Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Steineded How sad is this?

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

JoeytheBrit It's surprising how many films Chaplin made out of his tramp character in his earlier years. Here, in a parody of the famous opera (hence the highly original title), Chaplin plays a soldier in charge of the guard detailed to prevent smuggling onto its country's shores. The ne'er-do-wells who want to bring in their goods employ Carmen, a voluptuous young lady who is rather free and easy with her favours, to entice Chaplin away so that they can go about their business as usual. This one's a bit of a mess, with only a few scattered laughs found amongst a fairly turgid attempt at lampooning high(ish) art. Definitely not one of Chaplin's best, but then he was churning out so many films during this period that I suppose he was bound to produce a turkey every now and then.

Michael DeZubiria One of Chaplin's longest films up to that point, Burlesque on Carmen is a clever and surprisingly complex parody of what was then "Prosper Merimee's" well-known story about "Carmen." I was a little confused about the difference between the IMDb's listing of the 1915 Burlesque on Carmen and the 1916 version. Based on the running time I assume that it was the 1915 version that I saw, since the 1916 one is a good 20 minutes longer, and from what I've read, those are 20 unnecessary and unimpressive minutes. From the very beginning, it's clear that Burlesque on Carmen is one of Chaplin's most complex and ambitious efforts to date, starting off with a long back story, told through inter-titles, about the tragic love story of Carmen. Carmen is sent by a band of gypsies ("A band who put the GYP in gypsy."), to seduce a Spanish officer so they can pull off their smuggling operation. It's a clever, Chaplinesque band of criminals, the leader of whom, Lillas Pastia, has "spent 50 years learning to steal, thinking he might be offered a job in politics." On a side note, I've seen some almost misogynistic messages and jokes in some of Chaplin's earlier work, but probably none quite as overt as in this one. Near the beginning of the movie, as the band of gypsies are traveling, there is a scene where the mules and women are loading, and an inter-title explains that "the mules are the ones with long ears." In case you couldn't tell, I guess. Chaplin plays the part of Don Jose, the hapless officer who is to be seduced by Carmen. He is described as "a brave soldier and lover of women." Not exactly a stretch for Chaplin who removed any doubt about his ability to play a convincing comic soldier a few years later in the brilliant Shoulder Arms. And of course, he didn't have to act about being a lover of women.What is different here, of course, is his polished military uniform and straight-backed disciplinary manner, interspersed, of course, with some of his traditional slap-stick moves. He strikes me as a little guy in a position of authority, struggling to maintain the respect of his subordinates by exerting a gruff, stolid exterior.Soon Carmen enters ("Loved by all men under the age of 96…"), and she immediately begins flirting with Charlie. I should mention that for a good majority of the movie, it is surprisingly faithful to the original story, which was full of jealousy and tragedy. Chaplin is strangely convincing as a jealous lover, able to evoke a jealous passion that I've never seen from him. There's at least one scene where he is genuinely a little scary. Chaplin has some great sight gags in the movie, like a hilarious table dance and some classic sword fighting near the end. And his boyish charm and the role of a soldier is also definitely a winning combination, although there is another peculiar stunt involving a group of men pushing a huge door back and forth that wasn't very effective to begin with but just kept going on and on and on, probably about five times longer than it was worth. Although it was interesting that when it finally fell over it clearly was revealed as a movie prop. I always appreciate such glimpses at the old movie sets.The end of the film is it's strongest part. It bears striking resemblance to Romeo and Juliet, but just when you think that Chaplin is going to conduct a major thematic experiment by diverging distantly from his traditional style, there is a hilarious twist that is as vintage Chaplin as anything I've ever seen. Nice work!

Snow Leopard This combination of Charlie Chaplin's familiar slapstick and mannerisms with some of the plot ideas from "Carmen" works pretty well. Although Chaplin retains many of the features of his usual screen persona, playing even a parody version of Don José is still a change-of-pace that he handles well. Edna Purviance combines enough of the expected Carmen character with her own style that so often complemented Chaplin in numerous successful comedies.Note that, of the two "Burlesque on Carmen" titles that list Chaplin in the cast, this (the 1915 filming) is the one to see for Chaplin fans. The 1916 release was created when someone apparently decided that it might be a good idea to take this perfectly good original and pad it with a lot of extraneous, non-Chaplin footage to produce a much longer movie.Parody is an inherently fragile genre. For it to produce anything of lasting value, the source material has to be both familiar and worthwhile, and then the adaptation has to be clever without forcing too many artificial parallels. Many parodies are over-praised upon their release, enjoy a vogue while their source material remains popular, and then fall into deserved obscurity.The story of "Carmen", though, has a timeless combination of themes, and yet it is not at all stuffy or highbrow. While the original classic is now, unfortunately, less widely-known than it was in Chaplin's day, the material itself is still far more worthwhile than are the pop culture elements that are used as fodder for many parody films of the present era. While by no means one of his very finest efforts, Chaplin's "Burlesque on Carmen" is an enjoyable comic adaptation of the basic story, and for that reason it will always retain an appreciative, if small, audience.

TheOtherFool You gotta be a fan of the little man but I found Burlesque on Carmen dull, unimaginative and totally not funny.Chaplin is retelling the story of Carmen and plays a big role himself as Don Jose. It's a story about men and the women they love, although it's unclear why one would love such a woman as Carmen, as she is playing the men against each other.As I said I didn't think much of it. Chaplin made dozens and dozens of better movies so you can leave this one on the shelve.Oh and I'm curious what the difference is between this movie and the 1915 version... or is it just an IMDB mistake?On the whole: 3/10.