The Loves of Carmen (1948) on Netflix
Carmen, a gypsy in Seville, takes the watch of Don José Lizarabengoa, a newly arrived corporal in the Spanish dragoons. He cannot shake his obsession with her.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Don José Lizarabengoa comes to Seville in the early nineteenth century to take up the post of corporal in the Spanish dragoons. He falls for Carmen, a gypsy, who robs him the day they meet, and his obsession with her takes hold. When Carmen cuts a peasant woman across the face after an insult, José is told to arrest her. He lets her go instead, and the failure costs him his rank; he is confined to guard duty. His commanding officer, the colonel, is in love with Carmen too.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Loves of Carmen (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Loves of Carmen was the first film chosen and co-produced by Rita Hayworth's own company, Beckworth, named after her daughter Becky and half-owned by Columbia. It gave her approval over the material and a share of the profits, and she was signed exclusively for $250,000 a year for seven years.
- The film used no music from Bizet's opera; the score was made up of flamenco songs. Director Charles Vidor explained that he dropped the familiar opera trappings so that even opera lovers could enjoy a realistic story with the sort of gypsy music Carmen herself must have danced to.
- Gar Moore and Gig Young were reportedly among the actors who tested for the male lead, before Columbia announced in November 1947 that Glenn Ford would take the part.
- As co-producer, Rita Hayworth hired her father, the dancer Eduardo Cansino, to help choreograph the film's traditional Spanish dances. Her uncle José Cansino appears as her dance partner in one scene, and her brother Vernon Cansino has a bit part as a soldier.
- In 1954 Rita Hayworth sued Columbia for a financial accounting over The Loves of Carmen and three other films she made through Beckworth: Affair in Trinidad, Miss Sadie Thompson and Salome.
