Carmencita (1894) User Reviews

There are two versions of this movie.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 7/10 · 1 February 2008]

Here's a perfect example of the pitfalls of writing about films: especially films from the earliest days of the cinema. The other IMDb'ers who have posted reviews of Carmencita's performance for Thomas Edison's Kinetograph camera are apparently reviewing footage from Edison Motion Picture #28, which has been reissued on DVD as part of "Edison: The Invention of the Movies". Well, I am likewise reviewing Carmencita's performance for Edison's Kinetograph. However, the performance I saw (and which I'm reviewing) was a different performance by the same dancer, filmed on the same occasion -- the second week of March 1894 -- but photographed on a different negative and not included in the DVD.

I saw this film (the one I'm reviewing, mind) in October 2006 at the Cinema Muto festival in Sacile, Italy. The print screened at Sacile was retrieved from the National Fairground Archive in Sheffield, England. (WKL Dickson, who shot many films for Edison, was an Englishman; he shipped prints of many of his Edison films to Britain.) When the Sheffield print was found, it was at first assumed to be one more copy of the existing Carmencita footage (the one on the DVD). However, after restoration, it was discovered that this was a 'lost' movie which no living person knew had ever existed in the first place: a completely different take of Carmencita's performance, differing significantly from the 'known' version. Since Edison's catalogue lists only one version, this 'lost' film has been provisionally titled "Carmencita #2" and catalogued as EMP 28.1.

This is certainly not a 'belly dance', despite a previous IMDb'er's comment. Carmencita's performance here is virtually identical to the one in the DVD version, with one interesting difference: in the version found at Sheffield and screened at Sacile (the one I saw), the señorita concludes her performance by curtseying to the camera (or to its operator?) and offering a moue.

Frame-by-frame comparisons make it clear that these are two separate 'takes': two completely different pieces of footage of the same dancer giving similar but not identical performances. I'd be keen to learn which one was shot first. Carmencita's acknowledgment in the Sheffield version might imply that this was the conclusion of her performance, therefore the final take. Or perhaps this was her first take, and Dickson may have felt that Carmencita's gesture -- appropriate enough for a live audience watching a stage performance -- was inappropriate for a movie, and he required her to do a retake. Barring authorisation for a trip yesterwards to March 1894 (grease up the time-portal!), it's unlikely that anyone will ever know which version was shot first.

On its own merits as an historic artefact, I'll rate "Carmencita #2" 6 points out of 10 ... plus one point extra (7 total) because this film and its twin sister -- placed side by side -- serve as a caution to those who would review old-time movies, or who would criticise other reviewers' film scholarship: sometimes the version which you saw, and the version which I saw, really are NOT the same movie!

Some serious twirling and kicking involved.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 25 November 2007]

This film is part of the series of short Edison films featuring circus and vaudeville acts. Subject in this movie is the American dancer Carmencita. She was quite popular as a dancer at the time and a much asked painting subject for painters. She was also the first every woman to appear in front of the camera in an Edison film, which also makes her the first every woman to appear in an American shot movie. But that's about as historically interesting as this movie gets.

The image quality isn't the greatest but the movements look at all times smooth and that's of course what was most important for Edison and Co. at the time. Camencita shows some twirling, with kicks and high arm movements. Her arms got out of the frame at times and the camera also didn't seemed to be steady. Perphaps it was standing on the same stage as Carmencita was dancing on, which caused the light camera shaking?

Interesting for those wanting to check out the early Edison Manufacturing Company films, but it's nothing too great or significant.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

First Dance

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 17 July 2010]

Watching a film like this, it becomes fairly obvious that from the very first days of the cinema the camera was to be given a voyeuristic male eye. Filmed before projectors had been invented, this 24-second short would have been viewed in a dedicated parlour through one of Edison's kinetoscopes. It's a simple film of one woman dancing in front of a black screen. She was quite famous in her day, apparently, but she isn't particularly graceful here. The film was probably shot at Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange. It was banned in some places because of the 'daring' display of leg - and has the distinction of being title number 0000001 in IMDb's listings

The First Movie In A Popular Genre

[Snow Leopard · 31 August 2005]

This is the first movie in what quickly became one of the most popular genres in the earliest years of motion pictures. Many of Edison's earliest Kinetoscope films featured popular dancers, the best known probably being Annabelle (Whitford) Moore. But "Carmencita" was the first such feature and, as best as anyone has been able to determine, the dancer herself also became the first woman to appear in an American-made movie.

The dance routine itself is similar in style and quality to most of the other movies of its kind and era. The completely dark background makes "Carmencita" herself the full focus of attention. Her appeal is said to have been based as much on her energy and fervor as on her actual skill in dancing, and even with the limitations of 1890s cinematography, it's easy to tell that she is enthusiastic about what she is doing. Her stage routine was probably even livelier.

It's not hard to guess why this kind of movie was so popular in its time. This and similar features could provide something worth seeing within the very limited running time of the earliest movies. Some of the later movies of popular dancers display more film-making experience, but "Carmencita" got the genre off to a lively start.

Censored Film!

[ronin-88 · 3/10 · 14 March 2022]

In this short 24-second film, the dancer Carmencita does part of a dance routine she'd been performing at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City since February 1890. The dancing seems fairly tame but it may be the first appearance of a woman in a motion picture made in the United States.

The film was shot entirely at Edison's Black Maria studios by WKL Dickson in March, 1894. It came under fire from censors because the dancer's legs were revealed briefly. If they only knew what was to come.

This was one a series of short Edison films which featured circus and vaudeville performers.

Hurt by lack of sound and color

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 October 2013]

Here and there you find a short movie which may have been not considerably better if they had music and color available back in the last years of the 19th century, but this one is pretty much the exact opposite. Carmencita is still showing us a nice dance and giving us a beautiful smile, but the effect of this one would have been so much better with the wild Spanish or Latin music she was listening and colors that make her gorgeous dress look even more majestic. Still it's an okay early effort from Dickson and a good watch for silent film enthusiasts with an unusually high running-time of 45 seconds for Dickson's movies from that year. I t looks like so much fun how she's wildly shaking her arms and legs and I'd definitely have loved to join in in her dancing.

its age is the most interesting thing it has going for it

[framptonhollis · 5/10 · 30 August 2017]

Objectively, there's nothing really WRONG with this film. It sets out to do something extremely simple, and it achieves that goal flawlessly, but that goal isn't really compelling unless one accounts for the film's age. It is said that this isn't only one of the first films ever made, but also one of the earliest films to feature a female "star" I suppose. I'm not sure how true this claim is, but it's not very hard for me to believe. The actress featured in this film is rather charming and dances in a vivid and exuberant manner, making this film be one of slight excitement thanks to the wild, cheerful movements made. It'definitely be really boring if it were an hour, but films of such a length were unheard of back in this day, so dwelling on such hypothetical situations is quite pointless. All in all, this is a pretty enjoyable way to spend less than a minute of your time and is recommended for fans of film in general as it is short and enjoyable enough to intrigue almost anyone.

Very interesting!

[diddleysquat · 10/10 · 25 January 2005]

This short film was included several years ago in a documentary about Thomas Edison and his early movie-making experiments. It's timeless - an absolute classic!

The video itself is jumpy and splotchy, and primitive by even the earliest silent film standards. But by anyone's measure, the dancer is amazingly good, and this peek into the distant past is well worth watching, if the opportunity arises.

It would be nice if someone put together for commercial sale a collection of very early experimental film projects like this one. Few are likely to be as fascinating as this, but it's amazing to see how dramatically video technology has changed - and how relatively little change there has been in our entertainment preferences.

A nice video of a talented dancer.

[kobe1413 · 1/10 · 11 July 2014]

"Carmencita" is a short video of a woman dancing. She is obviously a veteran performer, probably from Broadway. She does some pretty nice moves, especially from 1894, where simple spinning was enough to entertain the masses. When compared to scenes such as the "Imperial Japanese Dance" or the "Sioux Ghost Dance", Carmencita shows a little bit of flash.

This was another collaboration between W.K.L. Dickson and William Heise. They recorded this short film for Edison Laboratories. They were constantly looking for subjects to shoot. They shot many different acts from the vaudeville scene, from dancers to gymnasts.

one-shot record of a belly dancer

[Brian-59 · 12 August 1998]

"Carmencita Dancing," one of a series of Edison short films featuring circus and vaudeville acts, displayed the... um... "talents" of a zaftig belly-dancer who agreed to undulate before the camera of the famous "Black Maria" studio. The dance was originally intended to be played in a Kinetoscope, a single -person arcade viewer connected to Edison's more famous invention, the phonograph. Through a pair of crude headphones, the latter device supplied an asynchronous soundtrack of "hootchie-cootchie" music. The Kinetograph camera here employed is so new -- even to its inventors -- that director Dickson has drastically "overcranked" the film, unintentionally producing one of the first examples of slow-motion. Carmencita's titillating movements were considered by many to be scandalous. Thus, the film prompted some of the earliest discussions of film censorship.

Love it

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 24 November 2016]

In Carmencita, we get the story of a dance, and that's all. It's a great thing that the first woman who was ever photographed on celluloid was seen doing what she loves, doing it relatively well (I can't judge how the dancing was by 1894 standards, but she never appears to slip up), and is not being exploited for the sake of it. Here is a MOTION PICTURE, so here's motion and here's a picture of it. Simple. Awesome. I hope women seeing it today are empowered by it. Or if they want to scream "Patriarchy" and be mad that it's not showing a woman doing something that isn't meant to only appeal to men I understand. But it is splendid and exciting to see, especially in the not-quite 24 frame per second film speed it has been preserved at, and I think it's amazing to watch past the film history of it.

PS: on IMDb this is title url 0000001

Edison: Invention of Movies

[Michael_Elliott · 31 December 2008]

Carmencita (1894)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Infamous Edison short, which features the title dancer, quite famous at the time, doing one of her dances. The film runs only 24-seconds but who today could really imagine how much trouble this film would get into with such a short running time. The movie was famous because it came under a lot of censorship issues wherever it would be played. The most famous incident happened in Boston where it was pulled from theaters after a preacher complained that it was sinful. We only see a brief bit of the dancer's leg (below the knee) so that should tell you something. There's certainly nothing great here but from a historical standpoint this is a very important film.

2.25.2024

[EasonVonn · 8/10 · 25 February 2024]

Much earlier than Annabelle, I can see now how Edison and Dickson are passionate about moving the dance on the screen. The skills are not as good as Annabelle's, but at least a vibe of natural stretches of body makes it look quite beguiling.

Can be count as very first female figure showed in Much earlier than Annabelle, I can see now how Edison and Dickson are passionate about moving the dance on the screen. The skills are not as good as Annabelle's, but at least a vibe of natural stretches of body makes it look quite beguiling.

Can be count as very first female figure showed in cinemahhhhh.

Interesting experimental film

[martinpersson97 · 9/10 · 26 August 2023]

This is one of the well known features from the dawn of cinema, and whilst at first glance, there may not be a whole lot to it - like most of the films released during this time, it is ever influental and revolutionary - and in this particular case like so many others, features some beautiful imagery and cinematography.

It is simple, yet ever beautiful to look at, featuring some fast and intriguing movements - and opens up for the dance-genre in filmmaking in some ways.

It is made before one tried to convey more complex and fictional storytelling, but for what it is, it's an interesting piece that I would recommend every lover of film to give a minute of their time!

Old Tom Edison's peep show honey . . .

[cricket30 · 8/10 · 29 July 2013]

. . . would not earn too many quarters (inflation has quintupled nickelodeon prices since Light Bulb Man's day) wearing her inverted-tea cup dress throughout this 26.06-second performance. But it's the thought that counts, and, as multiple researchers make clear, Edison and his crew viewed their invention of movies from the start exclusively as a vehicle to better satiate the male human being's lust for sex and violence in a private or semi-private setting. When you look at the early "kinetograph" parlors, the workers and clientele are solely of the male sex. While Edison was somewhat proud of the technical aspects of his moving pictures (enough so that he filmed brief snippets of men waving hats or sneezing for his wife to show to her women's clubs meetings), ALL of old Tom's money shots were of violence (boxing--then illegal in America--as well as cock fights, bear baiting, rat-on-rat action, and feline torture) and sex (filmming the women dancers of his day between their jail stints, or previously unknown strippers). If pervert Con Ed had had his way, movies would have remained a solo pursuit between a man, his peep box, and his do-hickey.

The Beginning of the 'Dance' Genre

[Tornado_Sam · 10 November 2017]

"Carmencita" was not only one of the first vaudeville acts Edison filmed for his Kinetoscope ("Sandow No. 1" was the very first), it also appears to contain the earliest appearance of a woman in an American film. Of course, this did not make her the first known woman to appear in motion pictures period; don't forget, Louis le Prince had shot the first celluloid film as early as 1888, and that short contained two women. (Although if Edison had completely succeeded in proving his company to have invented the first motion pictures, he no doubt would have attempted to erase that landmark from history altogether and given himself the credit). Not only that, it also began a new genre in the Edison studios: the famous 'dance' genre, one of the biggest things the company is remembered for today.

Like the various boxing movies created from 1891-1895, the different dancers Edison hired to perform in his studio also became quite popular and frequently filmed. There was Annabelle Moore, the well-known serpentine dancer (who deserves a genre of films herself considering she did at least three different acts for the studio). Fatima the muscle dancer (don't be fooled, she was actually a belly-dancer) also falls in this genre. And don't forget Amy Muller, who specialized in dancing on her toes, and the Sarache Sisters with their imperial Japanese Dance. Even the Indian dances recorded by Edison in 1894 could count as being part of the 'dance' genre. (I could go on). In this case, the dancer of the title who started it all (real name Carmen Dauset Moreno) is shown to be performing a routine she had been practicing since February 1890 (funnily enough the year Edison began experimenting with motion pictures) at Koster and Bial's Music Hall, New York City. Involved in the choreography are twirls, kicks, spins, and at the end, a bow. Lasting at only 21 or so seconds, the film here presumably documents an excerpt instead of the entire thing, which would have run on much longer.

Finally, there's one more thing that this film is important for: it was one of the earliest films that began discussions of film censorship. With a dancer who constantly shows her ankles and legs, how could anyone not object? And that's not to say it was a shocker the Edison Co. produced such naughty material for the first time; violence and sex would sadly enough become a common trend among the company. The first such film to cause people to raise their eyebrows was probably the aforementioned "Sandow No. 1", which featured plenty of skin and was no doubt a temptation to women. Continuations of these naughty film elements include the "Cockfight" films, the said boxing films, further entries to the dance genre, and the notorious "The May-Irwin Kiss" of 1896.