Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Carousel (1956)

IMDb plot summary: Fifteen years after his death, a carousel barker is granted permission to return to Earth for one day to make amends to his widow and their daughter.
Directed by Henry King. Starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell, and Barbara Ruick.

This story is... so strange, largely because Billy is portrayed as pretty much unredeemable throughout. I kept waiting for him to turn a corner, to apologize for his violent actions, to admit maybe hitting people you say you love isn't a good thing, but... he doesn't. Ever. Instead, Julie defends his terrible behavior over and over again, and so he gets away with it and never learns, not even after death. I have no idea what message the film was even TRYING to send. There are some great tunes in here ("You'll Never Walk Alone" and "If I Loved You" in particular), but they deserve to be in a much better show that doesn't glorify abuse.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Carousel < One, Two, Three
Carousel < Horton Hears a Who
Carousel > VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas
Carousel > Captive State
Carousel > 30 Minutes or Less
Carousel < The Jazz Singer (1927)
Carousel < Sorry, Wrong Number
Carousel < Howl's Moving Castle
Carousel > Green Book
Carousel > Einstein and Eddington
Carousel < Throw Momma from the Train
Final spot: #2580 out of 3315, or 22%.

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