The Evolution of Carmen

Carmen Jones is a 1954 musical film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. An adaptation of the 1943 Broadway musical of the same name, Carmen Jones is a retelling of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen set during World War II with an all African-American cast. The film stars Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Olga James, and Joe Adams, also featuring Brock Peters (his film debut), Roy Glenn, Nick Stewart, and Diahann Carroll (her film debut). Despite Miss Dandridge's singing career, she is not the Operatic Mezzo-Soprano the music calls for, and her voice was dubbed by the very young Marilyn Horne in her first high-profile job. Belafonte and Adams were also dubbed.

The film was a critical and commercial success, and proved to be a major star-making vehicle for Dorothy Dandridge, who portrayed the title character. Carmen Jones won the 1955 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and was nominated for two Academy Awards. Dandridge, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, was the first African-American so honored. The film was also entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1992, Carmen Jones was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Carmen: A Hip Hopera is a 2001 musical film produced for television by MTV and directed by Robert Townsend. The film stars Beyoncé Knowles, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Wyclef Jean, Mekhi Phifer, Da Brat, Joy Bryant, Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow. It is based upon Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen, set in Philadelphia and Los Angeles in modern times, and features a mostly original hip-hop/R&B score in place of Bizet's opera. The movie received mainly negative reviews. To date, it is the second major attempt at an African-American adaptation of the opera. -Wikipedia

These two movies as well as numerous other film adaptations were inspired by Carmen the French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies (1824) by Alexander Pushkin. The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, but its opening run was denounced by the majority of critics. -Wikipedia

The Evolution of Carmen

The Big Lift starring Montgomery Clift | Free Movie

The Big Lift is a 1950 film that was shot on location in the city of Berlin, Germany, and tells the story of two Air Force sergeants (played by Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas) who meet and fall in love with two women in Berlin during the 1948/1949 Berlin Air Lift.
The film was directed and written by George Seaton, and was released April 26, 1950, less than one year after the Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted and the air lift operations ceased. Because the film was shot in Berlin in 1949, it provides a unique glimpse of the post-war state of the city as it struggles to recover from the devastation wrought by World War II. Wikipedia

Filmed on location, The Big Lift is a reenactment of the Berlin airlift of 1948. Flexing their postwar muscles, the Russians blockade the Western sector, refusing to allow the Allies to ship supplies to the starving Berliners. From their headquarters at Templehof Airport, a group of courageous American flyers risk their lives to transport supplies by air. Internet Archives

Do you see Montgomery Clift in Tom Cruise?

Watching The Big Lift on TCM...for just a moment I could see Tom Cruise in Montgomery Clift's bashful upward glance and sly crooked smile.

Free Movie | Alfred Hitchcock's Rich and Strange (1931)

In case you miss TCM showing, I have posted this embed from one of my favorite websites for films in public domain...

Fred and Emily Hill (Henry Kendall, Joan Barry) are leading a boring life in London.
They receive a big inheritance by a rich relative and now they can realize all their dreams.
They leave for a cruise behaving as rich people....but this is the beginning of the end.
Richness makes they soon forget their love and family.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Producer: John Maxwell

Just for your tweeting...

Kincsem1874@TCManiacs I wish I'd seen this.about 11 hours ago from web in reply to TCManiacs

TCManiacs: TCM Now Playing | 6:00 AM Rich and Strange: London spouses inherit a fortune and take a rough cruise to the Far East. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock #

Go, Johnny, Go! | Videoclip & List of Songs

Go, Johnny, Go! (1959) U.S. film about Rock'N'Roll promoter Alan Freed holds a talent search to develop a new rock star, then must find the elusive, mystery contestant (Jimmy Clanton) who doesn't know he has won.

Fantastic Alan Freed movie with a galaxy of 1950s rock and roll stars! Jimmy Clanton stars as "Johnnie Melody," an unwanted teenager from an orphanage who sends a demo record to disc jockey Alan Freed and rises to rock and roll fame! Along the way he meets a cool chick (Sandy Stewart), falls in love, and gets arrested by the cops! Chuck Berry has an acting roll and also performs some of his classics. Cool record store scene but the real treat is the 1950s rock and roll music: The Flamingoes: "Jump, Children." The Cadillacs: "Jay Walker," "Please, Mr. Johnson." Harvey: "Don't Be Afraid To Love Me." Jackie Wilson: "You Better Know It." Chuck Berry: "Johnny B. Goode," "Little Queenie," "Memphis, Tennessee." Eddie Cochran: "Teenage Heaven." Ritchie Valens: "Ooh My Head." Jo-Ann Campbell: "Momma, Can I Go Out." Jimmy Clanton: "My Love Is Strong," "It Takes A Long Time," "Ship On A Stormy Sea," "Angel Face." Sandy Stewart: "Playmates." "Heavenly Father." Jimmy Clanton and Sandy Stewart: "Once Again."

Alan Freed, Jimmy Clanton, Sandy Stewart, Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, Jo-Ann Campbell, The Flamingos, Harvey Fuqua, Eddie Cochran, Jimmy Cavallo and the House Rockers, Herb Vigran, Frank Wilcox, Barbara Woodell, Milton Frome, Joe Cranston, Martha Wentworth, Robert Foulk, Joe Flynn. Go Johnny Go!

Go, Johnny, Go!
|

Mae Clarke | Famous grapefruit in the face scene with Cagney

Mae Clarke (August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) was born Violet Mary Klotz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an American film actress. She started her career as a dancer and subsequently starred in many films for Universal Studios, including the original screen version of The Front Page (1931) and the first sound version of Frankenstein (1931) with Boris Karloff. Clarke played the role of Dr. Frankenstein's fiancee in Frankenstein, who was attacked by the Monster (Karloff) on her wedding day.

The Public Enemy, released that same year, contained one of cinema's most famous (and frequently parodied) scenes, in which James Cagney pushed a half grapefruit into Clarke's face, then went out and picked up Jean Harlow. The film was so popular that it ran 24 hours a day at a theatre in Times Square upon its initial release, and Clarke's ex-husband had the grapefruit scene timed and would frequently buy a ticket, enter the theatre to enjoy that sequence, then leave the theatre.

She may be best known for her leading role as, "Myra Deauville," in the 1931 pre-Code version of, Waterloo Bridge. In the film, she portrays a young American woman who is forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution in World War I London. Both the film and Clarke's performance were well received by the critics.

She also appeared in the modest pre-code Universal film Night World (1932), with Lew Ayres, Boris Karloff, and Hedda Hopper.

By the mid-1930s though, Clarke was no longer a leading lady and was only featured in small or bit parts through the 1960s.

Mae Clarke was featured today on TCM in three films,

• The Good Bad Girl (1931)
• Three Wise Girls (1932)
• Final Edition (1932)