''The Loves of Carmen'' is a 1948 American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by

Charles Vidor Charles Vidor (born Károly Vidor; July 27, 1900June 4, 1959) was a Hungarian film director. Among his film successes are ''The Bridge'' (1929), ''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' (1942), ''The Desperadoes'' (1943), ''Cover Girl'' (1944), '' Together A ...

. The film stars

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...

as the gypsy Carmen and

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...

as her doomed lover Don José. ''The Loves of Carmen'' was publicized as a dramatic adaptation of the novella ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' by

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

and is otherwise unrelated to

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

''. It is a remake of the 1927 film of the same name, which was directed by

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He w ...

and stars

Dolores del Río María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...

and

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made se ...

. The film reunited the stars, writer and director of ''Gilda''. It was Hayworth's last film for four years.

Plot

In Spain, during the early nineteenth century, Don Jose Lizarabengoa arrives in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

to begin service as a corporal in the Spanish dragoons. He meets Carmen, a gypsy, who steals his watch, and becomes obsessed with her. Carmen slashes the face of a peasant woman who insults her. Jose is ordered to arrest Carmen but allows her to escape. For this Jose is demoted and confined to guard duty. Jose's commanding officer, the colonel, also falls in love with Carmen. A fortune teller warns Carmen she will be killed by a man she really loves. She goes to meet Jose, who is discovered by the colonel. The colonel challenges Jose to a duel during which Carmen trips the officer, causing him to fall on Jose's sword and die. Jose is wanted for murder. He and Carmen flee to the mountains where Jose discovers Carmen is married to Garcia, the leader of a gang of bandits. Jose and Garcia have a knife fight in which Garcia is killed. Jose marries Carmen and takes over the gang, but the couple keep fighting. Carmen goes to Cordoba and becomes the lover of the bullfighter Lucas. Pablo, one of the bandits, betrays Jose to the police for a reward. Jose tracks down Carmen, who refuses to return to him. She spits on him, he stabs her, and a policeman shoots Jose, mortally wounding him. Carmen and Jose die in each other's arms.

Cast

as Carmen ** Anita Ellis as Carmen (singing voice) (uncredited) *

as Don José *

Ron Randell Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

as Andrés *

Victor Jory Victor Jory (November 23, 1902 – February 12, 1982) was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast in villainous or sinister roles, such as Oberon in ''A Midsummer N ...

as García *

Luther Adler Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway. Early life and career Adler was born on ...

as Dancaire *

Arnold Moss Arnold Moss (January 28, 1910 – December 15, 1989) was an American character actor. His son was songwriter Jeff Moss. Early years Born in Flatbush, Moss was a third-generation Brooklyn native. He attended Brooklyn's Boys High School. ...

as Colonel *

Joseph Buloff Joseph Buloff (December 6, 1899 – February 27, 1985) was a Jewish actor and director known for his work in Broadway and Yiddish theatre. He received the Itzik Manger Prize for contributions to Yiddish letters in 1974. Life and care ...

as Remendado *

Margaret Wycherly Margaret De Wolfe Wycherly (born Margaret De Wolfe, 26 October 1881 – 6 June 1956) was an English stage and film actress. She spent many years in the United States and is best remembered for her Broadway roles and Hollywood character parts. On ...

as Old Crone *

Bernard Nedell Bernard Jay Nedell (October 14, 1898 – November 23, 1972) was an American film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1916 and 1972. He was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California. He was married to actress Olive Blak ...

as Pablo *

John Baragrey John Baragrey (April 15, 1918 – August 4, 1975) was an American film, television, and stage actor who appeared in virtually every dramatic television series of the 1950s and early 1960s. Early years Baragrey was born in Haleyville, Alabama ...

as Lucas, a bullfighter

Production

This was the first film chosen and co-produced by Hayworth's production company, the Beckworth Corporation, which gave her approval over her material and a percentage of the film's profits. Beckworth (named after Hayworth's daughter Becky) was owned 50% by Columbia and nearly 50% by Hayworth with the remainder held by her agent Johnny Hyde. Hayworth signed an exclusive contract with Beckworth for $250,000 a year for seven years. She was to star in two films a year, with finance banks and Beckworth and Columbia producing. In October 1947 it was announced her first film would be a version of Carmen. (

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

had pitched a version of Carmen to Cohn starring

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career a ...

suggesting they go back to the original novel, saying

was the James Cain of his time.) As co-producer, Hayworth hired her father, the dancer Eduardo Cansino, to help choreograph the traditional Spanish dances. Also, her uncle José Cansino can be seen as her dance partner in one scene, and her brother Vernon Cansino has a

bit part In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, ...

as a soldier. Gar Moore and Gig Young were reportedly among those who tested for the male lead. In November 1947 Columbia announced that Glenn Ford would play the part. Virginia Van Upp did a last minute rewrite of the script. No music from Bizet's opera was used - the musical score consisted of flamenco songs. Charles Vidor, the director, said "if I made the picture for opera lovers, nobody but opera lovers would come... But if we do the story realistically, using the sort of gypsy music Carmen herself must have danced to, and discard the familiar opera trappings, even opera lovers can enjoy the picture."

, recently signed to Columbia, was billed third. His casting was announced in November. The movie was estimated to have a budget between two and three million. Shooting started in November and took place at the studio and on location in the Alabama Mountains near Lone Pine.CARMENTS CASTANETS ARE CLICKING AGAIN: By FRANK DAUGHERTY. New York Times 23 Nov 1947: 80. The musical score of the film was composed by

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...

. The original theatrical release poster artist and illustrator is

Bradshaw Crandell Bradshaw Crandell (June 14, 1896 – January 25, 1966) was an American artist and illustrator. He was known as the "artist of the stars". Among those who posed for Crandell were Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Veronica Lake and Lana Tur ...

, "The Artist of the Stars."

Lawsuit

In 1954, Hayworth sued Columbia for a financial accounting over this and three other movies she made through Beckworth, ''Affair in Trinidad'', ''Sadie Thompson'', and ''Salome''.Columbia Pictures Sued by Rita for Accounting: Actress, as Shareholder in Beckworth Corp., Asks Details of Dealings Between Two Firms Los Angeles Times 13 May 1954: 11.

References

External links