Carmen Jones (1954) on Netflix
Carmen Jones makes parachutes at a factory in North Carolina. After a fight, she is placed in Corporal Joe's charge. Joe is engaged to Cindy Lou, but Carmen wants him.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.7/106,479 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes75%
Trailer
Plot summary
Carmen Jones, a civilian parachute maker in North Carolina, is arrested after a fight with a co-worker who had reported her lateness. Sergeant Brown, who leads the Army guards, has Corporal Joe drive her to the civilian authorities more than fifty miles off. Joe is engaged to Cindy Lou; the two had agreed to marry during his leave, before he reports for flight school and an officer's commission. He means to hand over his prisoner and get back to her quickly. On the way he takes a shortcut along a road marked unsuitable for motor vehicles, and the jeep becomes stuck in a river. Carmen suggests they stop for food, and his refusal makes her only more determined to have him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Carmen Jones (1954)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Dorothy Dandridge won the role of Carmen after Otto Preminger told her she looked like a model or a beautiful butterfly, not Carmen, and suggested she audition for Cindy Lou instead. She left and returned dressed and behaving exactly as he had envisioned Carmen.
- Carmen Jones was banned in France until 1981 because of a technicality in French copyright law, enforced on the order of the estate of composer Georges Bizet, whose 1875 opera Carmen supplied the film's music.
- Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Carmen, losing the prize to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl.
- Soprano Marilyn Horne dubbed Dorothy Dandridge's singing voice in Carmen Jones, spending many hours with her and doing everything she could to imitate Dandridge's voice as if she could sing in the proper register.
- The opening title sequence of Carmen Jones was the first film title sequence created by Saul Bass, and it began his long professional relationship with Otto Preminger.
- Joseph Breen, head of the office enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code, cited Carmen Jones's "over-emphasis on lustfulness" and its lack of any voice condemning Carmen's morals. Otto Preminger filmed two versions of the scenes Breen objected to but used the more controversial ones in the final film.
- Dorothy Dandridge nearly backed out of playing Carmen after doubting she could do the role justice; Otto Preminger drove to her apartment to reassure her, and the two unexpectedly began a passionate affair.
