#all-black

The lyrics of Carmen’s first song of the film, “Dats Love,” is an announcement of her essence.

“You go for me and I'm taboo

But if you're hard to get I go for you

And if I do then you are through, boy

My baby that's the end of you”

From the moment Carmen sashays into the cafeteria, casually holding a red rose (a present from one of her hopefuls no doubt), we know she is unique based solely on her black ruffle trimmed, low-cut blouse and fitted red skirt: A subliminal combination of colors associated with the image of a stereotypical devil.

She is decisive of her prey. She admires Joe (Harry Belafonte) unabashedly sizing him up as an alpha. Her mind is made up. She is going to get exactly what she wants, and who could blame her? Joe with his honey-toned skin and chiseled features is beautiful, and the fact that he is unresponsive intrigues her senses all the more. Her playful banter with a frustrated Joe while traveling in the Jeep is only a precursor. Carmen is content with turning up the heat in increments, because in her mind there is no doubt, she is already the victor. As Joe continually shoves her away, she answers: "The harder I get bumped the more of me bounces." She’s surprising, simultaneously amusing and unapologetic.

Instead of relenting in fear when Joe grabs her in a fit of jealousy, Carmen ferociously fights to be released from his clutches punctuating her need for freedom. She is not acting out as a means of manipulation, although clearly, she knows how to manipulate. This particular response is created out of authentic self-preservation and she possesses the audaciousness to be a woman who is the master of her own soul, regardless of her lover's emotion. Of course, naturally, Joe becomes obsessively caught in Carmen’s beguiling web, where his passion is so overwhelming it results in murder. But, Carmen's outright refusal to be possessed within itself is her power and depending on perspective, may also be her pitfall.

Although she was a vocalist, like much of the cast, Dandridge was not able to meet the demands of the film's operatic hue. Dandridge took great strains to make the dubbed vocals of Marilyn Horne as seamless as possible, mimicking Horne’s breath work.

The NAACP was originally opposed to an all-Black cast as the organization rallied for integration. The controversy of CARMEN JONES truly lay in the lead’s overt sexuality. Carmen obeys her primitive nature, wafting where her emotions lead, and as a result the script was gone over with a fine-tooth comb prior to filming for review by the Hays Office. Dandridge was the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Life magazine, and by the time the film was in production she was viewed by black and white audiences alike (albeit taboo for a white audience) as a bonafied sex symbol. Still, Dandridge faced inevitable racial truths. When once threatening to swim at the all-white hotel which she headlined, suddenly the pool required draining.

Dandridge's performance in CARMEN JONES garnered a Best Actress Oscar nomination, the first for a Black individual. Despite her loss to Grace Kelly, the community saw her nomination alone as a hard earned and long-suffering triumph. After her achievement for CARMEN JONES, demand for her performances grew. Dandridge was booked in illustrious venues including the Empire Room in New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel; however, her movie career began to flail on Preminger’s advice to turn down multiple roles offered to her that he perceived as below her Oscar nominee stance. It would be a three-year stint until she would once again return to film, garnering a Golden Globe nomination for PORGY AND BESS (‘59). Over the course of her life, Dandridge would turn to alcohol and prescription medications to fill the void of her failed sometimes abusive relationships and intimate struggles. Her life came to a tragic end at the age of 42 as a result of an overdose.