Carousel

The dark, brooding Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical gets the big-budget screen treatment in this 1956 release, and the results are only moderately successful. The actors have great voices -- and certainly the score to "Carousel" is the lushest and densest R&H produced -- but they're simply not good enough actors to explore the depths of the musical's book. Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones were fine as perky country folk in "Oklahoma!" from a year earlier, but MacRae is not a dangerous enough presence to pull off the rough character of Billy Bigelow.

Still, as mentioned, the score sounds wonderful and remains mostly intact for the film. And Agnes DeMille provides some characteristically stunning screen choreography, especially in the trademark R&H ballet sequence.

Grade: B

I saw Carousel for the very first time in its first release when it played a double bill with Oklahoma. You can't do much better than that for an introduction to the American Musical Theater.

It would get a perfect 10 had it been done with the original two leads that were set for the show, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. Judy backed out before production started and Sinatra shortly after that, so Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones got to do a second Rodgers&Hammerstein classic.

Carousel is based on the Ferenc Molnar play Liliom and the original setting is in Molnar's native Hungary. On Broadway it was done by Eva Le Gallienne and Joseph Schildkraut and later in revival by Ingrid Bergman and Burgess Meredith. One man who did it in summer stock was Tyrone Power who if a straight dramatic version of Liliom had ever been done, would have been perfect.

Whether he's Liliom in Hungary or Billy Bigelow in 19th century New England, the part is one for a hero/heel that Tyrone Power patented on the screen. Probably Gordon MacRae benefited in no small way in having Power's favorite director Henry King in charge of Carousel.

Richard Rodgers was also used to writing for a hero/heel having done Pal Joey with his former partner Lorenz Hart. Billy is that kind of guy, a carousel barker and boy toy to owner Audrey Christie when he spots Julie Jordan and her friend Carrie Pipperidge, a couple of mill workers. It's love at first sight and marriage shortly after, but Billy's not a guy to change his layabout ways and it ends in tragedy.

One reason that Sinatra was also so right for the part was that he had made a successful hit record of Billy's Soliliquy back in 1945 when Carousel debuted on Broadway. It was a groundbreaking piece of musical theater that Dick Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were responsible for in the Soliliquy. Billy's just been told by Julie he's about to become a father. In an almost 10 minute number he bares his soul to the audience and sings/thinks aloud the moves he's going to make. The song is almost operatic in quality, it takes a real singing actor to put it over like Sinatra, like MacRae is here, like John Raitt in the original cast on stage.

Though it's not Julie's song, Judy Garland had a successful record with You'll Never Walk Alone. I'm sure she would have sung it in the film had she seen it through. It's probably the big hit song from the score, still an inspiring number today.

Rounding out the cast is Cameron Mitchell as Billy's no good pal Jigger, Robert Rounseville and Barbara Ruick as Mr. Snow and Carrie, the second leads and from the Metropolitan Opera Claramae Turner as Julie's cousin Nettie who does sing You'll Never Walk Alone.

Two more who are perfectly cast are John Dehner as the officious mill owner that employs the girls and the heavenly star-keeper, Gene Lockhart in one of his last roles.

Even more than in Oklahoma, Agnes DeMille's ballet numbers are used to advance the plot. From the exuberant June Is Busting Out All Over to the dance that Billy and Julie's daughter does, all are done with taste and style.

Carousel is both tragic and yet uplifting and inspiring. It's a musical for all the ages to come.

Shirley Jones is very believable as Julie Jordan, the lovely and ever patient mill worker who falls for a carousel barker, Billy Bigelow. With such heart felt ballads as "If I Loved You" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" it definitely ranks as one of the essential Hollywood musicals. Carousel is just about the only musical made during this period that deals with darker themes (i.e. date rape, domestic abuse). One could say that it even argues in favor of birth control. Carousel will never look dated because its themes are timeless and apply to the human spirit no matter what year it is. Everybody can identify with Billy to a degree and everybody can not help but feel a deep respect for Julie by the end of her personal journey. Fans of musical drama will treasure Carousel for years to come.

I have had the relatively rare privilege of performing "Carousel" on stage, uncut, and with a full orchestra. The original "Carousel" that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote for the stage is practically an opera, employing extended musical scenes that cover great stretches of plot and character by alternating music and dialogue. When one sees the "Carousel" on stage (with good voices and the original orchestrations), one begins to understand why this is considered one of the greatest musicals ever written.

"Carousel" on film is not nearly as overwhelming. The story is still there, as are the songs, for the most part. But they are just songs in the movie, scenes distilled to the bare bones of the melody on which the original sequence was based. You don't get the feeling, after hearing them sung, that you have learned anything new about the characters (excepting, of course, Billy Bigelow's "Soliloquy" which is left entirely intact).

For example, the "If I Loved You" bench scene between Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones) and Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae) lasts almost fifteen minutes once the music starts. What the characters don't tell us about themselves, the music does, throwing melodies left and right until it finally culminates in the release of the famous love song. The scene has built up to this moment until it becomes the only way that Julie can tell Billy that she loves him. In the movie, however, it is all talk until Julie starts singing "If I Loved You". The song seems to come much more out of left field and does not seem nearly as satisfying. Billy repeats the song and the scene ends. As a result, their falling in love with each other doesn't make much sense because the scene really hasn't built up to it.

Several songs which delineate the supporting characters are either severely truncated (such as the musical/character sequence between Carrie Pipperidge (Barbara Ruick) and Enoch Snow (Robert Rounseville)) or cut entirely (such as "Blow High, Blow Low" which could have been a choreographer's dream). As for the choreography itself, surely "June is Bustin' Out All Over" could have been staged with a little more imagination instead of confining itself to the roof and deck of Nettie Fowler's spa. And it does feel confined. This is a song about abandoning the human spirit to the glories of the summer season, a feeling that covers much more territory than just a dining patio.

I do like the casting in the film, although I believe that they were badly underdirected. Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones seem a little lost here. Their talent is not in question as evidenced by their stellar performances in the movie version of "Oklahoma!". Clearly this movie, which had the potential to be a cinema classic, was helmed by someone who didn't understand the genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein. In other words, don't try to fix what ain't broke.

I can't remember how old I was when I first saw this on TV, but it was a long time ago (we had a B&W TV!)...but even though I saw it in B&W, it had an impact that has lasted. This musical has the most gorgeous score by the great Richard Rodgers. Also believe this music got me hooked onto opera later in my youth and that opened an entirely other world of music to me.

But back to Carousel, the story is beautiful and moving, sad and romantic. The stuff of great musicals. And the music is wonderfully scored by the Fox maestro of the time, Alfred Newman and the superb Fox orchestra!! I think that if Fox had made this film earlier (like in the 40's, the orchestrations might have been sparser. In 1956, with bigger production spending (to get audiences away from their TVs and back into theatres), the musicals are also beefed up orchestrally (with improved stereo recording techniques) to make the most of the score. (The soundtrack is also an enjoyable one to experience on its own.)

I loved the scenery of the Maine coast...I have even travelled to Maine and made a special stop in Boothbay Harbor--much changed since 1956 I am sure, but it felt wonderful to visit there. I only wish that the town would make more of an effort to promote the fact that Carousel's location filmwork was done there.

The cinematography is splendid and lush. I love the way the camera is used in the Carousel Waltz sequence, with the music dominating any dialogue. Modern directors wouldn't dare try that today!

I can live with the juxtapositional mixes of location photography vs. the in-studio filming. Not all the dancing could be done on a real beach. And I was very pleased that the entire Soliloquy scene was shot outdoors, very beautiful camera-work following Mr. MacRae's movements. And he sings that song like it was written for him. I agree with most other reviewers here, that Mr. Sinatra was not right for this part.

Shirley Jones is just gorgeous to look at and so believable in this role. Too bad, she only really has two songs, one being the duet with MacRae. Claramae Turner's rendition of the classic You'll Never Walk Alone always brings tears to me, even now after all these years.

Even at the end, I am teary-eyed. That tells me this movie is timeless.

I hope anyone who has never seen it, and reads the reviews here, that you will be able to find as much joy and love from this great music and story that we all have.