Carmen on Ice
Tags: tragedy, murder

Plot synopsis:
The story of Carmen on Ice is very similar to the opera Carmen. Analogous to the four-act opera libretto the screenplay has four parts:
A Square in Sevilla in front of a cigarette factory: Micaela, a village maiden, brings a letter to the Corporal of Dragoons Don José, which was written by his mother. The cigarette girls emerge from the factory, among them the attractive Carmen, who starts to flirt with the men standing on the square. The only man who does not show interest in Carmen is Don José, who is reading his mother’s letter. Finally, however, Carmen manages to attract also his attention by dancing for him and giving him a rose. The other young women are jealous, and one of them attacks Carmen. Carmen slashes her face with a knife. Others involve and start a street fighting, which is stopped by Zuniga, the Lieutenant of Dragoons. Everybody accuses Carmen of having started the fight. Zuniga asks Carmen if she has anything to say and also starts to flirt with her. Carmen, however, is not interested in him. Zuniga instructs José to guard Carmen. José ties up her hands with a rope. To escape, Carmen seduces José in a dance with this rope. The corporal unties her hands, and Carmen can run away. The angry Zuniga instructs his dragoons to guard José.
Evening at Lillas Pastia's inn: Carmen is waiting impatiently for Don José, who has been released from prison. To drive away her boredom, she starts to dance. The toreador Escamillo enters the inn and is welcomed by the other guests. He shows a virtuoso solo dance and attracts Carmen’s attention. While Escamillo leaves the inn with his friends, Don José comes in and is welcomed by Carmen, who shows a solo, which leads in a pair dance with her new lover. Suddenly the sound of bugles is heard calling the soldiers back to barracks. When José wants to leave, Carmen gets angry. José affirms his love to her in a solo with the rose she has given to him at their first meeting. Zuniga suddenly interrupts the two lovers and flirts with Carmen, which makes José so jealous, that he attacks the lieutenant, and leaves the service and joins Carmen and her friends.
A wild and deserted rocky place at night: Carmen has grown tired of José, her new favorite is the toreador Escamillo. She sits at a campfire and tries to tell fortunes by the shapes made by molten lead dropped into cold water. The shape which she holds in her hand is a skull. Carmen is scared and dances nervously around the campfire. Escamillo comes to the place and makes José jealous by showing him Carmen’s fan. The two rivals start fighting. Escamillo emerges victorious and retires with Carmen.
A square in front of the arena in Seville: The square is full of people who cheer to procession as the bullfighting team with Escamillo arrives. Carmen welcomes the toreador and dreams of a wedding dance with him. After the bullfighting team has entered the arena, Carmen is grabbed by Don José and pulled into an outbuilding. José begs her to return his love, but is rejected by Carmen. Don José loses control of himself and stabs Carmen to death.

Review: An exciting skating movie with fantastic music!. This is one of the best versions of Carmen I have ever seen.  The music is incredible.  Katrina Witt is beautiful and plays the vamp to perfection. The skating is some of the best I have seen with every move adding to the story.. Wow, please let me know how to get one from anyone who has it.. My favorite movie is Carlos Saura's CARMEN -- I once saw an article (before I learned to read words) and was intrigued with the many pictures it displayed of this creature -- in the USA we did not see too many like characters walking around, and I wasn't sure if this was a person or a cow or a magical creature -- through my life, of course, I heard references to this Carmen -- but I always delayed finding out the REAL particulars and the story of the opera (so I could cling to my many imaginings about who or what this "dolled up" person really was and what she might be a symbol of) I took the plunge at a local art film house in the mid-80's by seeing the Saura "Carmen" -- I was not totally disappointed with her actuality in the literary sense, but I had more Disney-esquire hopes.Still, I have followed productions of Carmen. I've ordered the transcripts, studied the some of the history, read about Bizet, etc.SO OF COURSE -- after finding this production (I put in "Christina Hoyos" to search IMDb) I'm all excited. I'm not a stalker personality, lol, but I'll have to follow Boitano and Witt online and see if they'll come to this area -- I could write to them and ask them to make me a copy, I guess, and perhaps even meet them. Sounds like a good idea to me, anyway.I was surprised to have enjoyed the CATS on DVD so much -- this London production stars Michael Gruber, a fellow from Ohio who was, at age 14 years, thought to be the second ranking diver in the world. When his year came for Olympic competition, somehow he missed the cut and did not get on the USA team. As a result, he attended college and we can see him on this DVD in CATS. Are high profile sports people (in this, skaters) always as good on the stage as Gruber is ? I'll bet the people involved in this Emmy-winning show made an A-1 "Carmen" ! I really want to see it, no matter what.And I hope we all have the chance someday to see Cristina Hoyos, Katarina Witt, and Brian Boitano ON A DVD -- CARMEN ON ICE ! ! ! My email is JERTOONS@AOL.COM -- and my address is : Jerry Snyder, 92 Medinah Drive, Reading, PA, 19607, USA -- anybody with any knowledge of how to get a viewable copy, do please contact me -- I know I'll have this on my mind until I've seen it.Best wishes to all, Jerry. Help!!. Does anyone know where I can purchase a DVD of this TV show? My daughter loaned ours to her music teacher -- and the teacher LOST it. This is one of the best versions of ice skating combined with music that I have ever seen. I can watch it over and over. The skating is fabulous and Katarina Witt is a very sexy Carmen. It brought the story to life much more so than just the music alone. I prefer it to the opera version. Plan to see a ballet later this year of Carmen so it will be fun to compare the skating to the ballet. I like to see movement with the music and the skaters do it justice. The setting and scenery was good too. One of my favorite scenes is the one where Carmen is waiting in the bar for her soldier to come and she is tapping nervously on the counter. It's very well done and I highly recommend itNow I need to know where i can get a copy of it!!. Wonderful !. This 'on ice' version of Carmen is a much loved watch in my house. I recorded it off UK TV on it's one and only broadcast. Great skating - which includes the sounds of the skates on the ice ! Brilliant music and just a wonderful atmosphere to the whole piece. How they did the fire sequences on the ice, I will never know ! The extras used throughout are worth the watch also, as they provide authentic character to the film. Look out for the flamenco music and dancer also. Why this has never been issued on DVD or shown again on TV (to my knowledge) I will never understand. (My PAL SVHS tape is now copied to DVD for posterity !)