[5] Don José, an officer of the law, is seduced by the gypsy girl Carmen, in order to facilitate her clan's smuggling endeavors.

"[12] Geraldine Farrar came in fourth place in the 1916 "Screen Masterpiece" contest held by Motion Picture Magazine for her performance as Carmen, with 17,900 votes.

She was the highest ranking actress and was behind Francis X. Bushman in Graustark, Henry B. Walthall in The Birth of a Nation, and the number one winner, Earle Williams, in The Christian.

Biographer and film critic Edward Wagenknecht reports that a contretemps briefly clouded Farrar’s screen debut in Carmen.

Farrar, an American by birth and a Bostonian by upbringing, had forged many personal and professional friendships on the continent of Europe during her operatic career.

Wagenknecht writes: Lasky gravely assured his Canadian customers that Farrar had been paid outright for her work in Carmen and would receive no profits from [ticket sales], after which, one may hope, they could view it with a clear conscience…[15]Complete prints of Carmen are held by the George Eastman Museum, Gosfilmofond, the Museum of Modern Art and the BFI.