Carmen (1918) – Blu-ray Review

Newly restored and reconstructed, Ernst Lubitsch’s 1918 silent drama Carmen debuts on American Blu-ray with an insightful audio commentary.

The Production: 3/5

Before being known primarily for his exquisite comedies, director Ernst Lubitsch had quite a varied output in his native Germany making historical dramas. In 1918, he adapted Carmen for the screen. Based upon the Prosper Mérimée novella, rather than the Bizet opera, though both this film and the opera excise the first two-thirds of the story. Lubitsch likely made this film after the two American features from a few years prior by Cecil B. DeMille and Raoul Walsh, the latter starring Theda Bara (and obviously, a lost film). Pola Negri was one of the top female stars of the European silent era

While Ernst Lubitsch is remembered mostly for his comedies, his earlier work in Germany was quite varied. He dabbled in historical drama (Anna Boylen) and even proto-horror (Eyes of the Mummy). Lubitsch’s 1918 film of Carmen is based upon the Merimee novella, which also inspired the Bizet opera. Like the opera, the film only adapts the last third of the novella. Don Jose (Harry Liedtke) falls for the seductive Carmen (Pola Negri), a gypsy woman with shadowy eyes and inky black spit-curled hair. Jose is led down the path of destruction, committing murder and robbery, before being dumped in favor of a bullfighter. This obviously does not go well for anyone involved.

I don’t find this to be one of the better Lubitsch films, though, I suspect the main appeal of Carmen at the time was seeing a German “vamp” movie. Pola Negri is indeed magnetic on screen, though her other work with Lubitsch is superior. There is quite a lot of production quality on-screen, especially massive hordes of extras.  Anthony Slide mentions in his commentary track for the film that Lubitsch seems to be showing off how many extras he was able to procure for the film. Carmen is probably more for Lubitsch completists, especially since Kino Lorber has released quite a few of his German silents on Blu-ray in recent years. One can only imagine how Lubitsch could make the same material soar as a sound film, especially as he had filmed many operetta-based features in the 30s.

Video: 4/5

3D Rating: NA

A message precedes Kino Lorber’s presentation:

“Ernst Lubitsch’s Carmen premiered in 1918. In 1921, the original negative of the U.S. version of the film, Gypsy Blood, was altered significantly. All surviving elements can be traced back to this particular camera negative, which is now considered lost. Only fragments remain of the original distribution prints of the German version. The 2018 digital restoration by the Freidrich Wilhelm Murnau Siftung was based on an incomplete black-and-white duplicate preserved by the former East German State Film Archive. Altered or missing shots were sourced from another shortened black-and-white duplicate print, produced in the 1970s with German intertitles. Both are now stored in the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv.

Nitrate film fragments of German distribution prints from the Deutsche Kinemathek and the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv were digitized with the other elements at 4K resolution at L’Immagine Ritrovata and have been combined to form a largely complete version. Missing titles were reconstructed from the flash titles contained in the archive duplicate. In instances where there was no graphic template, titles have been digitally recreated and are marked with “FWMS.” The duplicate fragments served as a guide for color tinting the black and white materials”

Carmen is presented in 1.33:1, with tints and tones intact, and in 24Hz/1080p. Approximately every third frame is repeated, allowing for a more natural 18fps speed. While this is a 4K restoration, this is not a spotless image. Instead, more focus is put into a rather brilliant patchwork of image sources. The majority of the film is sourced from what seems to be a first generation source like a print (or a very high quality preservation of that print), with maybe a third from a variety of other sources that range from just a little more dupey to having more of a 16mm appearance. Damage is never too obtrusive. This is a 1918 film after all. I didn’t see any problems introduced on the digital end. The average bitrate is 27mbps and the 94 minute film is contained on a BD-25. Overall excellent compression, especially with the fluctuations in source materials.

The intertitles are presented in their original German, with optional English subtitles placed in the lower portion of the frame.

Audio: 5/5

This edition of Ernst Lubitsch’s Carmen features an original orchestral music score by Tobias Schwencke, as a DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo track. As expected with a brand new recording (from only a few years ago), fidelity is perfect. Given the obscurity of the film and the lesser stature in Lubitsch’s filmography, I appreciate this having a fully orchestral score. Obviously, it incoporates many themes from the Bizet opera, but never hits you over the head with it. As with all silent films, the primary goal is to provide appropriate and supportive accompaniment, which Schwencke does extremely well.

Special Features: 3/5

While not a packed edition, this does feature two items:

Audio commentary by film historian Anthony Slide, which has participated in quite a many Kino Lorber silent releases lately. He goes into background on the original novella and opera, but also how this adaptation is placed in Lubitsch’s filmography. Slide also speaks about the backgrounds of actors and similar works by other filmmakers, the different versions (American release versus German), and also the camera technique.  Not just informative, but quite entertaining – I found myself enjoying the film more with Slide’s commentary!

There is also a brief (5:00) featurette on the restoration, which features glimpses at original scans and shots before reconstruction took place. Quite impressive work in piecing together the best quality and most complete version of the film.

Overall: 4/5

While Carmen is more for Lubitsch or Negri completists, the excellent quality presentation and insightful audio commentary elevate a mid-tier film to an essential for silent film fans.

Patrick McCart

Current Home Theater setup (as of 01/2019):

Monitor:
Samsung 60" LED 4K UHD (UN60J7090)

Players:
Primary - Sony UBP-X700 UltraHD Player
Secondary - Sony BDP-S5500 Blu-ray 3D Player (all region modded)

Sound:
VIZIO 5.1 Soundbar SB-3851C0

Other Players:
PS3
Apple TV (4th generation)

3-D Glasses:
Samsung Active Shutter (4x)