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39 of 40 found the following review helpful:
 well worth the waitAug 29, 2006
By Byron Kolln
This brand-new 50th Anniversary edition of CAROUSEL is definitely a must for all fans of the uplifting and inspiring Rodgers and Hammerstein classic. Considered by Rodgers as the personal favourite of all his works, and based on the play "Liliom" by Ferenc Molnar; the story concerns innocent factory-girl Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones) and jaded carnival barker Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae). Despite coming from the opposite sides of the track, the two fall in love, but their relationship is tempered by Billy's violent outbursts and inability to find an honest job. When Julie becomes pregnant, he is talked into committing a robbery, but the plan backfires when he falls on his own knife and dies while trying to escape the police. Now in Heaven, Billy is given one last chance to redeem himself and to reconcile his now-teenaged daughter. Filled with haunting songs like "If I Loved You" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", CAROUSEL remains a very moving film experience.
This DVD has been available for a while in the UK and Australia, and will finally get a US release this November. Extra features will include audio commentary from Shirley Jones and Nick Redman; an all-new featurette "Turns on the Carousel", vintage performances from the "General Foods" Rodgers & Hammerstein TV tribute (original Broadway leads John Raitt and Jan Clayton performing the complete Bench Scene/"If I Loved You"). Also included are several rare MovieTone news segments, and the deleted numbers "Blow High Blow Low" and "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan".
21 of 21 found the following review helpful:
A Musical But Not a Comedy!Oct 22, 2004
By A reviewer
Overall, an excellent movie that I would highly recommend. It really makes an emotional connection with the viewer. From the Golden Age of the Rogers & Hammerstein musicals; this one, however,is not a comedy. In fact, it is pretty much a downer-- a tragic story that stands in contrast to the sunny, optimistic tone of most musicals of the 1950's. The development of the characters is excellent. Well-produced, visually appealing, with emotionally charged music and dance sequences. I have only one complaint. Shirley Jones certainly has a great voice and lots of screen presence, but I find her unconvincing in the death scene and therafter in the story--just too sweet and smily-face for such grim, dramatic material.
I did not interpret this movie as condoning wife-beating. Billy Bigelow (played superbly by Gordon MacRae) is portrayed as a human being with the full range of human feelings, good and bad, capable of both love and anger. I think the problem with some of your reviewers is that such a portrayal does not fit in with the anti-male political corecness that is prevalent on this issue today.
39 of 44 found the following review helpful:
Beautiful musical, but incomplete/ Problematic LiliomFeb 28, 2005
By Peter Prainito
In an age where a science fiction thriller can approach 3 hours, it's interesting that back in 1956 20th Century Fox decided that a movie running two and one half hours was long enough for a musical. So what did they do? Oh, just merely edit out two movie sequences containing the songs "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" and "Blow High, Blow Low". Hello? And how long was the classic 1939 "Gone With the Wind"? Over three hours? What a pity, because Rodgers & Hammerstein's wonderful "Carousel" (their personal favorite musical) deserved to be seen complete, no matter how long it may have been!! The deleted scenes added to the story and the songs were great. Luckily the two deleted songs can be heard on the VERY COMPLETE movie CD soundtrack (see my review of it). Since so many DVDs these days are coming out with Director's Cut versions of more recent movies, perhaps "Carousel" may one day be re-released in it's glorious entirety, that is unless the Hollywood morons of 1956 threw away the deleted film!! For the time being, let's be thankful for the "Carousel" of which I'm writing. Highly Recommended.
UPDATE:
On the recently reissued 2-CD set of "Carousel" is the 1934 french film "Liliom", in which "Carousel" is based upon. While an interesting bonus feature, it's ruined by subtitles that are flashed so quickly that they require speed reading skills. At other times there are extended moments in the film where subtitles don't even appear. A very erratic presentation, to say the least.
19 of 21 found the following review helpful:
CAROUSEL A SUPERBLY PRODUCED FILM MUSICAL!Apr 05, 2001
CAROUSEL represents Rodgers and Hammerstein's finest hour musically, the closest thing to Grand Opera the duo ever wrote. The 1956 film version showcases the best performance, before or since, that this magnificent score has ever received. Beautifully photographed on location in CinemaScope and Technicolor, the poignant and tragic love story of barker Billy Bigelow and factory worker Julie Jordan unfolds with compassion and conviction. Gordon McRae gives the performance of a lifetime as Billy and his stunning rendition of the seven-minute "SOLILIQUY" is one of the greatest vocal performances of the 20th Century. Shirley Jones, ravishingly young and beautiful in only her second film appearance, is equally effective as Julie, a naive inexperienced young woman who finds in tragedy an inner strength she never knew existed within her.CAROUSEL's greatest strength is, however, the great songs, which are woven seamlessly into the story. What else can you say about a score that includes such standards as "YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE' and 'IF I LOVED YOU"? In the capable hands of the legendary composer/arranger/conductor Alfred Newman, Richard Rodgers' soaring melodies are taken to heights of brilliance undreamed of in the Broadway original. This is especially evident in "Louise's Ballet." Ken Darby's excellent choral arrangements and wonderful vocals by MacRae, Jones, Claramae Turner, Barbara Ruick, Robert Rounseville and Cameron Mitchell all add up to the most perfect performance of this musical ever. See this movie with someone you love and bring extra handkerchiefs. Also prepare to be dazzled with the glorious New England scenery rendered flawlessly on this superbly produced DVD and Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest score in genuine 6 channel discrete stereo. CAROUSEL is the kind of movie they just don't make any more. Most of today's filmmakers couldn't, even if they were courageous enough to try.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
An immortal Rodgers and Hammerstein musicalFeb 10, 2007
By Stephen H. Wood
"Film scholar and vintage movie lover"
If you are a fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, you must own the new 50th anniversary DVD of CAROUSEL (1956), starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. The restored color, 2.55 ratio wide-screen for CinemaScope 55, and remastered sound are awesome. This is like opening night in 1956 New York.
CAROUSEL is based on Molnar's Hungarian play LILIOM, which was filmed by Fritz Lang in 1934 France with a superb Charles Boyer. A complete studio print of Lang's LILIOM is just one of many bonuses on disk two. Rodgers and Hammerstein added some of their most memorable songs ("You'll Never Walk Alone,:" "If I Loved You," "June is Bustin' Out All Over"), built up the role of Julie to make her a strong and likeable heroine, and gave the whole show a Heaven framework. (LILIOM has Julie in a supporting role, no songs, and Heaven only shown in the last reel.) Billy Bigelow is a carnival barker in a New England seaport (location filming was done in Maine) who loses his job, marries shy and lovely Julie, gets her pregnant, then dies during an evocative clambake. (I won't give away more details here). The play and film are in flashback from up in Heaven, so I haven't really given away too much plot.
Ample disk one bonuses, besides the restored movie, include an audio commentary with Shirley Jones, isolated music score, songs only option, and Karaoke sing-along. Besides all of the 1934 LILIOM, disk two has a TV kinescope excerpt of John Raitt and Jan Clayton (from Broadway) doing "If I Loved You; a filmmaking featurette; musical outtakes from the movie; Fox Movietone newsreels of Darryl Zanuck crowing about the glories of the short-lived CinemaScope 55, and the New York film premiere; and an ample stills gallery.
You really get your money's worth if you love musicals and invest in this brand-new DVD of CAROUSEL.
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