Carousel is a 1956 American drama fantasy musical film based on the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on Ferenc Molnár's 1909 non-musical play Liliom. The film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones and was directed by Henry King.

As with the original stage production, the film contains some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most famous songs and perhaps the most serious storyline of all of their musicals.

Billy Bigelow, a rough-talking, macho, handsome carousel barker, and Julie Jordan, a young, innocent mill worker, live in the small town of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. They fall in love, but are fired from their jobs; Billy because he paid too much attention to Julie and incurred the wrath of the jealous carousel owner Mrs. Mullin, and Julie because she had violated the curfew imposed by wealthy mill owner Mr. Bascombe.

Billy and Julie marry and live at the seaside spa and restaurant of her cousin Nettie Jordan. Julie admits that Billy, frustrated and bitter because he cannot find work, has started hitting her. Mrs. Mullin hears of this and wishes to rehire Billy, but only if he leaves his wife. However, Julie informs him that she is pregnant. Billy is overjoyed and declines Mrs. Mullin's offer. However, worried about finances and lacking work experience, Billy secretly agrees to join his pal Jigger Craigin in robbing Bascombe.

During a clambake on a nearby island, Billy and Jigger sneak onto the mainland to commit the robbery, but Bascombe, who is usually unarmed, carries a gun and the robbery is foiled. While Bascombe is momentarily distracted, Jigger flees and leaves Billy at the mercy of the police. Cornered, Billy climbs atop a pile of crates, but they collapse and Billy falls on his own knife. The others return from the clambake, and Julie sees the mortally wounded Billy. She rushes to him and he dies after saying his last words to her. Julie is devastated because she truly loved him, even though she never had the courage to say so out loud.

Fifteen years later in another world (apparently Purgatory, or the back door of Heaven), Billy is told that he can return to Earth for one day to make amends. Billy returns to find his daughter Louise emotionally scarred by constant taunting because her father tried to commit a robbery. Without disclosing his identity to Louise, Billy makes himself visible, tries to raise her spirits, and gives her a star that he stole from Heaven. Louise is frightened and refuses the star, but Billy, in desperation, slaps her hand. She rushes inside the house and informs Julie of what happened, saying that she did not feel a slap, but a kiss. Billy tries to become invisible before Julie can see him, but she glimpses him for a brief moment and senses that he has returned for a reason. As the film transitions to the epilogue Billy asks his heavenly guide for permission to attend Louise's high school graduation, and there he silently gives Louise and Julie the confidence that they need and the knowledge that, in spite of everything, he did love Julie. As he leaves the graduation ceremony he is taken back to heaven while the unseen chorus sings the last lines of the song.

Frank Sinatra was originally cast to play Billy Bigelow and recorded the songs that he was to sing in the film. It had been reported that Sinatra withdrew in objection to the requirement that each scene be filmed twice, one for regular CinemaScope and the other for CinemaScope 55, but according to Shirley Jones' 2014 autobiography, he quit because his wife Ava Gardner threatened infidelity if he failed to accompany her on her film set. Gardner was in the late stages of filming The Barefoot Contessa. At the time of the walk-out, Gordon MacRae, Sinatra's replacement, was quoted as saying that he had suspected that Sinatra might pull out of the production, and thus had made advance preparations to be Sinatra's replacement. He did not cut his hair after he finished filming Oklahoma!, and in July he starred in a Dallas State Fair production of Carousel.

The film was shot in CinemaScope 55 and DeLuxe Color. However, it was projected in regular 35mm CinemaScope rather than the 55mm version of the process, although the original premiere did feature a six-track magnetic stereo soundtrack specially devised for CinemaScope 55. It was played on a separate machine synchronized with the picture. All of the other prints of the film were composite prints and used the standard four-track stereo soundtrack featured on regular CinemaScope films circa 1953–1957.