The Loves of Carmen is a 1948 American adventure drama romance film directed by Charles Vidor. The film stars Rita Hayworth as the gypsy Carmen and Glenn Ford as her doomed lover Don José.

The Loves of Carmen was publicized as a dramatic adaptation of the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée and is otherwise unrelated to Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen. It is a remake of the 1927 film of the same name, which was directed by Raoul Walsh and stars Dolores del Río and Victor McLaglen.

The film reunited the stars, writer and director of Gilda. It was Hayworth’s last film for four years.

Plot
In Spain, during the early nineteenth century, Don Jose Lizarabengoa arrives in Seville to begin service as a corporal in the Spanish dragoons.

He meets Carmen, a gypsy, who steals his watch, and becomes obsessed with her. Carmen slashes the face of a peasant woman who insults her. Jose is ordered to arrest Carmen but allows her to escape. For this Jose is demoted and confined to guard duty. Jose’s commanding officer, the colonel, also falls in love with Carmen.

A fortune teller warns Carmen she will be killed by a man she really loves. She goes to meet Jose, who is discovered by the colonel. The colonel challenges Jose to a duel during which Carmen trips the officer, causing him to fall on Jose’s sword and die.

Jose is wanted for murder. He and Carmen flee to the mountains where Jose discovers Carmen is married to Garcia, the leader of a gang of bandits. Jose and Garcia have a knife fight in which Garcia is killed. Jose marries Carmen and takes over the gang, but the couple keep fighting.

Carmen goes to Cordoba and becomes the lover of the bullfighter Lucas. Pablo, one of the bandits, betrays Jose to the police for a reward. Jose tracks down Carmen, who refuses to return to him. She spits on him, he stabs her, and a policeman shoots Jose, mortally wounding him. Carmen and Jose die in each other’s arms.