"A Burlesque on Carmen" is a silent short film from 1915, so this one is of course in black-and-white and it is now already over a century old. The version I watched ran for slightly over half an hour, but I see there's also version out there that run for over 40 minutes. And there is one that features Peter Sellers as narrator, which is a bit strange as this is a silent film like I wrote. is he reading the intertitles? I am not sure, but if you like him , then perhaps that's the version to choose for you. The title already gives away that this is another version of the famous Prosper Mérimée story about Carmen and she is of course played by Chaplin regular Edna Purviance. You will find more than just a few other names in here who were really prolific and successful back in the day, even if their most known works are not necessarily associated with Chaplin, such as Jamison, Turpin or White. From that perspective, it is a bit of an oddity for a Chaplin film, but also from the perspective that literature adaptations are not necessarily anything you'd expect Chaplin to star in, even if he clearly changed the material enough for this to work from a comedic perspective. Overall, I cannot say I enjoyed the watch too much and I give it a thumbs-down, even if it is without a doubt, maybe because of the unusual approach, one of Chaplin's most known short film works. Not recommended.
Review of A Burlesque on Carmen
