Harry Belafonte, who died yesterday at 96, is probably better known these days as a civil rights activist than singer or actor, but he was a formidable presence on all fronts. While he was merely serviceable in the great screen version of Carmen Jones (where they strangely dubbed his singing voice), he gave an interesting turn in a later film, The Angel Levine, as a divine being sent from heaven to save a troubled Orthodox Jew. My review of that curiosity is below. RIP.
Tag Archives: Carmen Jones Harry Belafonte
Carmen Jones (1954 film)
- Carmen Jones
2/19/22 (Sat)
Otto Preminger’s 1954 film was based on Oscar Hammerstein II’s transformation of Carmen into an all-black Broadway musical that had enjoyed a healthy run back in 1943 (just after the opening of his blockbuster Oklahoma!). He had reset the show from a tobacco factory in 19th-century Seville to a Chicago parachute factory during WWII, with the story otherwise closely paralleling the original in an adept English translation. A fabulous off Broadway production in 2018 ended far too soon without transferring, which is Broadway’s loss, but it did demonstrate that the material (other than its unfortunate “black” vernacular, which can easily be stripped away) remains vital today. I wish the Encores! series had chosen this as their black-oriented piece in this year’s lineup instead of the vastly inferior Tap Dance Kid and The Life. How great would it be to hear Bizet’s score in this Americanized setting with the full Encores orchestra?
Preminger did not simply re-stage the musical but substantially rewrote the book, eliminating a good deal of the music along the way in apparent hope of creating a drama with occasional music as opposed to a musical. Not sure he succeeded at that, but he did a terrific job of making the material work for the screen. Continue reading
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