Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (U)

D: Stanley Donen

MGM / Leow’s, Inc. (Jack Cummings)

US 🇺🇸 1954

102 mins

Musical

W: Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich & Dorothy Kingsley [based on the story “The Sobbin’ Women” by Stephen Vincent Benet]

DP: George Folsey

Ed: Ralph E. Winters

Mus: Adolph Deutsch & Saul Chaplin; Johnny Mercer

PD: Cedric Gibbons & Urie McCleary

Cos: Walter Plunkett

Howard Keel (Adam), Jane Powell (Milly), Jeff Richards (Benjamin), Matt Mattox (Caleb), Marc Platt (Daniel), Jacques d’Ambrose (Ephraim), Tommy Rall (Frank), Russ Tamblyn (Gideon)

Howard Keel plays the oldest of the seven titular brothers, who bring his recently wedded wife, Milly, home to his farm, where his brothers also live, themselves also yearning for a wife of their own.

My general enjoyment of musicals usually tends to come down to whether I like the songs or not, but 1954’s Seven Brides For Seven Brothers may be an exception to that rule.

The songs aren’t particularly great, or memorable, and the lyrics are quite antiquated, but the music score is chirpy enough and the real star of the film is the inventive choreography to liven up life some of the more mundane tasks of life on a ranch.

Technically, the film is quite a marvel, with colourful cinematography, garish costumes and set designs that capture 1850s Oregon reasonably well for a set-bound 1950’s Hollywood production, but the real stars of the show are the riveting dance sequences.

8/10