Carmen Jones **** (1954, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Olga James, Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll) – Classic Movie Review 5675

For its 1954 20th Century Fox film musical Carmen Jones, Oscar Hammerstein’s renowned contemporary update on the Georges Bizet opera Carmen provides new, modernised lyrics and an African-American cast. It has ideal casting with Dorothy Dandridge as Carmen, the sexy parachute factory girl, and Harry Belafonte as a GI Joe version of Don José, the man she falls for and destroys.

However, Joe is engaged to sweet Cindy Lou (Olga James) and about to start pilot training for the Korean War.

Dandridge was the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Herschel Burke Gilbert was also Oscar nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Joe Adams, who plays Husky Miller, won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male. (Adams had only two other minor roles in movies.)

Otto Preminger, a surprise choice as producer-director, turns the tasteful material into a punchy movie musical, helped by the fine tunes, the strong performances and some remarkable singing (dubbed sweetly, in Dandridge’s case, by the great opera diva Marilyn Horne).

Also in the cast are Pearl Bailey as Frankie, Diahann Carroll as Myrt, Roy Glenn as Rum Daniels, Joe Adams as Husky Miller, Brock Peters as Sergeant Brown, Nick Stewart as Dink Franklin and Bernie Hamilton.

It features the singing voices of Marilyn Horne, LeVern Hutcherson (voice of Joe), Marvin Hayes (voice of Husky Miller) and Joseph E Crawford.

Carmen Jones is directed by Otto Preminger, runs 105 minutes, is made by Otto Preminger Films, is released by Twentieth Century Fox (1954), is written by Harry Kleiner, shot in CinemaScope and colour by Sam Leavitt, scored by Herschel Burke Gilbert and Dimitri Tiomkin, choreographed by Herbert Ross and designed by Edward L Ilou.

Preminger went on to direct Porgy and Bess (1959), also with Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll and Brock Peters.

Dorothy Dandridge died on 8 September 1965, age 42, of an accidental barbiturate overdose.

RIP Diahann Carroll.

RIP Diahann Carroll, who died on 4 October 2019, aged 84. She was Oscar nominated as Best Actress for Claudine (1974). She also starred in Goodbye Again, Paris Blues, Hurry Sundown, The Split and The Five Heartbeats.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5675

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