CARMEN JONES (1954)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Musical / Romance

Director: Otto Preminger

Cast: Dorothy Dandridge / Harry Belafonte / Olga James

Plot

A young soldier is seduced by the wiles of sultry Carmen Jones, abandoning his life, love, and career to be with her.

What I Liked

After the release of “Carmen Jones” in 1954, Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American to be nominated for a best actress award for her role as the title character.  As the nomination and the title suggest, Dandridge is indeed the centerpiece of this film.  She doesn’t just steal any scene in which she appears (which is almost every one) but outright owns the scene, in the sense that she can’t steal something to which there’s no one to contest her right to it.  Harry Belafonte received top billing and does a fair job as Joe, Carmen’s straight-laced prey, but, just like his character, he’s overmatched against Dandridge’s natural confidence and magnetism.

Based on nineteenth century French composer Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” the film adapts the story to a twentieth century American setting.  The orchestrated music is Bizet’s original compositions, while the lyrics have been redone by Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist behind other classic American musicals as “Carousel,” “The King and I,” and “Oklahoma!” among others.  While it is my opinion that the modern lyrics weaken the original sound, the power of Bizet’s music still rings through in most cases.

What I Disliked

Let me throw in quickly here that, with very few exceptions, I don’t much like the musical genre.  People randomly bursting into song in the middle of their everyday lives with backing music somehow coming out of the sky just doesn’t sit well with me.  However, I recognize that a lot of talent and genius goes into some of these films and many people I respect absolutely love musicals.  So I’ll do my best to keep my personal distate for musicals in general from totally skewing my criticisms about this individual film.

Hammerstein’s lyrics, as I mentioned before, dilute the impact of the movie’s music.  I guess they may be a necessary evil, considering the time and place of the story.  However, they just seem trite and incongruous when matched with the overwhelming majesty of Bizet’s music.  Additionally, they are rife with improper English that not only hurts the ears to hear but are indicative of white Hollywood’s stereotypical portrayal of African Americans.  Words like “dat,” “dis,” and horrible grammar were probably meant by Hammerstein to lend authenticity to the events for the viewing audience (the film was marketed to white audiences despite an all black cast), which today only serves as further evidence of the widespread degrading portrayals of African Americans everywhere in American popular culture back then.  Few people in that day probably thought twice when Pearl Bailey, in the role of a modern American woman, sung about feeling the tribal drums of her African ancestors in her bones.  Indeed, despite the less than complementary lyrics, “Carmen Jones” was viewed as a progressive step forward for blacks in cinema at the time.

Equally disappointing is the fact that the singing by both of the film’s leads, Dandridge and Belafonte, who both enjoyed successful careers as professional singers, were overdubbed by opera singers Marilyn Horne and LeVern Hutcherson respectively.  Horne and Hutcherson provide the melodrama and vocal chops the filmmakers were looking for, but I bet Dandridge and Belafonte would have brought a much more appropriate natural feel to the film’s musical sequences had their voices not been tampered with.

Most Memorable Scene

Thrilled at the prospect of going to Chicago as part of heavyweight boxing contender Husky Miller’s entourage, Carmen’s friends try to convince her to become Miller’s girl and join them.  Together, they and Miller’s managers sing “Whizzin’ Away Along de Track.”  There’s no dance number involved, just the characters huddled around Dorothy Dandridge, who, despite being overdubbed, is emotional, beautiful, and believable.  I’m not a big fan of musicals, but this was one song sequence I found to be moving and gorgeous to behold thanks to Dandridge’s looks, charisma, and talent.

My Rating: 3 out of 5