What a delightful and entertaining film this is. It's no secret that "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" was not given much thought or expectation by MGM's front office at the time. The studio moguls had relegated it to second tier status. But the producer, director, writers and composer thought otherwise. And, by the time the leads and cast were all selected and onboard, a strong bond and feeling of camaraderie enveloped everyone who had anything to do with the picture. Several of the cast and crew interviewed four decades after the film was made talked about the warmth, humor, and genuine closeness of the cast in the making of this film.
And, it was a good thing for MGM that "Seven Brides" was a smash hit and finished sixth in box office sales for the year. The profit helped cover losses the studio had from a couple of musicals that were duds. This film even far outpaced the studio's favorite with high hopes, "Brigadoon." It's budget was three times larger, and although it was a box office success, it was far below this film. "Seven Brides" also won an Oscar for the best musical score and received four more nominations.
Besides the winning cast of Jane Powell and Howard Keel in the lead roles, Director Stanley Donen and Producer Jack Cummings got Adolph Deutsch for the musical score. And, according to Michael Kidd, Donen double-crossed him after enticing him just to do dance numbers for the music. Instead, he wound up choreographing the whole film. And that involved some of the best dancers from Broadway, as well as a couple of exceptional acrobats. One would think they had met their challenge with a screenplay calling for 14 people up front - the seven brides and brothers. But, because the major choreographed dance scene also had seven townsmen competing for the girls, the number grew to 21. And was that ever a spectacular performance! One of the great ones of all time of choreographed scenes in movies.
The plot has a very interesting background source. It's based on an ancient Roman legend known as the Rape of the Sabine Women. That in turn had been the source of a short story by French author Stephen Benet, entitled "The Sobbin' Women." Anyway, however much of the original legend and story were kept, and how much was changed and new, the story was updated to the 1850s and set in the wilds of Oregon. That was just 50 years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Pacific Ocean on the Oregon coast in 1805. It was at the height of wagon trains and travel over the Oregon Trail.
The film makers had wanted to shoot the film on location in Oregon, but MGM sliced it budget, so the whole thing was filmed on sound stages and the backlots at MGM. One scene with a mountain background is clearly a painted backdrop. The only stickler I have about this film won't be noticed by most, but some Oregonians will surely notice it. The writers put the Brothers' cabin less than 15 miles from the town, which itself was of some size. Powell's Milly asks Keel's Adam how far it is to their place when they have started their wagon trip from the town He answers about 12 miles. They have a pass to go through that gets closed by snow in the winter. And Adam said he farms 50 acres of wheat. So, their cabin would be on the high plateau on the east side of the mountain crest. Well in the 1850s there wasn't a town of any size anywhere near there. Mt. Hood is 54 miles straight east of Portland - about 70 miles by road travel. And even today there are no towns of any size within 40 miles of the crest of the Cascades along the whole western side of the mountains, from California to the Columbia River border with Washington.
Well, that slight stickler in the script aside, this is a rollickingly good musical comedy-romance and drama. The songs by Johnny Mercer and dance numbers are wonderful. One can look far and wide to find another film with the great dancing and acrobatics in this superbly choreographed film. This film and MGM's whole musicals output for 1954 show that the studio moguls didn't always know what the audiences would really go far, and what they might not like so much.
And, it was a good thing for MGM that "Seven Brides" was a smash hit and finished sixth in box office sales for the year. The profit helped cover losses the studio had from a couple of musicals that were duds. This film even far outpaced the studio's favorite with high hopes, "Brigadoon." It's budget was three times larger, and although it was a box office success, it was far below this film. "Seven Brides" also won an Oscar for the best musical score and received four more nominations.
Besides the winning cast of Jane Powell and Howard Keel in the lead roles, Director Stanley Donen and Producer Jack Cummings got Adolph Deutsch for the musical score. And, according to Michael Kidd, Donen double-crossed him after enticing him just to do dance numbers for the music. Instead, he wound up choreographing the whole film. And that involved some of the best dancers from Broadway, as well as a couple of exceptional acrobats. One would think they had met their challenge with a screenplay calling for 14 people up front - the seven brides and brothers. But, because the major choreographed dance scene also had seven townsmen competing for the girls, the number grew to 21. And was that ever a spectacular performance! One of the great ones of all time of choreographed scenes in movies.
The plot has a very interesting background source. It's based on an ancient Roman legend known as the Rape of the Sabine Women. That in turn had been the source of a short story by French author Stephen Benet, entitled "The Sobbin' Women." Anyway, however much of the original legend and story were kept, and how much was changed and new, the story was updated to the 1850s and set in the wilds of Oregon. That was just 50 years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Pacific Ocean on the Oregon coast in 1805. It was at the height of wagon trains and travel over the Oregon Trail.
The film makers had wanted to shoot the film on location in Oregon, but MGM sliced it budget, so the whole thing was filmed on sound stages and the backlots at MGM. One scene with a mountain background is clearly a painted backdrop. The only stickler I have about this film won't be noticed by most, but some Oregonians will surely notice it. The writers put the Brothers' cabin less than 15 miles from the town, which itself was of some size. Powell's Milly asks Keel's Adam how far it is to their place when they have started their wagon trip from the town He answers about 12 miles. They have a pass to go through that gets closed by snow in the winter. And Adam said he farms 50 acres of wheat. So, their cabin would be on the high plateau on the east side of the mountain crest. Well in the 1850s there wasn't a town of any size anywhere near there. Mt. Hood is 54 miles straight east of Portland - about 70 miles by road travel. And even today there are no towns of any size within 40 miles of the crest of the Cascades along the whole western side of the mountains, from California to the Columbia River border with Washington.
Well, that slight stickler in the script aside, this is a rollickingly good musical comedy-romance and drama. The songs by Johnny Mercer and dance numbers are wonderful. One can look far and wide to find another film with the great dancing and acrobatics in this superbly choreographed film. This film and MGM's whole musicals output for 1954 show that the studio moguls didn't always know what the audiences would really go far, and what they might not like so much.