"Carousel" (1956) I say belongs to a curious and large group of US films that imply attacks on a neocon or neo-fascist society. The category includes "Ocean's Eleven", "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers", Man's Favorite Sport", "Picnic", "American President:, "The Fountainhead" and hundreds of others. Their storyline is always the same--the central character is being treated unjustly. He/she is under pressure to submit, conform, recant, give up, surrender, suffer-and A. Either does so and then renounces his surrender or 2. Fights and is harmed/killed or decides to conform, only for now. Consider the plight of Billy Bigelow, hero of "Carousel". His crime is getting girls to go to bed with him--a crime only to puritans. Losing his job for refusing to be a slave to Mrs. Mullins, his amorous boss and owner of the carousel he is barker for, he then can't find work--except low paying herring catching, with no guarantee he could ever earn enough doing that job, odious to him, ever to support his wife and expected child. He turns to crime, and dies in a foolish robbery attempt. Reprieved from heaven, he is allowed to return for one day to help his daughter, also an artistic type who is being equally tormented by the narrow-minded Establishment wage slaves to tyrannical bosses in the same puritanic town. From this unpromising material, Ferenc Molnar's play "Liliom", adapted by translator Benjamin F. Glazer with 'book' by Oscar Hammerstein II and screen play by Phoebe and Henry Ephron (also the producer), a film was fashioned fro, a Broadway success featuring Richard Rodgers' glorious music and his partner's clever lyrics. "When I Marry Mister Snow", "June is Bustin' Out All Over", "You'll Never Walk Alone", "The Carousel Waltz" and "If I Loved You" have all become standards, and the other songs are also serviceable. In this production, Henry King provided solid direction,. Rod Alexander the main Seven-Brides-like choreography, Mary Wills the costumes, Charles G. Clarke the difficult cinematography, Jack Martin Smith and Lyle R. Wheeler the successful Art Direction and Chester Bayhi and Walter M. Scott the varied and vivid set decorations. Within the cast, Barbara Ruick comes across most powerfully. The others are uniformly fine, with outstanding work by Audrey Christie as Mrs. Mullins and memorable work by Gene Lockhart as the Starkeeper and Dr. Selden, Claramae Turner as Cousin Nettie, tenor Robert Rounseville as Enoch Snow, Cameron Mitchell as Jigger, John Dehner as a factory owner, William LeMassena as an angel, and Jacques D'Amboise as a dancer featured in Agnes De Mille's "Louises's Starlight Carnival". Susan Luckey scores well as young Lousie; and Richard Deacon as a policeman. In the nominal leads, Shirley Jones sings well but has too little to do in an underwritten part; her big number, "That's All There Is to That" is a weak song. But Gordon MacRae is stellar in all regards as Billy, carrying the entire film by his more-than- expected singing and his on-target handling of an unsympathetic role. His versions of "Soliloquy" and "If I loved You" are the film's great highlights. This is a moving and engrossing film for most, one that lacks only a bit of clarity in the motivations of Billy to set it among the greatest musicals.
Review of Carousel
Carousel
(1956)
Dark, Memorable Musical with Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Barbara Ruick
2 October 2008