CARMEN JONES (1954)
Directed by Otto Preminger
Starring: Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll, Olga James, Joe Adams, Brock Peters; voices of Marilyn Horne, LeVerne Hutcherson, Marvin Hayes, Bernice Peterson
Young Army corporal Joe (Belefonte) and his gal Cindy Lou (James) are planning to get hitched before Joe leaves for flight school. But first, he's got to transport the fiery Carmen Jones (Dandridge) to the civilian jail for starting a ruckus on the base. En route to the jail, Carmen flirts with Joe non-stop, and due to a brokedown jeep, Carmen and Joe end up in her hometown, where she succeeds in finally seducing him, for no particular reason at all. I hate when that happens, I won't lie. If one character falls in love with another, it can't just happen. There's got to be a reason. Joe was all gung-ho for Cindy Lou, but five minutes of Carmen Jones had him asking, "Cindy who?" (And if that kind of joke bugs you, Carmen will get on your nerves in a hurry.)
Anyway, Joe gets some time in the brig for failing to bring Carmen to jail, and in the meantime, Carmen takes up at Billy Pastor's, a juke joint where all the swells come to get their drink on. Carmen's friends Frankie and Myrt (Bailey and Carroll) try to convince her to take up with boxing champion Huskey Miller (Adams), but Joe returns just in time, and after a scuffle with his sergeant (Peters), Carmen and Joe are off to Chicago. But Huskey, still sweet on Carmen, is there, too. Tensions run high as Carmen leaves Joe for Husky, Cindy Lou returns for Joe, but Joe is still hot for Carmen. Carmen finally gives Joe the brush, and Joe plots revenge.
If all of this sounds familiar, it should. Georges Bizet's classic opera Carmen was retooled for a brand-new audience as an all-black musical (with new lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II), starting on Broadway and ending up as a film. While it's a pretty novel idea - not to mention and ambitious one - it never really gels. First of all, this is a movie, not a play. But everything is shot in a very theatrical style rather than a cinematic one. There are a lot of very long takes, which add to the feeling of watching a stage play. The whole thing was even shot in CinemaScope, which seems like a waste of money if all you're going to do is really long takes of people singing.
This leads us to the second problem. Otto Preminger was so intent on getting back to Bizet's style of music that he had the Broadway score retooled and brought in professional opera singers to dub the singing for his stars. And Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were already established singers, but they lacked the range required for the parts. Only Pearl Bailey got to do her own singing, and her rendition of "Beat out that Rhythm on the Drum" is one of the highlights of the film.
Third, and maybe the most important; as good singers as Dandridge and Belafonte are, as actors, they're really not that spectacular. In fact, unless they're "singing," they're pretty wooden. Again, Pearl Bailey is the exception. She's always the glue in every scene she's in, holding the film together. Now it's fine if you want to put non-actors in your film, but cast them in bit parts rather than the leads. Your leads need to have charisma to spare, and both Belafonte and Dandrige left me wanting.
I can't fault Otto Preminger for trying something new. He was always a pretty daring filmmaker. But this is an instance of the idea being bigger than the execution. But at least Bizet's music is still good.
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