Carmen Jones

I stumbled on this movie when I was doing a school project last year and became fascinated with African American style icons from the 50’s. I was looking into Dorothy Dandridge’s work and saw the trailer for Carmen Jones. A movie based on an opera made in 1954 with an all black cast? I had to watch it!

I haven’t watched many movies from the 50’s and only a handful of musicals so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Let’s just say, the plot is what it is. It’s based on an opera from the 1870’s after all. There was also a lot of dubbed singing, which was hard to get used to. I kept watching anyway, mainly because Dandridge was so captivating and I couldn’t keep my eyes of her colourful dresses.  I especially love the hooded peach dress she’s wearing towards the end of the movie. Her costars didn’t disappoint either with their glamorous outfits and headpieces.

I looked up Mary Ann Nyberg, the costume designer of the film and learned that she worked on the 1954 version of A Star is Born. I’m a bit curious to watch the earlier versions now that I’ve seen Bradley Cooper’s version. I’ll also add the Dorothy Dandridge biopic starring Halle Berry to my watch list.