The duo of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II are titans of musical theatre. During a collaborative partnership that spanned close to two decades, they produced nine Broadway musicals (six of which were adapted to film), a film (State Fair in 1945), and a made-for-television musical version of Cinderella.
It’s hard to properly convey the impact they had on ushering in Hollywood’s musical “Golden Age.” If it weren’t for Rodgers and Hammerstein, we wouldn’t have classic show tunes like “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin,” “Getting to Know You,” or “Oklahoma.”
But most notably of all, we would never have the enduring image of Julie Andrews swirling across the Salzburg hilltops as she belted out “The Sound of Music,” and a generation of kids would never have learned their musical scales by singing “Do-Re-Mi.”
So strap on your lederhosen and loosen up those vocal cords, because we’re about to count down all of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s films, as ranked by IMDb.
Carousel (1956) - IMDb Rating of 6.6
Coming in at the bottom of the list is Carousel, directed by American filmmaker Henry King. Although it doesn’t have the enduring legacy of some of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s other musicals, many critics regard Carousel as containing some of their most beautiful songs. In fact, fans of the English Premier League team Liverpool even owe their club’s unofficial anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to this film.
Set in Maine, the film tells the doomed love story of gruff carousel barker Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae) and innocent mill worker Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones). When Julie becomes pregnant, the unemployed Billy resorts to robbery to support his family, with tragic consequences.
South Pacific (1958) - IMDb Rating of 6.8
Next on the list is South Pacific. Set on a US military base in the Solomon Islands during the Second World War, the film centers on the improbable love affair between an American nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) and a French plantation owner (Rossano Brazzi). Director Joshua Logan co-wrote the original Broadway show, for which he, Rodgers, and Hammerstein were collectively awarded the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Although now largely forgotten amongst Rodgers and Hammerstein’s more famous musicals, South Pacific was popular at the time of its release – especially in England, where it played continuously at London’s Dominion Theatre for over four years.
State Fair (1945) - IMDb Rating of 7.0
Directed by Walter Lang, who would later go on to direct the screen version of The King and I, State Fair is the only musical Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote specifically for film (apart from 1957’s Cinderella, which was written for television). It tells the story of a farming family (the Frakes), who are planning a trip to the Iowa State Fair. Father Abel is entering his prize pig Blue Boy in the grand champion boar competition, mother Melissa is entering her pickles and mincemeat in the cooking competition, and their listless children Margy and Wayne are looking for a break from the monotony of their bucolic farming lives.
Mild and frivolous, the film received middling reviews upon its release, but it does feature the Academy Award-winning song “It Might as Well Be Spring,” which would go on to be a hit for Frank Sinatra.
Flower Drum Song (1961) - IMDb Rating of 7.0
For their eighth collaboration, Rodgers and Hammerstein chose to adapt for the stage Chinese-American author Chin Yang Lee’s 1957 novel Flower Drum Song. Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown district, the film was groundbreaking at the time for telling a contemporary Asian-American story with a majority Asian cast.
The film centers on recent immigrant Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) who arrives in America from Hong Kong, pursuing an arranged marriage with nightclub owner Sammy Fong (Jack Soo). Unbeknownst to her, Sammy is having an affair with one of his showgirls, Linda Low (played by pioneering Asian-American actress Nancy Kwan). The film deals with issues unique to the immigrant experience, such as the tension that comes from embracing new values while still trying to preserve ancestral cultural traditions.
Oklahoma! (1955) - IMDb Rating of 7.0
Although it wasn’t adapted to film until 1955 – a decade after Walter Lang made State Fair - Oklahoma! was actually the first Broadway collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein, and it remains one of their most enduring and widely loved musicals. Packed with famous show tunes such as “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin,” “People Will Say We’re In Love,” and “Oklahoma,” it’s no surprise that it picked up the Academy Award for best music in the year of its release.
The story centers on farm girl Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones, who also played Julie Jordan in Carousel) who is caught in a love triangle with handsome cowboy Curly McLain (Gordon MacRae) and dangerous social outsider Jud Fry (the great character actor Rod Steiger). Events come to a head at a local party when Laurey’s rejection of Jud’s romantic advances has violent consequences.
The King and I (1956) - IMDb Rating of 7.4
Featuring an Academy Award-winning performance from the incomparable Yul Brynner (who played the role a staggering 4,625 times on the stage), The King and I is a culture clash story set in the old Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) in the mid-19th century.
The setup isn’t too dissimilar to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s later work, The Sound of Music, just transported to Bangkok: a young schoolteacher named Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr) is sent from her home in Wales to tutor the many children of King Mongkut of Siam. While the King often disapproves of what she teaches his children, Anna eventually manages to soften his hard exterior and the two form a lasting bond.
Cinderella (1957) - IMDb Rating of 7.6
A surprise hit with IMDb reviewers is Rodger and Hammerstein’s musical version of Cinderella. Made-for-television and starring Julie Andrews, the movie is an adaptation of the classic children’s story about a young girl who dreams of becoming a princess but is sabotaged by her evil stepsisters, until her magical fairy godmother grants her wish to attend the Prince’s Ball.
The show was viewed by more than 100 million people when it was first broadcast live on CBS in 1957 – the largest audience in history at the time – and succeeded in making Julie Andrews a household name.
The Sound of Music (1965) - IMDb Rating of 8.0
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final collaboration is probably their most famous, so it’s not surprising to see it come in at the top of the IMDb rankings. Starring Julie Andrews (in a career-defining role) and Christopher Plummer, and set against the backdrop of the rise of Nazi Germany and the annexation of Austria that preceded World War II, The Sound of Music tells the story of a young postulant named Maria (Andrews) who is sent by the Mother Abbess to look after the expansive brood of the widowed naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp (Plummer).
Featuring classic songs such as “My Favorite Things,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” and “So Long, Farewell” – among others – it’s no wonder singalong screenings of the film still happen regularly to this day.
