I have always seen references to the movie Carmen Jones calling it one of the great African-American films. Set during WWII, it was actually made in 1954, and is based on the play of the same name, with music from Bizet's great opera.
Dorothy Dandridge of course played the title role.
But I had never actually seen the film -- or the play -- or even the opera upon which both are based.
Well, last night I rectified that. More below the fleur-de-Kos:
I was scrolling through the musicals you can watch online at Netflix, and there it was: the awesome Carmen Jones film version. And I do mean awesome.
Apologies for the poor quality of this YT clip; it was the only one I could find of Carmen's signature scene:
For comparison, one version of the classic Habanera song:
This Habanera is even better...but a bit slow to load:
And a clip about Dorothy Dandridge herself:
Diahann Carroll auditioned and got a small role in the film, and here gives some perspective on it: