edna Purviance is much easier to watch. Her caricature of Farrar's obnoxious narcissism was entertaining and rather satisfying--nearly making the experience of watching Farrar's performance worthwhile. And, Chaplin is funnier here than in any film he had done before. This, not "The Champion", "The Tramp", or "Police", is what I consider the jewel of his outturn at Essanay.This short follows the same plot of DeMille's "Carmen", nicely condensed, absent the melodrama. And, I'm discussing the 1915 "Burlesque on Carmen", not the bastardized version Essanay created the following year, after Chaplin had left the studio. That one includes a subplot involving Ben Turpin, which pads on two more reels to the formerly 2-reel short. This, the original, preferred version is a visually coherent, appropriately photographed short (other than some jump cuts). Chaplin took the style, or look--tinting, mise-en-scène, composition and such--right out of DeMille's film. As a result, this is one of Chaplin's better-looking films from his early work. If nothing else, DeMille made some pretty pictures.Chaplin did transform, or mature his comedy while at Essanay; although, of his Essanay films, only a few are very discernible from his Keystone shorts. You may witness a slight maturing in his other Essanay movies, but "Burlesque on Carmen" seems to introduce a radically more mature burlesque for Chaplin. And, I mean "burlesque" in two senses: first, this film is a burlesque in that it parodies another film, and, second, it may be that Chaplin learned to refine the broad, crude and frantic humor of his Keystone upbringing in the process of parodying that film. There's a clear focus here--in parodying DeMille's film, and thus we get a substantial refinement in Chaplin's style.There are some very funny moments here, too. The swordfight, which turns into a wrestling match, is great. Chaplin continually interrupts the photoplay by breaking down the fourth wall, including winking at the camera. Another of my favorite gags is when Chaplin, looking as close to the tramp as in any part of the film, stops at a saloon before continuing with the expected storyline.