A Burlesque On Carmen

Chaplin plays a bumbling officer sent to stop a smuggling ring, only to be charmed by its fearless accomplice, Carmen. His assignment becomes a comic tale of seduction, jealousy, and spectacularly poor judgment.

Chaplin fashioned the short as a parody of both Bizet’s opera and Cecil B. DeMille’s popular 1915 film Carmen.

After Chaplin left Essanay, the studio expanded his original two-reel version to four reels with new footage—an unauthorized reissue that he opposed.