Movie Review #10: Carousel - Rodgers and Hammersmonth

Carousel (1956)
Director: Henry King
Writer(s): Phoebe Ephron, Henry Ephron... as adapted from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
Starring: George MacCrae, Shirley Jones, Susan Luckey

"If" is the most important word in Carousel. It is a word loaded with connotations of condition, of hope, of time spent and to come, of uncertainty, and of responsibility. It is the word that cemented Rodgers and Hammerstein's status as the premier musical writing team of their era, the word that brought the musical play into the status of high art. While I personally do not consider Carousel to be the greatest musical ever written (a review for another day), it is easily within the top ten, if not the top five. I may have had problems with Oklahoma!, but Carousel is a nuanced exploration of poverty, dysfunctional families, responsibility, and sexual expression. How are all of these themes jammed into two and a half hours? Let's find out.

Adopted from the play, Liliom, Carousel begins in medias res with a man named Billy Bigelow in a state of Limbo. Granted, the effects during this portion of the film are terrible, but good musicals have never been about technical spectacle (cough, cough, curse you, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, cough, cough). Bigelow is given the chance to look back on his life, beginning with his career as a carousel barker. Bigelow becomes infatuated with a millworker, Julie Jordan, who returns his affections; sadly, this infatuation costs Bigelow his job. Though Bigelow marries Julie, the relationship turns sour quickly once Bigelow's limited skill set and overwhelming arrogance prevents him from getting a job. But, when Julie is revealed to be pregnant, Billy decides to earn enough money to support his child by whatever means possible. This decision proves to be Billy's literally fatal mistake. Now, Billy Bigelow must journey from Limbo to deliver a last message of forgiveness and hope to his wife and sexually frustrated and humiliated daughter.

Billy Bigelow is not a "good" person, at least in the sense that Curly from Oklahoma! is a good person. At his core, Billy is selfish; he values things and others only insofar as they are useful to him. In many ways, he is a man incapable of love, making the "if" of "If I Loved You" all the more important. Most of his career choices are dependent on his inability to accept anyone other than himself as his master. Nowhere is this selfishness more vivid than in "Soliloquy," the seven-and-a-half minute opus that is Billy's main song and the standard by which all musical theatre baritones are judged. Billy begins the piece determined that his new child will be a boy, a boy named after him no less. The child will participate in all the activities Bill enjoyed as a child; as for career aspirations, none of them matter so long as the young Bill has the same autonomy as the elder Bigelow has. Bigelow is essentially pouring all his love into himself.

The great tragedy of Carousel is Billy's inability to overcome or channel his selfishness. Several times throughout the film, Billy lashes out and strikes Julie and, later, his daughter. Each time, he claims that he merely "hit" them, whereas the rest of the world says he "beat" them. Bigelow is unwilling to accept that his actions are indicative of a far greater emotional problem: an almost sociopathic need for power and control. Even when he realizes that being father to a girl is meant to be a selfless, rather than selfish, act, he is unwilling to be her father on anyone's terms other than his own. He schemes to gain money through illegal means rather than taking a job of lower status, as he feels anything else is below him. The dramatic, tragic irony: by bringing himself into a life of crime and poverty, Billy is already putting himself below careers he disdains. His desire for freedom makes him even more a slave.

Yet I hesitate to think Bigelow's motivations are essentially wrong. The hope to achieve greatness or success for oneself, on one's own terms, is the essence of social mobility and the "American dream." The reason for Billy's failure, I think, is his obstinacy in going through his trials alone. Though Julie and her friends do their best to push Billy onto the right path, he outright rejects their offers and suggestions. He walks alone. The same does not apply for his daughter, a girl finally mature enough to control her own life. There is a reason "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a staple of high school graduations nation-wide. The song essentially outlines the virtues of Billy Bigelow's life philosophy while adding one essential addendum: you are not alone. Support systems, friends, and family are there to aid us in the paths we take, to be the cushion when not all goes as planned. Billy Bigelow shuts all this out, but it is not too late for his daughter.

Eut can his daughter excel? In the sexist world of Carousel, achieving one's aspirations is extremely difficult, especially as a girl. One of the most powerful scenes in Carousel is the ballet sequence in which the Bigelow daughter, Louise, is lured into a brief but fruitless relationship with the carnival, the same carnival that entranced Billy as a child. There are three distinct movements to the ballet: an initial sequence in which Louise dances with several boys in a tomboy-ish fashion, a second wherein she interrupts the prim and proper dance structure of the Snow family, and finally a third in which she dances with a boy from the carnival and is shamed for doing so. Dance sequences of this time nearly always are meant to represent something greater: in my opinion, the Carousel ballet is almost entirely about sex. Louise begins her teenage years willing to express her sexuality but unwilling to actually take part in sex, a lifestyle "unsuitable" for the cloistered Snow family. The carnival, however, is representative of a first sexual encounter, one for which Louise is repeatedly shamed. The ballet ends ambiguously, leaving the audience to determine if Louise's fate is of her own making or the prejudices and sexism of a malevolent world.

And then there's Julie. Some might accuse Julie of being submissive, actively defending her physically abusive husband. Yet there are real world analogues to this; thus, the tragedy of Julie's situation is even more palpable. In an important turn in musical theatre, Julie is our moral role model. She actively finds the good in every human being and tries to weed out the bad. She is persistent. Most importantly, she is the first person in the show to pass beyond the "if" of "If I Loved You." She has a true capacity to love, something most, if not all, the other characters in the show lack. Her joining the final "You'll Never Walk Alone" is one of the most powerful moments in the film.

The songs are nearly all fantastic. The only dud is the first actually sung piece, "(When I Marry) Mr. Snow," and it is only the weakest by virtue of its lack of memorability. The rest of the songs are unilaterally fantastic. "What's the Use of Wond'rin" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" are beautiful. "If I Loved You" is the best hypothetical love song ever written and is the thematic center of the show. "Soliloquy" is the most daring musical composition the Rodgers and Hammerstein team has ever written. It's a toss-up between "If I Loved You" and "Soliloquy" in terms of choosing the best song, but I feel making a choice is to discredit one of these musical treasures.

The only real flaws in Carousel are mostly those of film-making and cinematic limitations. Carousel does feel as if an expansive work, with an entire world to explore; I think the themes of the musical are enhanced when the actors are working in a more claustrophobic environment. This is especially apparent in the large choral numbers; while they work to establish setting and context, they do feel somewhat contrived when the physical setting makes it abundantly clear that it is early summer. Also, while the script given to Gordon MacCrae and Shirley Jones is so strong as to convey its themes without actual performances, Jones and MacCrae aren't fantastic actors. They get the job done, no doubt, and their singing is more important than their dialogue, but some of the inflections do fall flat. Otherwise, any criticisms I would make would be nitpicks.

Carousel is a vibrant, intellectually stimulating, enjoyable, thrill ride of a musical. Indeed, Carousel is so good that Richard Rodgers called it his best musical. But could he top it? While that question remains to be answered, the pair's next show was of neither the same caliber or the same scale. After all, it was written at the same time as Carousel, so one can't really blame the two from experiencing some professional burn-out. Nonetheless, the two created the soundtrack to one of the most... frustrating movies I've ever seen: State Fair. But that's a review for another day. As it is, Carousel is a musical so good one will never want it to stop.

Recommendation: The only people who shouldn't watch Carousel are those who hate musicals in general; even if Carousel is as fantastic as it is, I doubt it will change their minds. For anyone who has the slightest inkling of musical tolerance, Carousel is a must-watch. And, if you are dead-set on not watching this movie, I implore you, see the actual musical if it comes by your area or is revived on Broadway.

I give Carousel 8.8 stars out of 10.