| Photos (see all 12 | slideshow) | Videos (see all 3) |
| Harry Belafonte | ... | Joe | |
| Dorothy Dandridge | ... | Carmen Jones | |
| Pearl Bailey | ... | Frankie | |
| Olga James | ... | Cindy Lou | |
| Joe Adams | ... | Husky Miller | |
| Brock Peters | ... | Sergeant Brown (as Broc Peters) | |
| Roy Glenn | ... | Rum Daniels | |
| Nick Stewart | ... | Dink Franklin | |
| Diahann Carroll | ... | Myrt | |
| LeVern Hutcherson | ... | Joe (voice) (as Le Vern Hutcherson) | |
| Marilyn Horne | ... | Carmen Jones (voice) (as Marilynn Horne) | |
| Marvin Hayes | ... | Husky Miller (voice) | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Alvin Ailey | ... | Dance Soloist (uncredited) | |
| DeForest Covan | ... | Trainer (uncredited) | |
| Joseph E. Crawford | ... | Dink Franklin (singing voice) (uncredited) | |
| Carmen De Lavallade | ... | Dance Soloist (uncredited) | |
| Bernie Hamilton | ... | Reporter (uncredited) | |
| Margaret Lancaster | ... | Singing Voice (uncredited) | |
| Mauri Lynn | ... | Sally (uncredited) | |
| Sam McDaniel | ... | Waiter (uncredited) | |
| Bernice Peterson | ... | Myrt (singing voice) (uncredited) | |
| Max Roach | ... | Max (uncredited) | |
| Carmencita Romero | ... | Dancer (uncredited) | |
| Archie Savage | ... | Dance Soloist (uncredited) | |
| Madame Sul-Te-Wan | ... | Hagar - Carmen's Grandmother (uncredited) | |
| Rubin Wilson | ... | Kid Pancho (uncredited) | |
Directed by | |||
| Otto Preminger | |||
Writing credits | ||
| Oscar Hammerstein II | (book) (as Oscar Hammerstein 2nd) | |
| Harry Kleiner | (screenplay) | |
| Prosper Mérimée | novel (uncredited) | |
Produced by | |||
| Otto Preminger | .... | producer | |
Cinematography by | |||
| Sam Leavitt | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| Louis R. Loeffler | |||
Art Direction by | |||
| Edward L. Ilou | |||
| John DeCuir | (co-art director) (uncredited) | ||
Set Decoration by | |||
| Claude E. Carpenter | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| Mary Ann Nyberg | |||
Production Management | |||
| Herman E. Webber | .... | production manager | |
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director | |||
| David Silver | .... | assistant director | |
Sound Department | |||
| Roger Heman Sr. | .... | sound (as Roger Heman) | |
| Arthur von Kirbach | .... | sound (as Arthur L. Kirbach) | |
Camera and Electrical Department | |||
| Albert Myers | .... | camera operator | |
| Robert Willoughby | .... | special still photographer (uncredited) | |
Casting Department | |||
| Lina Abarbanell | .... | casting consultant | |
Costume and Wardrobe Department | |||
| Sam Benson | .... | wardrobe (uncredited) | |
Music Department | |||
| Leon Birnbaum | .... | music editor | |
| Georges Bizet | .... | composer: opera "Carmen" | |
| George Brand | .... | music editor | |
| Ted Dale | .... | associate musical director | |
| Herschel Burke Gilbert | .... | musical director | |
| Billy Rose | .... | producer: Broadway musical play "Carmen Jones" | |
| Murray Spivack | .... | music recordist | |
| Vinton Vernon | .... | music recordist | |
| Jester Hairston | .... | choral director (uncredited) | |
| Jester Hairston | .... | vocal coach (uncredited) | |
| Dimitri Tiomkin | .... | co-musical director (uncredited) | |
Other crew | |||
| Saul Bass | .... | title designer | |
| John Indrisano | .... | fight stager | |
| Otto Preminger | .... | presenter | |
| Max Slater | .... | production assistant (as Maximilian Slater) | |
| Herbert Ross | .... | choreographer (uncredited) | |
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| From Here to Eternity | Major Dundee | The Bodyguard | Across the Universe | Gone with the Wind |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Musical section | IMDb USA section |
| Add this title to MyMovies |
Some greatness here. Dandridge's performance is riveting, and Pearl Bailey is a wonderful addition. Bizet's music is as appealing as always. The singers are excellent. The dancers at Billy Pastor's are another high point.
Too many slips for me to rate it a 10. It's lip-synced -- like every other movie musical, and (despite what one other reviewer said), one of the best lip-sync jobs I've seen. Only My Fair Lady does better (of those I've seen). Dandridge, Belafonte, and Bailey are particularly good; Olga James much less so. But I always find lip-syncing painfully obvious and distracting and will probably never have a chance to top-rate a movie musical as a result. It's also quite distracting when Joe breaks into song, because LeVern Hutcherson's voice is so different from Harry Belafonte's. It's a real shame that experienced singers like Dandridge and Belafonte weren't allowed to sing. Marilyn Horne, wow -- but I like the voice to match the face.
The acting is uneven. Some is excellent, led by Dandridge, and others do well too. But some of the acting is stiff.
Then there's the re-setting. Oh, moving the place is fine. It's funny that a couple of reviewers have referred to "how the Spaniards do it" and "Spanish opera". Hey, Carmen is set in Seville and Bizet attempted to use some Spanish musical idioms, but Carmen is a French opera through and through. Bizet was French, Prosper Merimee was French, the libretto is in French. But Carmen Jones only uses the top arias from Carmen, and ends up adding a lot of dialog to fill in the time. The story is true to the original, but Bizet told more in music and Hammerstein tells more in words. Oscar should have trusted Georges more.
I notice that Alvin Ailey is uncredited as a dancer. I found a couple of photos of him on the web -- it's hard, because his dance company has been so much more famous than the man, but I found a couple. I *think* I figured out which one he is -- some slo-mo work there -- but most of the dancers' faces don't come into focus for long enough to know for sure. It would be mostly a curiosity to know, since the movie doesn't show enough of the dance to see any personal style.