Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

deickos This is probably the best musical I have seen to this day. I must elaborate on this since there are so many of the genre around. The case with musicals is that they are often so much loaded - not only with music - that one may feel bored after two hours; yet this one is so simple and so light - you want more of it! Again Henry King will not fail us whatever he decides to make.

Python Hyena Carousel (1956): Dir: Henry King / Cast: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Ruick, Robert Rounseville: A carousel spins around in circles much like life's events and emotions. Gordon MacRae plays Billy Bigelow who is deceased in the film's opening but is given the opportunity to tell his story and return to earth for one day. He was a skilled carousel operator whose womanizing ways land him in trouble. Shirley Jones plays Julie Jordan who catches his eye and eventually becomes his wife. She becomes frustrated when he fails to change his ways with abusive behavior. Cameron Mitchell plays a sleazy criminal friend of Bigelow who makes an attempt to break up a relationship as well as con Bigelow into a crime. Barbara Ruick plays Julie's best friend who is getting married to Enoch Snow, played by Robert Rounseville. He is wealthy but unimpressed when his fiancé is being poached upon by Mitchell. Ruick is reduced to tears upon meeting Bigelow and his aggressive nature. Structure is rundown by too many pointless and meaningless musical numbers that never stand out. Another issue is the unpleasant disposition of the central character. We know how it ends and despite its corny delivery the production values work with director Henry King helming the wheel and preventing this musical charade from totally spinning out of control. Score: 7 / 10

yakimuckus I'm having a hard time understanding all the positive reviews on this movie. Was the musical supposed to be a tragedy and I just didn't get it? Was I supposed to sympathize with the characters in any way whatsoever? Did it have anything more than drivel to say about love or redemption? I can't think of any positive answers to those questions.Begin with a girl who falls in love with a total bum because he puffs out his chest a lot, a loser who makes no secret of his utter lack of respect for women. Throughout the song, "If I Loved You" (which was a nice song, btw, if removed from its context) I couldn't get her stupidity out of my head. Next a marriage where the guy treats her with utter disdain and abuse, and somehow she still loves him, even though he has yet to show a single redeeming quality in the movie.When he finds out she is pregnant he actually pauses for reflection on his life. During "Soliloquy" I thought perhaps this would be the beginning of a redemption story. Alas, he turns to crime and gets himself killed. When in heaven (or whatever it is) he puffs out his chest again and declares that he won't apologize for anything at all. This is one of the most awful characters I have ever seen.So finally he is given a chance to go back and make things right for his now-grown daughter (and needs to be brow-beaten into taking that chance, btw), how does he do it? First he ends up slapping her, which apparently brings fond memories for her mother. "It is possible, dear," she says, with wistful smiles on both their faces, "for someone to hit you, hit you hard, and it not hurt at all." What?? The ghostly bum then goes to his daughter's graduation and whispers into her ear to believe the graduation speech, then walks away self-satisfied. Oh job well-done, man!One reviewer said that the characters had emotional maturity of five-year-olds, and this hit the nail on the head for me. There was nothing redeeming about them, except perhaps that the wife - like me watching this film - patiently suffers and the complete loser of a husband never cheats on her as far as we can see. Was this supposed to be a love story? I don't get it.The music was good, though, and because of that I regretfully gave the movie as high as a 3-star rating.

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.