Carousel (1956)

20th Century Fox, 1956
Starring Shirley Jones, Gordon MacRae, Cameron Mitchell, and Barbara Ruick
Directed by Henry King
Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein III

With a song called "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" among its hits, this movie is practically made for summer. Despite the dark plot, it's a great way to inaugurate the warm weather season. Fox thought so too and released it less than a year after the blockbuster film version of Oklahoma!, and like Oklahoma!, it was revived on Broadway as recently as 2018. Does this one reach the same heights, or does it remain Earthbound? Let's head to "The Highest Judge of All" in the heavens and find out...

The Story: Carousel barker Billy Bigalow (MacRae) recalls to the Starkeeper (Gene Lockhart) how he died, and how much he loved the beautiful mill worker Julie Jordan (Jones). They met when she and her friend Carrie Pipperidge (Ruick) decided to ride the carousel where he worked. His boss Mrs. Mullin fires him for paying too much attention to Julie, and Julie loses her job at the local mill when she's out after curfew, but they get married anyway. Billy can't find a job, and he's ready to go back to the carousel when Julie announces that she's pregnant. Desperate to make money for his child, Billy joins his sailor buddy Jigger (Mitchell) in a robbery during a clambake. The robbery is botched, and Billy ends up falling on his knife.

He convinces the Starkeeper to let him return to Earth fifteen years later to cheer up his daughter Louise (Bambi Lynn). She's now a wild-living tomboy who is tormented by almost every child on the island, especially rich children, because her father took part in a robbery. He comes as she is just about to consider running away to become an actress. His attempt to give her a star still doesn't end well...but he still wants to see his little girl to her graduation....

The Song and Dance: A sumptuous production and some good performances anchor this tragic tale. The majority of the movie was filmed in the real Maine, and it looks absolutely glorious in widescreen. The costumes and sets mostly do a colorful job of bringing turn-of-the-century New England to rousing life. Jones is touching and sweet as gentle Julie, especially in the first half, and Ruick and Rousenville are hilarious as Julie's perky best friend Carrie and her steadfast fisherman beau, and Mitchell radiates hot danger as the troublesome Jigger.

Favorite Number: "The Carousel Waltz," the stage show's prologue, is seen after the credits as we see how Julie and Carrie came to the carnival and Julie and Billy's first meeting. MacRae and Jones also get one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's loveliest ballads, "If I Loved You," as they dance around the idea that they might like each other. Julie's Cousin Nettie (Claramae Turner) leads the big ensemble routine at her spa "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" as the locals, their girls, and a group of sailors celebrate the start of summer. Ruick is adorable in her solo "Mr. Snow," and joins Rousenville for a sweet "When the Children are Asleep" performed on Mr. Snow's boat as they travel to the clambake. MacRae sings a stunning "Soliloquy" as he wonders what his new child will be like on the beach. Nettie reassures Julie that "You'll Never Walk Alone" in a stirring solo after Billy dies.

Along with "June," the other big chorus routine is "Louise's Ballet." Lynn joyously dances the life of Billy's tough tomboy daughter, who plays with the local boys, fights with the rich girls who taunt her for her plain dresses and her poor family, and falls for a carnival barker (Jacques d'Amboise) just like her mother.

Trivia: Frank Sinatra was originally going to play Billy Bigalow and even recorded his songs, but eventually left the production. Accounts differ as to why he walked off. He either didn't want to do a second movie in 55 milometer film or wanted to be with his then-girlfriend Ava Gardner.

The original Broadway production opened in 1948, and while it did run two and a half years, it wasn't anywhere near the success that Oklahoma! before it or South Pacific after it were.  It's done better in the intervening years. There was a TV version in 1967 with Robert Goulet as Billy and two major Broadway revivals in 1994 (with Audra Ann MacDonald as Carrie) and 2018.

What I Don't Like: Heavy dramatics were never MacRae's forte. He sings beautifully, but comes off as stiff and lacking the requisite sexy danger that Billy is supposed to have in the book scenes. As gorgeous as the Maine locations are, they make the few numbers filmed on sets look that much more fake. Turner doesn't really do much besides sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "June Is Bustin' Out All Over"

The biggest problem with this show is built into it from the original Hungarian play that inspired it, Lillom. Billy hitting his wife could get him arrested well before the robbery nowadays, and few women in the 21st century would put up with the abuse Julie does. The second half remains problematic for many productions to this day (many critics complained about it in the 2018 revival). Also, obviously, if you're looking for something light and fluffy, this is not going to be your Rodgers and Hammerstein show.

The Big Finale: I'm not the biggest fan of the original musical, but the rousing numbers and decent cast alone are worth checking out for fans of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jones, or 1950's musicals.

Home Media: Out of print on DVD. Streaming is by far your best bet.

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