65
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 89Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenPreminger strips the musical of all excess and frills. He creates an austere, depoeticized, anti-lyrical world in which nothing obstructs his camera's detached recording of the action. The great themes of Preminger's oeuvre are obsession and the conflict between freedom and repression, themes which are central to Carmen Jones.
- 88Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonThe movie can still make temperatures rise -- though for musical rather than political reasons.
- 80Preminger directs with a deft touch, blending the comedy and tragedy easily and building his scenes to some suspenseful heights. He gets fine performances from the cast toppers, notably Dorothy Dandridge, a sultry Carmen whose performance maintains the right hedonistic note throughout.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazinePreminger's heavy-handed adaptation of a Broadway triumph combines gorgeous music with risible lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; the project is saved by a terrific cast.
- 60EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid Parkinson1954 musical that is woefully miscast in places and extremely dubious in its portrayal of African-Americans but does boast an on-form Dorothy Dandridge.
- 60The GuardianAndrew PulverThe GuardianAndrew PulverThe 1954 film version of Oscar Hammerstein's all-black Broadway musical now feels like a relic from the gruesome social straitjacket that was segregation; every frame, you feel, is freighted with the tension imposed by the never-appearing white folks. It was, however, laudable in its desire to showcase the talents of African-American performers who were denied opportunities in Hollywood.
- 60The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelThis movie is terribly uneven -- best when it's gaudy and electric, worst in its more realistically staged melodramatic moments, especially toward the end. Overall, it's an entertaining show.
- 50Time OutTime OutThe somewhat heavy-handed direction and the ultimately two-dimensional characters leave you admiring the workmanship without plucking at the necessary emotional/romantic heart-strings.
- 40The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherThere is nothing wrong with the music—except that it does not fit the people or the words. But that did not seem to make much difference to Mr. Hammerstein or Mr. Preminger. They were carried away by their precocity. The present consequence is a crazy mixed-up film.