Preminger's heavy-handed adaptation of a Broadway triumph combines gorgeous music with risible lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; the project is saved by a terrific cast.
Comment
10/23/07
Carmen Jones (1954)
71
%
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:12
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Synopsis: A sizzling screen version of Bizet's Carmen updated for an all-black cast, including an especially sizzling Dandridge. Soldier Belafonte falls for Dandridge, a seductive factory worker. The lovers... [More]
Starring: Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Roy Glenn
Director: Otto Preminger
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Reviews for Carmen Jones
1 - 17 (sorted by fresh rating)
Every frame, you feel, is freighted with the tension imposed by the never-appearing white folks. It was, however, laudable in its desire to showcase the talents of African-American performers who were denied opportunities in Hollywood.
02/10/07
Interesting Preminger experiment. Modernizing with an all-black cast highlighted by Dandridge and Belafonte is first-rate.
10/23/02
While the embarrassment of talent onscreen is a joy to watch, I can’t help be overwhelmed and a little saddened thinking how much of that talent went ignored by Hollywood most of the time.
07/30/02
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.
10/23/07
Top CriticElectric performance by Dorothy Dandridge as the sultry whorish Carmen Jones.
01/27/08
No review available.
07/26/02
The results are certainly flawed, but rarely less than fascinating.
03/17/05
Slinking through director Preminger's CinemaScope widescreen in slit skirts and tight blouses, Dandridge is naturally carnal the way summer is naturally warm.
04/06/06
The best reason to revisit Carmen Jones lies in Dorothy Dandridge's electrifying performance, which saw her become the first African-American to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.
02/10/07
Otto Preminger has transferred it to the screen with taste and imagination in an opulent production.
10/23/07
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.
02/09/06
A truly dreadful film. Preminger can't be faulted for ambition, but for once, his execution is sorely lacking.
09/18/03
A crazy mixed-up film.
05/20/03
Woefully miscast in places and extremely dubious in its portrayal of African-Americans but does boast an on-form Dorothy Dandridge.
02/09/07
A film in which talented, attractive people sing ugly lyrics to beautiful music in other people's beautiful voices amid ugly shot framing and ill-timed cutting.
10/01/09
1 - 17 (sorted by fresh rating)
Latest News for Carmen Jones
October 25, 2007:
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Newsweek critic David Ansen has courageously revealed the more quietly kept secret of every cinephile: his lifelong, bordering-on-eccentric, meticulous obsession with movies.... More...
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