Carmen Jones

US (1954): Musical/Drama

At an all-black army camp, civilian parachute maker and "hot bundle" Carmen Jones (Dorothy Dandridge) is desired by many of the men. Naturally, she wants Joe (Harry Belafonte), who's engaged to sweet Cindy Lou (Olga James) and about to go into pilot training for the Korean War. Going after him, she succeeds only in getting him into the stockade. While she awaits his release, trouble approaches for both of them. Songs from the Bizet opera with modernized lyrics. The singing voices of Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge were dubbed by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne respectively, even though Belafonte and Dandridge were both accomplished singers. Otto Preminger produced and directed this RKO release that also features Pearl Bailey, Joe Adams, Nick Stewart, Roy Glenn, Diahann Carroll and Brock Peters. This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1992. (Rod Crawford, IMDb)

 View a clip of "Dat's Love" from this film on YouTube.com.

2 nominations