clanciai I had no expectations at all and knew nothing about it when I was given a chance to see this in my country the least known of Rodgers-Hammerstein musicals. The first thing you are met with is some metaphysics, and then the show starts and goes on throughout in splendour and marvellous choreography throughout in a very rustic environment of fishermen and very ordinary people, who by the music are raised to a lyrical level of some prominence. It's a wonderland of beauty very originally mixed up with great human passion and drama including an upsetting tragedy with reverberating shock effects. The story is curiously exotic and strange for an American musical, but then the original story is actually Hungarian taking place in Budapest and is a bleak tragedy indeed, which even Giacomo Puccini asked permission of the author to make an opera of, which he would not risk it getting debased by. Rodgers & Hammerstein succeeded in transforming it for the stage and make it work with wonder, changing the end, of course. The actors, none of them very known today, are all outstanding, and no objections against the story and its morals or lack of morals are justified. This is a fairy tale brought down to reality with its metaphysics and fairy tale wonders made real in the cinema and enhanced by the overwhelming excellence of the music. You can see it as a morality, of course, but then it is a very edifying one, turning the bleak tragedy of failed human efforts at some worldly success and love into a triumph of the actual good will. This is not only a film to wonder at and enjoy but to do so more than once and again.

Red-125 Carousel (1956) is a movie based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical. Henry King was the director. The movie has two things going for it--some good songs and the two leads, Gordon MacRae as Billy Bigelow, and Shirley Jones as Julie Jordan.Other than that, I found it depressing and very outdated. The director made the decision to forgo realism for the sake of attractiveness. That's OK--the sky is light blue, the sea is dark blue, and every boat is perfectly painted. Even the docks are clean and tidy, including the boxes piled up and ready to be part of the plot when required. Very colorful, albeit antiseptic. Still, you can accept that as the director's concept.The problem is that it's not easy to accept a musical about domestic violence, when the female lead tells her daughter, more or less, that when someone you love hits you, you don't really feel it. Maybe they could get away with this in the 50's--I hope not--but this is 2014 and that's simply not OK.My suggestion--buy the CD for the music, and don't bother watching the film.

weezeralfalfa It was 1944-5: late in WWII. R&H's two recent plays or films had emphasized the idyllic rural Americana that many servicemen would be returning to, at least initially. The general euphoria of "Oklahoma" was marred only by the brutish malcontent Jed. Meanwhile, R&H contemplated the challenging possibility of adapting thorny Hungarian Ferenc Molnar's 1909 tragic play "Liliom" into a semi-tragic musical: giving it a sometimes carnival atmosphere, rather like their concurrent "State Fair" film, as well as an oceanside location, providing further opportunities to lighten the overall screenplay. Also, they provide a somewhat hopeful ending in place of Molnar's pessimistic ending. Molnar initially refused to allow a musical adaptation, but was blown away upon seeing "Oklahoma", thus changed his mind. However, he still had a hand in molding the final screenplay.Playing the main character, Gordon MacRae personifies a very different character than the 'boy next door' Curley he had just recently played in "Oklahoma". In fact, Billy Bigalow is much like menacing Jed: the villain in "Oklahoma". In fact, Liliom was Hungarian slang for 'tough guy'. He anchors his self esteem on his bluster as a carnival barker and roustabout, his facility with fists, and proclaimed popularity with the opposite sex. Only in the last characteristic does he differ markedly from Jed. He even dies similarly to Jed, by an accidental knife stabbing, following a criminal act.As a seaside New England carnival barker and roustabout, Billy has a public platform for expressing his animal magnetism and to meet many impressionable young women. But, he has a complex relationship with his widowed employer, who much values his charisma for attracting customers, some of whom he romances transiently. But she also clearly has an implied sexual relationship with him, and doesn't want to lose him to another woman. She detects too strong a scheming girl in millworker Julie, and orders him to keep away from her, or he will lose his job. He makes an ultimately poor decision. Likewise Julie loses her job, because she stays out too late with Billy to return to the company rooming house(apparently all are single young women) before the door is locked. Both are given a chance to redeem their 'mistake', but decline, despite both claiming they don't really love the other: thus "If I Loved You", with an emphasis on the 'if'. Very strange and ultimately tragic behavior! Soon, Billy finds that he really misses his old job, and probably would have left Julie at the beckoning of his former employer, who also really misses him, except that Julie reveals that she is pregnant, which causes him to change his mind. Unfortunately, neither he nor Julie can find adequate alternative employment. Despite financial help from a relative, Billy is talked into a robbery attempt by his shady friend Jigger. It goes very wrong, and he ends up falling on his knife(very clumsily done), in an attempt to escape police.The remainder of the screen play focuses on the troubles of his then teen daughter, who is ostracized by her schoolmates and their parents for being a poor, fatherless, girl, whose father was a thief and wife beater, and also upon the question of whether Billy's soul can be redeemed, in the eyes of God, if he is given one day back on earth to try to help his daughter from going down a wrong path. The final scene vaguely hints that he passed this test. Unfortunately, his minimal participation is hardly convincing in solving her basic problem. Also, we don't have any clue what she does after the graduation ceremony. Thus, I find the ending quite unsatisfactory, despite Lockhart's speech about not allowing one's parents' failings or bad luck to stand in the way of pursuing your dreams.The film begins with a surreal scene, with Billy in some celestial waiting room, polishing plastic stars on strings, and arguing with the starmaster(apparently one of God's bureaucrats, played by Gene Lockhart), about whether he can or wants to return to earth for one day to try to help his daughter and perhaps see Julie. Later, when he does go, he tries to give his daughter a star he stole, but she doesn't want it. The intended significance of the star(s) is left to our imagination. Thus, this whole fake star business comes across as quite ridiculous, leading nowhere! It's holdover baggage from "Lilion"Of course, R&H composed some of their most memorable songs, including the rousing "The Carousel Waltz", the questioning "If I Loved You", the euphoric dance-inspiring "June is Bursting Out All Over", the resigned "What's the Use of Wondering", the inspiring "You'll Never Walk Alone", the determined "Soliloquy", the joyous "This Was a Real Nice Clam Bake" and the romantic "When the Children Are Asleep".As in "Oklahoma", there are two impressive dance productions, one ballet-styled. While Agnes de Mille wasn't on hand to direct the ballet, as she had been for the one in "Oklahoma", the ballet is based upon her creation for the stage version. Notice that, like several of Gene Kelley's ballets, hers depict the inner turmoil, as well as happiness, of the main subject(Billy's daughter, Louise, in this case). Her sense of a joyous free spirit, as well as her ostracism by mainstream society, is acted out, as is her attraction to carnival people, presumably in mimicry of Billy's youth."Carousel" may have been Roger's favorite of his R&H productions, and Shirley's favorite role, but it was not the favorite of audiences, with the flawed main character, and bizarreness and limitations of portions of the screenplay.

vincentlynch-moonoi First, I've got to get something off my chest. I was reading in the discussion section the thread entitled "This film is an atrocity". Some of the dumbest comments I've ever read on IMDb. We have some reviewers who can't differentiate between "I didn't like this film" and "This is a horrible film". There is a difference. I personally can't stand opera, but that doesn't mean that I don't recognize its beauty and the talent it takes to perform one. And in fact, that's one of the things some of our reviewers don't get...more than some musicals, this film is -- in a sense -- an opera.Second, thank god that Frank Sinatra walked away from this film. First, it would have been type casting. But second, he was all wrong -- including physically wrong -- for the part of Billy Bigelow. Having said that, I see Sinatra's Reprise recording of "Soliloquy" to be the definitive recording of the song.Now, more directly to the film. I can see why modern audiences might not enjoy this film. It has a slow pace in a few places. Some of the modern interpretive dance, which really is quite good, might not appeal to many. And, the film excuses hitting women.On the other hand, when you think about it, the film tackles more substance than musicals often do. The plot is a little thin, but that's so you can fit in the music. And the music here is truly notable: "Soliloquy", "If I Loved You", and the stunning "You'll Never Walk Alone" (although I was a bit disappointed with the orchestral arrangement here, particularly in the first appearance of the song).Shirley Jones's performance was -- once again -- virtually flawless. It's a travesty that her type of film virtually disappeared from movie screens, relegating much of her later career to weak films, few of which are notable.Gordon MacRae is excellent here, and I say that as no fan of his.Claramae Turner's part gets little screen time, but her nearly-operatic performance of "You'll Never Walk Alone" is timeless. Cameron Mitchell...well, I never quite saw what Hollywood saw in him...and still don't. Gene Lockhart is worth mentioning here. He was a character actor with a long and substantial career, and this movie was filmed just about a year before his death, although he performed in 2 films after this, including "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit".All in all, despite what some of our reviewers have written, this is a significant film, though it may not be entertaining to modern audiences. It will be remembered more for several of its musical pieces, rather than for its plot. I'm glad I finally watched it -- once -- but I probably will not view it again. That era has passed, and personally I don't feel this is the best of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. However, still recommended from an historical point of view in film history.