Carousel

Carousel (1956)

More than your eyes have ever seen!

Billy Bigelow has been dead for 15 years. Now outside the pearly gates, he long ago waived his right to go back to Earth for a day. He has heard that there is a problem with his family: namely with his wife Julie Bigelow, née Jordan, and his child he hasn't met. He would now like to head back to Earth to assist in rectifying the problem; but before he may go, he has to get permission from the gatekeeper by telling him his story. Adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit Broadway musical.

Date of release
1956-02-16
TMDB
5.3 / 10 (90)
Runtime
2h 8m
Genres
Music, Romance
Director
Henry King

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Liliom and Carousel
  • Filmed in: Malibu and Maine

Carousel is a 1956 American dramatic fantasy musical film based on the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name, which was based on Ferenc Molnár's 1909 non-musical play Liliom. The film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones and was directed by Henry King.

Production

The film was shot in CinemaScope 55 and DeLuxe Color. However, it was projected in regular 35mm CinemaScope rather than 55mm, although the original premiere featured a six-track magnetic stereo soundtrack specially devised for CinemaScope 55. It was played on a separate machine synchronized with the film.

Cinematographer Charles G. Clarke explained: "In the beginning it was decided to film 'Carousel' in both 55mm and the standard 35mm CinemaScope. This meant double setups for each shot. When the results became available for screening, our studio decided the 35mm version was no longer required, and thereafter we filmed the production only in 55mm CinemaScope. ...

Frank Sinatra was originally cast to play Billy Bigelow and recorded his songs for the film. It had been reported that Sinatra withdrew in objection to the requirement that each scene be filmed twice, one for regular CinemaScope and the other for CinemaScope 55, but according to Shirley Jones' 2014 autobiography, he quit because his wife Ava Gardner threatened infidelity if he failed to accompany her on the set of her film The Barefoot Contessa.

Filming took place in the Maine locations of Boothbay Harbor, Camden, Newcastle and Augusta as well as Paradise Cove in Malibu, California and the Twentieth Century-Fox studios.

The film follows the stage musical faithfully except for five major changes:

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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