Dorothy Dandridge, whose vibrant performance resulted in the first Oscar nomination for an African American actress in a leading role, stars as the beautiful temptress Carmen Jones. In one of the sexiest performances ever seen on the big screen she seduces the handsome GI Joe (Harry Belafonte) away from his sweetheart (Olga James), but after she tires of him and takes up with a heavyweight prize-fighter (Joe Adams), she only succeeds in triggering Joe's tragic revenge.

Upon its release, Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones was rightly hailed as a milestone in musical cinema. With an all-black cast this critically acclaimed version of Bizet's opera Carmen features an iconic soundtrack from Oscar Hammerstein, including songs such as 'Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum' and was voluptuously shot in Cinemascope Technicolor.