Otto Preminger proves that he has not a clue how to direct a musical in this dull slog adapted from the famous opera.
It's a shame too, because he has Dorothy Dandridge in the title role. She's a vivacious presence, but Preminger doesn't know what to do with her except film her in static medium long shots. This is one of those early Cinemascope productions where the aspect ratio is wide but the director doesn't use the extra space for anything interesting. So most of the time we watch two actors standing still in the middle of the frame while the sides are filled with empty sets.
The film comes alive only a couple of times, when we hear those famous Bizet songs. But the credit for that goes to the original opera, not to anyone in the movie. In fact, the film does its best to undermine the music by dubbing both Dandridge and Harry Belafonte with different singers. This hurts Belafonte the most -- he's asked to lip sync to a dreadful, high-pitched voice that doesn't for a second sound like it's actually coming from him.
This movie has no plot and no character development. That's true of a lot of musicals, but they make up for it with verve, dance, and color. This movie doesn't do that, and the whole thing sits on the screen like a lump of lead.
"Carmen Jones" received two Oscar nominations, one for Dandridge as Best Actress, the first time a black actor was nominated in a lead category, and the other for Best Musical Scoring.
Grade: D
It's a shame too, because he has Dorothy Dandridge in the title role. She's a vivacious presence, but Preminger doesn't know what to do with her except film her in static medium long shots. This is one of those early Cinemascope productions where the aspect ratio is wide but the director doesn't use the extra space for anything interesting. So most of the time we watch two actors standing still in the middle of the frame while the sides are filled with empty sets.
The film comes alive only a couple of times, when we hear those famous Bizet songs. But the credit for that goes to the original opera, not to anyone in the movie. In fact, the film does its best to undermine the music by dubbing both Dandridge and Harry Belafonte with different singers. This hurts Belafonte the most -- he's asked to lip sync to a dreadful, high-pitched voice that doesn't for a second sound like it's actually coming from him.
This movie has no plot and no character development. That's true of a lot of musicals, but they make up for it with verve, dance, and color. This movie doesn't do that, and the whole thing sits on the screen like a lump of lead.
"Carmen Jones" received two Oscar nominations, one for Dandridge as Best Actress, the first time a black actor was nominated in a lead category, and the other for Best Musical Scoring.
Grade: D