Carousel

Rating:
Summary: A Prettified Tale of Wife Beating
Review: Yes, Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones are appealing actors, and anyone with ears has to admit that the Rodgers and Hammerstein score has some lovely songs, but Billy Bigelow is a wife beater, and that simply cannot be glossed over. The carnival barker is frustrated by his inability to provide for his newly pregnant wife Julie, so he hauls off and hits her. What's the take on that in the movie? A song called "What's the Use of Wonderin'", which includes lines like, "What's the use of wonderin' if he's good or if he's bad or if you like the way he wears his hat/ He's your feller and you love him, that's all there is to that " In other words, try to be more understanding of why he has to beat you. Being a somewhat fantastical movie, Billy goes to heaven after falling on his own knife in a bungling robbery attempt,and up there sasses a head angel. The angel decides to let him return to earth to see the daughter born posthumously. On earth again, he finds his daughter alone on the beach front. When she understandably resists talking to a man she's never seen before, Billy does what comes naturally and slaps her. And how is that dealt with later? When the daughter recounts the strange episode to her mother, she asks, "Did you ever get slapped but it felt like a kiss instead?" I find these sentiments disturbing. "Carousel" is candy coating a serious problem, family abuse, and trying to tell us that as long as you understand a man's motives, you should accept any kind of treatment from him. This is a very wrong message to give our young men and women, and an insult to anyone who has tried to break the cycle of violence in their families. If you like the score, buy the CD instead. Leave the message of "Carousel" at the video store.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT musical, good movie
Review: Yes, the added "prologue" takes away from the drama of the thing, but this film still contains some of the best singing to be found in any movie musical. MacRae particularly sounds good in Soliloquy (though a *toouch* flat on the high G at the end...). The wonderful thing about this show is the theme of redemption through the power of love. Also notice the conflict between the classes and the underlying ideas of worth; compare to Brönte's "Wuthering Heights" with the "cross-theme" of redemption through love.