The Loves of Carmen (1948)

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Prosper Mérimée (novel)
Helen Deutsch (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 August 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Bandit | Dragoon | Murder | Black Cat

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Rita Hayworth	...	Carmen
Glenn Ford	...	Don José
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

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

The Beckworth Corporation

Trivia:

Rita Hayworth's middle name is Carmen.

Goofs:

Continuity: Inside the Lilas Partia's, when Pablo squeezes Carmen's skirt pocket to check if she has more hidden money, her right arm is hanging. Next shot her right arm is folded.

Quotes:

Carmen García: You're a nice boy but I don't love you. I don't love anybody. I never in my life loved anybody. And you're just the sort of big stupid who falls in love in return for a kiss. And then makes a nuisance of himself.
[She opens a back door]
Carmen García: You can go out this back way.
[Don Jose stands there confused]
Carmen García: Get out. Have you lost your hearing? I said go home!
Don José Lizarabengoa: But why?
Carmen García: Because... Because I'm afraid that... that someday you will be very cruel.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in You jian chun tian (1981)

Soundtrack:

The Love of a Gypsy

Rita makes tempestuous but artificial beauty as Carmen...

There are times when RITA HAYWORTH, with her flashing eyes, heady mane of tresses and way with castanets and Spanish dances, amply fills the role of Carmen in THE LOVES OF CARMEN. She captures the flirtatious moods and stormy temperament without any trouble at all, and yet somehow every ravishing close-up reminds us that she has just been all glammed up by the make-up artist, every brush on her lips and hair and brows just given the royal Hollywood glamor treatment. Her glamor is so distracting that it renders her Carmen unrealistic, even though she certainly has the temperament to go with the part.

GLENN FORD is somber, stalwart and rugged enough as Don Jose but it doesn't seem like ideal casting. He looks uncomfortable in much of the early footage and only comes to life when he has killed a man and must spend the rest of the film on flight as a bandit and desperado in the rugged mountains. His performance strengthens and his love/hate relationship with Carmen is, for the most part, quite believable.

But some pseudo-Spanish music in the background score with a hint of Bizet would have been a wise approach to scoring the film. And giving Rita more than a couple of fiery dances would have been a smarter idea. As it is, her dancing moments are when she most completely captures the spirit of Carmen.

It's entertaining, in a lumbering sort of way--not exactly the most well paced version of the story. Hayworth is gorgeous to look at with a peaches and cream complexion that fairly glows in Technicolor, but all of her close-ups remind us that she is The Love Goddess being given the high gloss glamor treatment by the studio that made her a star.

But, reservations aside, for fans of Hayworth and Ford, this is a must see.