Carousel is a 1945 stage musical that was adapted from Ferenc Molnar's play Liliom. The original production, opened at Broadway's Majestic Theatre on April 19, 1945 and closed on May 24, 1947 after playing 890 performances.

This is the musical which gave Gordon MacRae his greatest solo song, namely the 7 minutes long "Soliloquy", in which Billy the circus barker speculates about his unborn child, first with bluster and pride if it is a boy, and then with insecurity and despair if it is a girl he can't buy things for.

Billy, as we see in the opening of the film, is telling his story to one of the angels in heaven, where he has gone after a violent and premature death.
So we see his tale unfold, as he meets pretty little Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones, excellent), marries her, and through fate and bad luck, gets separated from her.

The sheer exuberance of songs such as "June is Bustin' Out All Over"; "A Real Nice Clambake"; "When The Children Are Asleep" and "If I Loved You", plus of course the best-known song from the show, "You'll Never Walk Alone" takes the story to another level and makes this film enjoyable to watch.

Robert Rounsville makes a fine bombastic Mr Snow and has a fabulous voice.
MacRae and Jones have a duet to the lovely melody of Rodgers' score. There is also an excellent dance sequence, where the daughter of Billy and Julie imagines an escape from her lonely and ostracised life.