Review of Carmen Jones (1954) by Stuart F — 20 Sep 2007
Not as good as U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, but still an entertaining film. The problem with most musicals is that they're too long, but this is too short. It trips along at high speed, with the great tunes you know and love.
It's well-directed, as always with Otto Preminger, nicely paced and never dull, though visually it's a bit static (possibly because it's filmed in 'Scope). Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge are very good (though she doesn't sing), but there's not much chemistry between them, and no real sense of tragedy; I guess Preminger's always been more about irony than emotion.
The plot transfer from bullfighting to boxing works well; can we have more musicals about boxing please? But despite Dandridge's whole-hearted performance, there's something a bit timid about the music, the orchestral playing, and some of the singing - even compared to some 50s movies, it's very polite, like Merchant Ivory filming a Walter Mosley novel.
Well worth seeing for fans of the opera or Oscar Hammerstein. But with all that talent you might expect it to be just a little bit better.
This review of Carmen Jones (1954) was written by Stuart F on 20 Sep 2007.
Carmen Jones has generally received positive reviews.
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