CARMEN JONES is an all-black musical based on the famous Bizet opera, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. I watched PORGY AND BESS, another all-black musical, for Romancefest either last year or the year before, and the two films have a lot in common, including their leading lady, Dorothy Dandridge, and director, Otto Preminger.
Released in 1954, the film takes place during WW2 and Dandridge stars as the title character, a sexy, independent woman recently fired from her job at a parachute factory and arrested for beating up one of the other girls. We’re introduced to her during an opening number in which she explains she’s not into dudes who are easy, just the ones who play hard to get.
Harry Belafonte stars as the military dude assigned to haul Dandridge to jail. He’s a straight arrow, already betrothed to an innocent country girl (Olga James). En route to prison, Dandridge seduces Belafonte away from his intended, and they enter into a passionate affair.
The movie has several strengths – it’s mostly shot on location, with a few exceptions for interiors, so that helps it keep a nice balance between reality and fantasy, which musicals some times have a problem with. The musical numbers are also good, and you’ll recognize a bunch of them since they’re all set to Bizet tunes. My favorite was a number in which Pearl Bailey, as Dandridge’s friend, sings about how she doesn’t even need any music, just the beat of the drum, to get into dancing.
Dandridge is great in the lead, though her singing voice is dubbed, but Belafonte (also dubbed) isn’t much of a leading man. It is partially the fault of his character, a boring square (until the final moments of the film). He’s handsome at all, but he’s such a soft spoken pushover that Dandridge (and the rest of the cast’s) passion renders him pretty lame.
I’m not really sure what to say about the plot, which evolves into Dandridge’s continual manipulation of Belafonte until he reaches his breaking point. On the surface, this is a story about a wild woman who exploits the weaknesses of a man who tries to be responsible. But it is also about the struggle between right and wrong within Carmen herself – like most people, she always wants what she can’t have.
No comments:
Post a Comment