Carmen Jones

UPC: 024543018834

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Violence, Sexual Situations]

Summary: In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was Carmen Jones. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen Jones, tempestuous employee of a parachute factory. Harry Belafonte plays Joe (originally Jos?), a young military officer engaged to marry virginal Cindy Lou (Olga James). When Carmen gets into a fight with another girl, she is placed under arrest and put in Joe's charge. Succumbing to her attractiveness, Joe accompanies Carmen to her old neighborhood, where, after killing a sergeant sent to retrieve him, he deserts the army. Carmen tries to be faithful, but fortune-telling Frankie (Pearl Bailey) warns her that she and her soldier are doomed. Enter Joe Adams in the role of boxer Husky Miller (a play on Carmen's bullfighter Escamillo), who sweeps Carmen off her feet, ultimately with tragic consequences. Alhough both Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed in by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Musical

Awards: Best Film - Any Source – British Academy of Film and Television Arts U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – null Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Musical Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Bronze Bear – Berlin International Film Festival Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Theatrical trailer
Interactive menus
Scene selection
Anamorphic widescreen [aspect ratio 2.55:1]
Audio: English 4.0 Surround, English Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Carmen Jones

Format: DVD

Release Date: 01/22/2002

Audio: DD4.0 Dolby Digital 4.0, DDS2.0 Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
0. Scene Selection
1. Main Titles [:02]
2. Joe's Gal [1:36]
3. Carmen ("Dat's Love") [3:33]
4. "You Talk Jus' Like My Maw" [2:03]
5. The Military Prisoner [3:54]
6. "Dere's a Caf? on de Corner" [:55]
7. Carmen's Escape [1:32]
8. More Problems [4:00]
9. Carmen's Home Town [1:39]
10. Trouble's Coming [:56]
11. In the Stockade [1:39]
12. "Dis Flower" [3:16]
13. "Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum" [1:23]
14. "Stan' Up an' Fight" [2:02]
15. The Champ's Choice [3:45]
16. "Whizzin' Away Along de Track" [1:49]
17. "There's a Man I'm Crazy For" [:33]
18. Love on a Pass [5:18]
19. Joe's Big Mistake [2:07]
20. Chicago [1:45]
21. Visiting the Champ [3:37]
22. Joe's Suspicion [1:27]
23. Busting Out [3:00]
24. "Card Song" [1:03]
25. "My Joe" [:17]
26. Confrontation [4:35]
27. "He Got His Self Another Woman" [3:27]
28. The Big Fight [2:00]
29. "Final Duet" [:01]
30. "String Me High on a Tree" [3:37]

Richard Gilliam

Carmen Jones is a fine film whose luster is enhanced by the performance of Dorothy Dandridge. Her Best Actress Oscar nomination was the first for an African-American performer in that category. Although Dandridge was a fine singer with a successful night club career, her voice wasn't "operatic" enough to suit studio execs who dubbed her singing voice with that of opera singer Marilyn Horne. It was unusual in the 1950s for a film with an all-black cast to be marketed to white audiences. Tight studio control kept the production costs to a manageable $750,000, but it would be three years before Dandridge made another film, and another five years before a similar project, Porgy and Bess, would be attempted. Seen today, the story creaks a bit, but Dandridge elevates the film considerably. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Roy E. Glenn, Sr.  Actor 
Marilyn Horne  Actor 
Harry Kleiner  Screenwriter 
Otto Preminger  Director 
Otto Preminger  Producer 
Dorothy Dandridge  Actor 
Harry Belafonte  Actor 
Olga James  Actor 
Pearl Bailey  Actor 
Diahann Carroll  Actor 
Nick Stewart [Nicodemus]  Actor 
Joe Adams  Actor 
Brock Peters  Actor 
Sandy Lewis  Actor 
Mauri Lynn  Actor 
DeForest Covan  Actor 
Le Vern Hutcherson  Actor 

Country: USA