As those of you who know me well can readily affirm, I've always been mad about musicals, whether stage, screen, or both, a love imparted to me from my parents, especially my mother Mary Shuker, who introduced me when still just a small child to the wonderful shows and melodious songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, Sigmund Romberg, Ivor Novello, and many more, by playing LPs of their works at home and regaling me with the engaging storylines behind each show.
As I grew older, I expanded my burgeoning musicals knowledge still further by taking in the shows and songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Stephen Sondheim, Lorenz Hart, the Sherman brothers, Jerry Herman, Schoenberg & Boublil, and countless others, as well as adding classical music to the by-now extremely diverse array of music genres that appealed to me. And on 17 June 2018, the highly-acclaimed film version of a stage musical that I had long wanted to see, as it famously and very successfully combined musical theatre with classical music but had always hitherto eluded me, unexpectedly appeared on TV, and I was just in time to catch it. The film musical in question was none other than the incomparable Carmen Jones, based upon the 1943 stage version.
Directed and produced by the legendary Otto Preminger no less, in panoramic Cinemascope format, and released by 20th Century Fox in 1954, Carmen Jones stars Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, and Pearl Bailey, and uniquely combines the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II (he of the inestimable Rodgers/Hammerstein partnership responsible for such peerless productions as The Sound of Music, The King and I, Carousel, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Flower Drum Song) with the sumptuous classical themes of Georges Bizet from the latter's immortal 1875 opera Carmen.
Having said that, the setting in Carmen Jones is updated from that of a cigarette factory in Spain as featuring in Carmen to an American military-run parachute-manufacturing factory during World War II. Moreover, the opera's toreador is replaced in this musical by a prize-fighter boxer. Carmen Jones memorably showcases a stunning, entirely Afro-American cast, and includes dubbing singers LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne, both possessing formal operatic ability (for although singers themselves, Belafonte and Dandridge lacked operatic training). Setting changes notwithstanding, the general storyline pays close homage to Bizet's original work.
Dandridge shines throughout in a tour-de-force performance as shameless go-getter Carmen Jones, arrested for fighting at the factory where she works, and Belafonte as naïve soldier Corporal Joe who is assigned to drive Carmen to the civilian authorities some distance away but is cynically seduced by Carmen solely as a means of escaping detention. Even though poor Joe is punished for his carelessness by being demoted to a private, he has fallen hopelessly and fatefully in love with her. Moreover, the licentious Carmen is initially taken with the idea of having Joe for herself, much to the consternation of Joe's shy but true girlfriend Cindy Lou (Olga James), but then the famous champion prizefighter Husky Miller (Joe Adams) arrives in town, and Carmen 's head, although not initially, is eventually turned, not only by the size of his muscles but also by the extent of his wealth, neither of which can Joe hope to compete with.
Doomed Joe, meanwhile, seems destined to plunge himself into one disaster after another, soon facing a lengthy sentence locked away in a military prison, so he and Carmen go on the run, leading to the petering out of their romance as Carmen, aided and abetted by her friends Frankie (Pearl Bailey) and Myrt (Diahann Carroll), selfishly seeks a better life for herself, jettisoning lovelorn Joe along the way. Passions ignite, tempers rage, and the grim shadow of impending tragedy stands silently in wait, armed and ready to deal the lethal blows at the appointed time.
Carmen Jones effortlessly transports its viewers into a heady world of lush orchestration, gorgeous singing and melodies, and a sizzling, scorching tale of fatal infatuation and torturing treachery - and all in the name of love, what else? This movie is massively recommended by me for aficionados of musicals and classical music alike, as well as for anyone who simply enjoys melodious, memorable tunes and a vibrant cinematic experience as torrid as any toreador, as pugnacious as any pugilist.
And if you don't believe me, just click here to watch an official trailer for this passionate, vivacious outpouring of raw emotion, lustful deceit, and the scintillating score of Bizet partnered with the irresistible lyrics of Hammerstein - what more could any moviegoer want?
And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
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