Just as "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel" were Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's first two stage musicals,so too were they the first two R&H stage musicals to reach the screen. Frank Sinatra (of all people) was originally set to play Billy Bigelow,and while he certainly had the required toughness and acting ability, as well as a great voice,he did not have the soaring ,huge baritone (or tenor) that most stage Billys have.He didn't have the husky build,either. Fortunately,he walked off the set when he found out that every scene was to be filmed twice(for the then-new CinemaScope 55 process), and so he was replaced by "Oklahoma!" star Gordon MacRae.who was perfect for the role,and gave his best acting performance ever in the film. The show is based on"Liliom", a once-popular,and now seldom revived play by the great Hungarian playwright,Ferenc Molnar,which had itself already been filmed three times-a Hungarian silent version,an early talking version in 1930,and a French version in 1934 starring Charles Boyer. The film version of "Carousel" is excellent,following the show quite faithfully in its retelling of the doomed romance of carousel barker Billy Bigelow (who was called Liliom in the Hungarian play) and mill worker Julie Jordan. The biggest alteration,aside from the cutting of some of the music, is the addition of a flashback framework which gives away a vital plot point in the story ,and spoils a surprise for those not familiar with the show. MacRae and co -star Shirley Jones sing unforgettably,and Jones and the other cast members (including musical star Barbara Ruick,opera stars Claramae Turner and Robert Rounseville,and Cameron Mitchell singing quite well in his only musical role) are also better-in fact I would go so far as to say that this "Carousel" cast is possibly better than the original 1945 Broadway cast. The only section in which the film falters is in the scenes in Heaven. Instead of showing the afterlife scenes as rather eerie,and the ghosts as ghostly (as was unforgettably done in the film version of "Our Town"(1940),we get a blue backdrop with styrofoam stars hanging from wires and very realistic -looking people who are supposed to be ghosts. Aside from this, "Carousel"has been very well directed by Henry King,and the score boasts such memorable tunes as "If I Loved You", "The Carousel Waltz", "You'll Never Walk Alone" and the deeply moving "Soliloquy". The only performer who falls almost completely flat is Susan Luckey as Billy's daughter Louise,who has zero acting ability but dances very well. "Carousel"is one of the great movie musical adaptations,beautifully filmed in Technicolor (partially on location in Maine,and on the beach at San Francisco,where Gordon MacRae sings the "Soliloquy". Perhaps because of its somber,downbeat,yet uplifting story,this was the first and only Rodgers and Hammerstein film to flop at the box office, but it certainly deserved better than that.
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