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IT’S OFF THE BEATEN PATH! Everything about “Carmen Jones” is different from any motion picture presented so far. “Carmen Jones” is told on the Cinemascope screen by an all-Negro cast as though there were not a white man in the world. The stylization of the stage success has been replaced by total realism for the Cinemascope version. Left, Olga James, as Cindy Lou, sings a song of love with Joe. She has come a long way to reclaim him, but he has become passion- ately involved with Carmen Jones, who (above) teases him. Jealous and hearing stories about her affairs with other men, he questions her, though certain she is two-timing him. The songs and dances constantly further the drama of the throbbing story, the action having been expanded from the limitations of the theatre's proscenium arch to include chase and fight scenes, dance and physical movement, for the Cinema- Scope camera. Carmen's death at the hands of Joe now takes place in a fight arena with hundreds of fans cheering on a championship bout that occurs as the lovers, locked away, are meeting in a final, poignant, deadly encounter. Because of the demands by the Bizet operatic score, Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen) and Harry Belafonte (Joe), al- though well-known as singers, have vocal alter-egos who worked in close association with the stars and were con- stantly on the set during rehearsals. Olga James (Cindy Lou), trained for opera and the concert stage at Juilliard in New York, takes care of her own singing, as does Pearl Bailey in her own inimitable style, her role of Frankie making no de- mands of an operatic nature. Carmen Jones and Mauri Lynn, as the vindicative Sally, fight it out while their co-workers cheer them on. A free-for-all fight follows, the army security detail is called and Carmen taken in custody. The Bizet score is heard in its original form, but with modem Lyrics in such numbers as “Stand lip And Fight,” “Day’s Love,” “Wanna Take De Crack Chicago Train?”, “Can’t Let You Go,” “Middle Of De Day” and “Carmen Jones Is Going To Jail.” Le Vem Hutcherson, star of the national company of “Porgy And Bess,” sings Belafonte’s role, the soldier who goes AWOL for love of Carmen and ul- timely to his destruction. Marvin Hayes sings Joe Adams’ characterization of Husky Miller, the prize-fighter. Marilyn Horne sings Miss Dandridge’s Carmen Jones. "Carmen Jones” follows the plot of the opera and the novel, but the settings now are in a parachute factory "down South” during World War II and, later, Chicago. Carmen, the cigarette girl, is a factory employee. Don Jose is Joe, the soldier headed for flying school, but who, instead, is ruined by Carmen. Escamille, the toreador, is now Husky Miller, the Heavyweight champion. Micaela, the village maid, is Cindy Lou, a small-town girl as faithful as ever to Joe. Frasquite and the smuggler friends of Carmen in the opera are now Pearl Bailey and her flashy friends in " Carmen Jones.” Pearl Bailey, as Frankie, amused when champion Husky Miller is rebuked by Carmen who will have no part of him, contemplates the cards for some of her friends at Billy Pastor’s night-spot. Page 22A