Carousel (film) - Response To The Film

Response To The Film

The world premiere of the film, held in New York, was attended by Washington diplomats as well as film stars. Among those in the audience were Averell Harriman and Edmund Muskie. Muskie was at that time the governor of Maine, where the story is set and where a large part of the movie was filmed. Locations such as Boothbay Harbor, Camden, and New Harbor were used. Many of the harbor scenes were filmed at what is now Shaw's, a local eatery, in New Harbor.

The film received mostly good reviews, but sources differ as to its financial success. Musical theatre scholar Thomas Hischak stated that the film "was a box office success across the country and 20th Century-Fox earned a considerable profit on the picture". However, the review at allmovie.com states: "The film's often downbeat tone ... did not resonate with 1950s audiences, making Carousel a surprising box-office flop." Another analysis states that "The American release of Carousel actually lost money for Twentieth Century Fox, but Kine Weekly claimed that it was generally successful at the British box office."

The soundtrack album sold well, and the film's exposure on television, VHS and DVD has won a larger audience for it. It was one of only three Rodgers and Hammerstein films (out of nine) that were not nominated for any Academy Awards. (The 1962 State Fair, an unsuccessful remake of R&H's hit musical written especially for film, and an also unsuccessful animated remake of The King and I (1999) received no nominations either, but, unlike Carousel, they were almost universally reviled by critics.) However, some of the technical staff of Carousel also worked on the first film version of The King and I, also released in 1956, and they did receive Academy Awards for that film, so they did not go home empty-handed on Oscar Night 1957.

Carousel was named #41 on Channel 4's (London) list of 100 Greatest Musicals.