Carmen Jones

While scant on special features, this DVD debut of Otto Preminger's landmark 1954 musical offers the first-ever home video widescreen presentation of a near-pristine print. Oscar Hammerstein's musical transposed Bizet's classic opera to a segregated military base in World War II. Harry Belafonte's aspiring pilot Joe is like "a lump of red hot pecans just burning up with passion" for femme fatale Carmen, portrayed by incendiary force of nature Dorothy Dandridge, who was nominated for an Academy Award (but was widely forgotten until Halle Berry portrayed her in the made-for-cable bio-pic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge). Seduced by Carmen, the hapless Joe throws over good girl Cindy Lou for the faithless Carmen, with the inevitable tragic results. The peerless all-black cast also includes Pearl Bailey, and in their film debuts, Diahann Carroll and Brock Peters. Only Bailey does her own singing (Marilyn Horne stood in for Dandridge). Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[Blu-ray Review—Dec. 17, 2013—Fox, 105 min., not rated, Blu-ray: $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1954's Carmen Jones boasts a fine transfer and DTS-HD 4.0 audio, but no extras aside from a trailer. Bottom line: this landmark musical shines on Blu-ray.]