Suzy Prim

Carmen
R: Giovanni Doria, Augusto Turqui. B: Giovanni Doria, Ludovic Halévy (play), Prosper Mérimée (novel). K: Augusto Turqui. D: Andrea Habay, Suzy Prim, Juan Rovira, Margarita Silva, Cecyl Tryan. P: Condal Films / Società Italiana Cines. Sp / It 1914
French titles
Span. subtitles

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“Suzy Prim (1895-1991) was an acclaimed French actress, both on stage and on screen.  (…) At a young age Prim was discovered by pioneer film director Louis Feuillade who directed her in the silent short Petits poèmes antiques/Little Antic Poems (Louis Feuillade, 1910). She became the ‘girl-actress’ in many of his films for Gaumont. Under the name of ‘La petite Arduini’, she was paired with that other child actor René Dary in such films as Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb (Louis Feuillade, 1912).
In 1914 she played in the Italian-Spanish coproduction Carmen (Giovanni Doria, Augusto Turqui, 1914), produced by Cines. This resulted in performances in various Italian films in 1914 and 1915: Madame Coralie & Cie/Coralie & C.ie (1914) starring Lea Giunchi, La beffa atroce (Carmine Gallone, 1915) with Soava Gallone, and Papà (Nino Oxilia, 1915) with Pina Menichelli.”
Paul van Yperen
goodreads

“André Habay (…) was born in Paris, France in 1883, although nothing more is known about his French whereabouts. What we do know is that he had a rich career in the Italian silent cinema, which started just before the First World War and continued until the mid-1920’s. Probably his first part was in the Spanish-Italian film Carmen, directed by Giovanni Doria and Augusto Turqui, and released in Spain in 1914 (…) Strangely enough, the film lacks in the otherwise excellent reference books of Il cinema muto italiano by Bernardini & Martinelli. French actress Suzy Prim played Carmen, while Habay was Don José. For both it meant the start of a career in Italian silent film, though Habay’s Italian career was more intense and longer lasting than Prim’s. From 1914 on, Habay worked on a regular basis for Cines or rather its affiliated company Celio. He began as leading man of diva Francesca Bertini. Their first film together was the tragic melodrama Onestà che uccide/Honesty That Kills (1914, Maurizio Rava). It was well received, but their next film, the spy story La principessa misteriosa/The Mysterious Princess (1914, Maurizio Rava), repeated the plot of Bertini’s previous L’amazzone mascherata/The masked rider (1913, Baldassarre Negroni) and did not stir much.”
Filmstar Postcards

>>> Carmen 1915 (DeMille, Chaplin)