it’s good. you can definitely tell that there wasn’t as much money poured into this as other well-received classical musicals from the era, but its middle-class mundanity is (in its own way) a small step forward. Dorothy Dandrige is literally why you watched this and she makes it worth it, she’s so self-actualized as a lead. her sly gaze and glamorous figure frame her as this irresistible object of desire and yet she is also combative, autonomous and experimental in her nature. such memorable star power. oh and Dat’s Love is amazing
Keeping the melodies to Bizet's opera but replacing the words with modern lyrics might have been a mistake. Using "de" and "dere" was definitely a mistake. Dubbing over Harry Belafonte was just rude (Dorothy Dandridge, too, probably, but Belafonte is one of my favorites). But almost everything else was rather wonderful. The rich colors, the excellent casting, the boldness of the production all converge to make a compelling, beautiful film in bright 50s melodrama. The operatic origins are well respected insofar as the plot goes--you could easily transpose this back to the original without much effort. The story of Carmen plays out here with more sympathy and understanding for the title character than other adaptations I've seen; there's a respect for her freedom here. She leads Joe down a dark path, but I did not come away thinking that she was a simple, reductive femme fatale trope.I mentioned above the lyrics. I do not usually worry myself over lyrics. Unless they are directly offensive, I tend not to focus on them; vocals are just another instrument, ideally. In opera, this is especially true, where a soprano can turn basic material into electric trills and cascading rhythms that mesmerize. But here, the effect of the updated lyrics put me in mind of children's parodies of these tunes. The lyrics weren't that simplistic, but the juxtaposition of classic melodies with English lyrics seemed incongruous. The racially charged dialect chosen also seemed to be both inconsistently applied and uncomfortably stereotypical. Still, it would take a lot for "Habanera" to be anything but beautiful.This is a film with an all black cast based on a famous opera. It broke boundaries by existing, and though it's not perfect, the depiction of a powerful, sexually liberated woman was not typical of the era.February count: 4/28
Inspired by seeing Dorothy Dandridge on the big screen at the Academy Museum, I finally checked this out. Same ole Preminger…fortunately, I like him. Boldly lit and designed but too static (move the camera!), and slightly dyspeptic, it’s illuminated by two of the most stunning stars in history—Dandridge and Harry Belafonte—at the apex of their beauty. Carmen is a strange opera but I like the Hammerstein songs fitted to Bizet. This probably deserves more of a seat at the table in The Great Hollywood Musicals conversation.
