I gave it a 3 due to the music and the incredible voices. Honestly, it doesn't even deserve that. I understand that it's supposed to take place in the late 1800's, but this is horrid. Even at the time the movie came out women's lib had already begun and I can't believe that any woman would have had the insane mindset of "If he hits you, it means he loves you" as a norm. It wasn't true even then.Considering that this is Rogers and Hammerstein, I can't believe how bad it really is.I love musicals, and the old musicals tended to be rather sexist but this took it to a new level.

I had no expectations at all and knew nothing about it when I was given a chance to see this in my country the least known of Rodgers-Hammerstein musicals. The first thing you are met with is some metaphysics, and then the show starts and goes on throughout in splendour and marvellous choreography throughout in a very rustic environment of fishermen and very ordinary people, who by the music are raised to a lyrical level of some prominence. It's a wonderland of beauty very originally mixed up with great human passion and drama including an upsetting tragedy with reverberating shock effects. The story is curiously exotic and strange for an American musical, but then the original story is actually Hungarian taking place in Budapest and is a bleak tragedy indeed, which even Giacomo Puccini asked permission of the author to make an opera of, which he would not risk it getting debased by. Rodgers & Hammerstein succeeded in transforming it for the stage and make it work with wonder, changing the end, of course. The actors, none of them very known today, are all outstanding, and no objections against the story and its morals or lack of morals are justified. This is a fairy tale brought down to reality with its metaphysics and fairy tale wonders made real in the cinema and enhanced by the overwhelming excellence of the music. You can see it as a morality, of course, but then it is a very edifying one, turning the bleak tragedy of failed human efforts at some worldly success and love into a triumph of the actual good will. This is not only a film to wonder at and enjoy but to do so more than once and again.

In the process of exploring the great works of Rodgers & Hammerstein, I came across this musical, again, one of their earlier works remade into a Hollywood movie. But it was a complete disappointment- Both the plot as well as the music. Although I didn't expect the plot to be very interesting since it was made such a long time ago, when slow movies had audience, I expected the music to compensate for the sloppy plot, but unfortunately, the music was also a letdown. Except a couple of songs, others didn't register well with me.I will try to revisit the music sometime later, and find out if it is more appealing on multiple listens.

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.