"Carousel" is an adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical which, in turn, was based on a play by the Hungarian author Ferenc Molnár. It transfers the action from Hungary to a small town on the coast of Maine. The actual carousel of the title only plays a relatively small role in the film, although at the beginning Billy Bigelow, one of the two main characters, is working as a barker at the local funfair. The other main character is Billy's girlfriend, and later wife, Julie Jordan, a mill worker.
The story of Billy and Julie is told within the framework of a supernatural fantasy reminiscent of "Heaven Can Wait" or "It's a Wonderful Life". The film opens with a scene showing Billy in Heaven. Or is it Purgatory? At any rate, it is somewhere quite different from traditional Christian visions of the afterlife, a place of neither heavenly bliss nor hellish torment, a place where Billy's main occupation is polishing stars and where he has to report to the "starkeeper", a being who seems less like a god or an angel than a supernatural version of a factory foreman. It is to this being that Billy tells the story of his life and of how he died. It transpires that Julie was pregnant with their first child and that Billy, being unemployed at the time and worried about not having enough money to provide for the child, allowed himself to be talked into joining a no-good friend in a robbery. Unfortunately, the robbery was bungled and Billy was killed when he accidentally fell on his knife while attempting to escape. The final scenes are set fifteen years later when Billy is allowed to return to earth to help his daughter Louise, who he fears is also going off the rails.
Musically the film is a very good one. It contains some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most beautiful music; the two numbers which really stood out for me were the opening "Carousel Waltz" and that wonderful song "If I Loved You". I might also include "You'll Never Walk Alone", although this song has been rather devalued, at least in Britain, by its constant use as a football anthem, especially by supporters of Liverpool FC. "June Is Busting Out All Over" is also notable, less for the music than for the energetic ensemble dance sequence which accompanies it, comparable to the similar sequence in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".
Dramatically, however, "Carousel" is not so good. Part of the fault lies with the casting. The two leads Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones (who also starred together in another R&H musical, "Oklahoma") both have fine voices, but on the basis of this film neither was a particularly accomplished actor, at least as far as the spoken word is concerned. Although MacRae was able to convey emotions and feelings well though music, as in his "Soliloquy", in his spoken scenes he comes across as too wooden. Shirley Jones makes Julie seem a rather weak character who does little to dispel the impression that she is a doormat unable to stand up to her bullying husband. The original idea was to cast Frank Sinatra as Billy and Judy Garland as Julie, but Sinatra withdrew after a disagreement with the producers and Garland's appearance never materialised. Both Sinatra and Garland could act as well as sing, and I can't help wondering how the film might have turned out with them in the leading roles.
The film, however, also suffers from a more fundamental dramatic flaw. Billy is not so much a hero as an anti-hero; arrogant, idle, shiftless and easily manipulated, especially by his dishonest friend Jigger Craigin. After he loses his job at the funfair he is unemployed, but not because there is no work to be had. He quite literally turns up his nose at an offer of a job on a fishing boat because he thinks that fishermen smell, and prefers to live off Julie's earnings. About his only redeeming feature is his love for Julie, but even this is suspect (we learn that he has beaten her).
This is far from being the only musical with a serious storyline. Rodgers and Hammerstein had also written "South Pacific" about racial prejudice, and Hammerstein had produced "Show Boat" on the same subject with Jerome Kern. Bernstein and Sondheim had covered juvenile delinquency in "West Side Story". All of those films, however, were centred upon sympathetic characters with whom audiences could identify; identifying with Billy seems much more problematic. It was a brave decision on Oscar Hammerstein's part to write a musical centred on an anti-hero. I cannot say how well that decision succeeds in the theatre, as I have never seen a stage production of the show, nor how well it might have succeeded in the cinema with a different actor in the leading role. All I can say is that it does not work well in this particular film.
"Carousel" was praised by many critics, but did not do well at the box office, even though musicals were very popular during this period. It was the only film of an R&H musical, other than the 1962 remake of "State Fair" which was not nominated for a single Academy award. It may be that its tragic theme may have alienated those cinema goers who looked to musicals to provide escapist entertainment, but perhaps the true explanation is that despite some great music this is not a great film. 7/10
The story of Billy and Julie is told within the framework of a supernatural fantasy reminiscent of "Heaven Can Wait" or "It's a Wonderful Life". The film opens with a scene showing Billy in Heaven. Or is it Purgatory? At any rate, it is somewhere quite different from traditional Christian visions of the afterlife, a place of neither heavenly bliss nor hellish torment, a place where Billy's main occupation is polishing stars and where he has to report to the "starkeeper", a being who seems less like a god or an angel than a supernatural version of a factory foreman. It is to this being that Billy tells the story of his life and of how he died. It transpires that Julie was pregnant with their first child and that Billy, being unemployed at the time and worried about not having enough money to provide for the child, allowed himself to be talked into joining a no-good friend in a robbery. Unfortunately, the robbery was bungled and Billy was killed when he accidentally fell on his knife while attempting to escape. The final scenes are set fifteen years later when Billy is allowed to return to earth to help his daughter Louise, who he fears is also going off the rails.
Musically the film is a very good one. It contains some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most beautiful music; the two numbers which really stood out for me were the opening "Carousel Waltz" and that wonderful song "If I Loved You". I might also include "You'll Never Walk Alone", although this song has been rather devalued, at least in Britain, by its constant use as a football anthem, especially by supporters of Liverpool FC. "June Is Busting Out All Over" is also notable, less for the music than for the energetic ensemble dance sequence which accompanies it, comparable to the similar sequence in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".
Dramatically, however, "Carousel" is not so good. Part of the fault lies with the casting. The two leads Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones (who also starred together in another R&H musical, "Oklahoma") both have fine voices, but on the basis of this film neither was a particularly accomplished actor, at least as far as the spoken word is concerned. Although MacRae was able to convey emotions and feelings well though music, as in his "Soliloquy", in his spoken scenes he comes across as too wooden. Shirley Jones makes Julie seem a rather weak character who does little to dispel the impression that she is a doormat unable to stand up to her bullying husband. The original idea was to cast Frank Sinatra as Billy and Judy Garland as Julie, but Sinatra withdrew after a disagreement with the producers and Garland's appearance never materialised. Both Sinatra and Garland could act as well as sing, and I can't help wondering how the film might have turned out with them in the leading roles.
The film, however, also suffers from a more fundamental dramatic flaw. Billy is not so much a hero as an anti-hero; arrogant, idle, shiftless and easily manipulated, especially by his dishonest friend Jigger Craigin. After he loses his job at the funfair he is unemployed, but not because there is no work to be had. He quite literally turns up his nose at an offer of a job on a fishing boat because he thinks that fishermen smell, and prefers to live off Julie's earnings. About his only redeeming feature is his love for Julie, but even this is suspect (we learn that he has beaten her).
This is far from being the only musical with a serious storyline. Rodgers and Hammerstein had also written "South Pacific" about racial prejudice, and Hammerstein had produced "Show Boat" on the same subject with Jerome Kern. Bernstein and Sondheim had covered juvenile delinquency in "West Side Story". All of those films, however, were centred upon sympathetic characters with whom audiences could identify; identifying with Billy seems much more problematic. It was a brave decision on Oscar Hammerstein's part to write a musical centred on an anti-hero. I cannot say how well that decision succeeds in the theatre, as I have never seen a stage production of the show, nor how well it might have succeeded in the cinema with a different actor in the leading role. All I can say is that it does not work well in this particular film.
"Carousel" was praised by many critics, but did not do well at the box office, even though musicals were very popular during this period. It was the only film of an R&H musical, other than the 1962 remake of "State Fair" which was not nominated for a single Academy award. It may be that its tragic theme may have alienated those cinema goers who looked to musicals to provide escapist entertainment, but perhaps the true explanation is that despite some great music this is not a great film. 7/10