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Carmen, Baby

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Carmen, Baby
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRadley Metzger
Screenplay byJesse Vogel
Based onCarmen
by Prosper Mérimée
Produced byRadley Metzger
Starring
CinematographyHans Jura
Edited byHumphrey Wood
Music byDaniel Hart
Production
company
Amsterdam Film Corporation
Distributed by
Release dates
  • October 10, 1967 (1967-10-10) (United States)
  • May 24, 1968 (1968-05-24) (West Germany)
Running time
97 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • West Germany
  • Yugoslavia
LanguageEnglish
Box office$4.2 million (US/Canada rentals)[1]

Carmen, Baby is a 1967 erotic drama film produced and directed by Radley Metzger, based on the 1845 novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée.

Premise

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A liberated woman tempts a local police officer into a romantic entanglement with tragic consequences.

Cast

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Reception

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Carmen, Baby, according to one reviewer, was the beginning of Metzger's successful style in his later films: that is, adapting "a literary classic in a gorgeous European locale with high polish and a goodly helping of sophisticated sex and seduction."[2] Film critic Jesse Vogel noted that the film is an example of Metzger's signature style, "cool, classy, distant, with a distinctively European sensibility".[3] According to Gary Morris of Bright Lights Film Journal, Carmen was "well played" by Uta Levka; lighting and camerawork by Hans Jura was "first-rate".[4] The New York Times wrote that the film had "a rather classy look" and that the performers were "attractive" and the setting "beautiful".[5]

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In the case of Rabe v. Washington, 405 U.S. 313 (1972), the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the manager of a drive-in movie theater could not be charged with obscenity for showing the film which was not wholly determined to be obscene, but only parts were, holding that the citizens of Washington State had no notice under the Sixth Amendment that the place where a film was shown was an element of the offense.

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Wally Lamb mentioned the bottle dance scene from Carmen, Baby in his 2016 book I'll Take You There.[6]

Notes

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According to Steve Gallagher of Filmmaker, Radley Metzger's films, including those made during the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984), are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a penchant for the unusual camera angle".[7] Clare Simpson of WhatCulture noted that his films were "highly artistic—and often cerebral ... and often featured gorgeous cinematography".[8] Film and audio works by Metzger have been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.[9][10][11][12]

References

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  1. ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. January 7, 1976. p. 48.
  2. ^ "Carmen, Baby (1967), Little Mother (Germany/Yugoslavia/US, 1972)". UCLA. June 9, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  3. ^ Vogel, Jesse (October 10, 1967). "Carmen, Baby". eFilmCritic.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Morris, Gary (November 1, 1999). "Radley Metzger: The Dirty Girls, Carmen Baby, The Princess and the Call Girl on DVD". Bright Lights Film Journal. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  5. ^ "'Carmen' Updated". The New York Times. October 11, 1967. Archived from the original on April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  6. ^ Lamb, Wally (2016). I'll Take You There. Hutchinson. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-1-7863-3064-2.
  7. ^ Gallagher, Steve (August 7, 2014). ""This is Softcore": The History of Radley Metzger". Filmmaker. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  8. ^ Simpson, Claire (October 2, 2013). "Adults Only: 5 Films By Radley Metzger". WhatCulture. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  9. ^ Rist, Ray C., ed. (1974). The Pornography Controversy: Changing Moral Standards in American Life. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-87855-093-7.
  10. ^ Lehman, Peter, ed. (2006). Pornography: Film and Culture. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8135-3871-6.
  11. ^ "Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – DadaBase Search Results – Radley Metzger". New York Art Resources Consortium. 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  12. ^ "Obituary Of The Righteous – The Porn Of The Fabulous 60s And 70s Loses One Of Its Pioneers And Masters: Radley Metzger – Photographer Of War, The MOMA Presents A Retrospective: His Erotic Films Made History – Video: 'Score', On The Relationships Of Couples Of The 70s, In An Uncensored Version". DagoSpia.com (in Italian). April 3, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
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