The Loves of Carmen (1948)

A beautiful but amoral gypsy girl entices a young dragoon to betray his honor and get cashiered from the service, and for her sake he soon turns to a life of crime.

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Helen Deutsch (screenplay), Prosper Mérimée (based upon the story of "Carmen" by)

Stars:

Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, Ron Randell

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rita Hayworth	...	Carmen
Glenn Ford	...	Don José Lizarabengoa
Ron Randell	...	Andrés
Victor Jory	...	García
Luther Adler	...	Dancaire
Arnold Moss	...	Colonel
Joseph Buloff	...	Remendado
Margaret Wycherly	...	Old Crone
Bernard Nedell	...	Pablo
John Baragrey	...	Lucas

Storyline

Following the plot of the opera, "Carmen," this story follows the wild gypsy's adventures as a siren and bandit. Carmen lures an innocent soldier to his ruin, getting him expelled from the army. He then turns to banditry, killing Carmen's husband and others. All this makes for an unhappy ending with the innocent repenting his sins and dying for them.

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Plot Keywords:

gypsy | dragoon | bandit | redheaded woman | black cat | 

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Taglines:

A story of beauty and savagery...love and hate...splendor and shame...

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Liebesnächte in Sevilla

Filming Locations:

Columbia Pictures - 1020 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Beckworth Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alexander Korda was planning a version of "Carmen" to star Paulette Goddard, but in view of this production he canceled the project.

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Goofs

After Don Jose helps Carmen down from the wall, several oranges fall near her feet. The next shot shows him grabbing the oranges scattered a little way from her feet.

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Quotes

Shopkeeper: [after Carmen orders a great deal of food] She's always hungry, that girl!
Old Crone: [seeing Carmen is with Don Jose, what she says implies her sexual promiscuity] Someday she'll eat the wrong thing, and then she'll howl about the pain as if she'd never been warned before.
Carmen García: [Carmen realizes this may affect Don Jose and she looks at him for a reaction] Because they've lost their own appetites, they hate to see anybody enjoy eating.

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Connections

Version of Carmen (1983)

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Soundtracks

The Love of a Gypsy (Amor di Gitano)
(uncredited)
Written by Morris Stoloff and Fred Karger
Performed by Rita Hayworth (dubbed by Anita Ellis

User Reviews

"There's No Such Thing As One Love to Carmen"

Rita Hayworth reached back to her portrayal of Dona Sol in Blood and Sand and even further back to her Spanish heritage for a riveting performance as Carmen, the fiery and seductive gypsy created by Prosper Merimee and immortalized by Bizet in his opera.

The Loves of Carmen is Rita's co-production with Columbia Pictures and this would be her last film for several years as right after this film came out, she married Aly Khan. She became a Princess and lived one wild jet setting life. She was queen of the tabloids back then.

Carmen as done by Hayworth is beautiful, fascinating, and frightening. Scary in the way she just uses, abuses, and discards the male of the species. It's the perfect Rita Hayworth role for those demanding to see in my opinion the greatest sex goddess the cinema ever produced.

The reason that The Loves of Carmen is not a classic is the horrible miscasting of Glenn Ford as Don Jose. Try as he might Glenn Ford comes off about as Latin as Curt Jurgens. Ford had the same problem when he was cast in Rudolph Valentino's role in the remake of The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Tyrone Power worked well opposite Rita in Blood and Sand, but he was at the wrong studio. And it would have to have been the pre World War II Power. Someone like Farley Granger who could have suggested a callow youth might have been better.

Rita cast Ford in the part, partly for reasons of friendship, partly because it cost nothing extra because Glenn was under contract to Columbia as she was, and partly due to the big box office they became because of Gilda two years earlier. When Rita did return to the screen after her marriage to Aly Khan was over, Ford appeared opposite her in Affair in Trinidad which was far better suited to his image.

I won't go into the plot because the Bizet Opera and the musical Carmen Jones has made it all so familiar. Let's just say that between Hayworth's amorality and Ford's hormones it ends in tragedy for both.

The rest of the cast does just fine. Note the good performances of Arnold Moss as Ford's commanding officer, Victor Jory as the gypsy bandit leader, Margaret Wycherly as the old gypsy woman who foretells the future for all. Most of all Luther Adler who is a cynical observer of all around him from Jory's band of thieves.

But as in another Columbia classic, The Loves of Carmen could have been a contender.