Carmen Jones (1954)
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72% of critics liked it
(18 reviews) -
78% of users liked it
(4,912 ratings)
In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was Carmen Jones. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen… More In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was Carmen Jones. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen Jones, tempestuous employee of a parachute factory. Harry Belafonte plays Joe (originally José), a young military officer engaged to marry virginal Cindy Lou (Olga James). When Carmen gets into a fight with another girl, she is placed under arrest and put in Joe's charge. Succumbing to her attractiveness, Joe accompanies Carmen to her old neighborhood, where, after killing a sergeant sent to retrieve him, he deserts the army. Carmen tries to be faithful, but fortune-telling Frankie (Pearl Bailey) warns her that she and her soldier are doomed. Enter Joe Adams in the role of boxer Husky Miller (a play on Carmen's bullfighter Escamillo), who sweeps Carmen off her feet, ultimately with tragic consequences. Alhough both Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed in by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Otto Preminger
- Written By
- Oscar Hammerstein II, Harry Kleiner
- Genres
- Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1954 Wide
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
Otto Preminger has transferred it to the screen with taste and imagination in an opulent production.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Impeccably liberal in its time, the film has not aged gracefully, although Dorothy Dandridge's performance in the lead remains a testimony to a black cinema that might have been.
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, Time Out
The somewhat heavy-handed direction and the ultimately two-dimensional characters leave you admiring the workmanship without plucking at the necessary emotional/romantic heart-strings.
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Bosley Crowther, New York Times
A crazy mixed-up film.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Dorothy Dandridge became the very first black woman to receive Best Actress Oscar nomination for Otto Preimger's audacious (for the early 1950s) all-black musical of the famous opera.
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Cast
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Dorothy Dandridge
as Carmen Jones
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Pearl Bailey
as Frankie
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Harry Belafonte
as Joe
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Diahann Carroll
as Myrt
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Olga James
as Cindy Lou
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Nick Stewart [Nicodemus]
as Dink Franks
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Joe Adams
as Husky Miller
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Brock Peters
as Sgt. Brown
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Sandy Lewis
as T-Bone
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Mauri Lynn
as Sally
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DeForest Covan
as Trainer
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Le Vern Hutcherson
as Joe [singing]
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Roy E. Glenn Sr.
as Rum Daniels
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Marilyn Horne
as Carmen [singing]