Polish-born actress Pola Negri was already popular when she began appearing in German silents in the 1910s, but it was her collaborations with Ernst Lubitsch that transformed her into a silver screen goddess, a mesmerizing presence as formidable in comedies (The Wildcat) as in tragedies (Madame Dubarry). Released in the U.S. as Gypsy Blood, Carmen retells Prosper Merimée’s classic tale of a Romani woman who seduces a military officer and sends each of them on a trajectory of dramatic self-destruction. Restored in 4K by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Carmen features a lively score by Tobias Schwenke, performed by the orchestral ensemble Kontraste.

For thoughts on Carmen (1918), please check out my thoughts on No Streaming Required:

Video Quality

Carmen makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with a miraculous transfer from a restoration performed by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung in 2018 working from an incomplete black-and-white duplicate negative preserved by the former East German State Film Archive with additional material from another duplicate print. Nitrate film fragments of German distribution prints were digitized in 4K resolution to form a largely complete version complete with some reconstructed intertitles. The fragments were used as a guide for color tinting the black-and-white material.

This film is over 100 years old, but it dares to impress in a number of ways. The color-tinted photography looks great in HD with consistent natural grain intact. The amount of observable detail delights with subtle textures on the clothing and within the setting. The transfer reveals a promising amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. The black levels deliver reasonable depth with no serious occurrence of crush or compression artifacts. The lighting in this effort is consistent so that nothing ever looks blown out. The occasional faint vertical line shows up without marring the overall appearance of the film. The contrast is faithfully defined with no egregious flicker or specks of damage to the print. Kino Classics has been excelling with these Lubitsch releases.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray provides the film with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that carefully does everything it needs to. The film is graced with only an original score since it was created in the silent era. This one comes from Tobias Schwenke as performed by the orchestral ensemble Kontrast. The music consistently accentuates the story throughout with the appropriate tone. Everything sounds vibrant and pleasing with no clipping or other such anomalies. Silent film fans will appreciate the sound quality of this track, as the score seems to accompany the thematic elements well. Optional English subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Film historian Anthony Slide provides a very informative commentary track in which he discusses where this film fits into the career of Ernst Lubitsch, the background of the performers, how it compares to the novella, thoughts on the background performers, and more.

About The Restoration: A five-minute featurette takes you through the process of preserving this film for its centennial, the challenges that were faced, the different versions of the film, and more. We don’t always get in-depth featurettes on the restoration, but we always love when we do.

Final Thoughts

Carmen is another interesting discovery from the early career of Ernst Lubitsch. The appearance of scale and spectacle allows this one to be presented with a sense of grandeur. The core relationship is not always the most believable, but you are invested in what happens to these two going down a rocky road. The performers do a nice job and everything comes together quite nicely. It is worth a watch if you have enjoyed other films in this line from Lubitsch. Kino Classics has released a Blu-Ray with a strong A/V presentation and a couple of special features. If you are a Lubitsch fan looking to round out your collection, this label continues to deliver. Recommended

Carmen is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.