Brigadoon (1954)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Alan Jay Lerner (screenplay)
Alan Jay Lerner (musical)

Release Date:

8 September 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The Big Broadway Musical Hit!

Plot:

Two Americans on a hunting trip in Scotland become lost. They encounter a small village, not on the map, called Brigadoon, in which people harbor a mysterious secret, and behave as if they were still living two hundred years in the past. |

Plot Keywords:

Village | American | Hunting | Scotland | Dance

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Gene Kelly	...	Tommy Albright
Van Johnson	...	Jeff Douglas
Cyd Charisse	...	Fiona Campbell
Elaine Stewart	...	Jane Ashton
Barry Jones	...	Mr. Lundie
Hugh Laing	...	Harry Beaton
Albert Sharpe	...	Andrew Campbell
Virginia Bosler	...	Jean Campbell
Jimmy Thompson	...	Charlie Chisholm Dalrymple
Tudor Owen	...	Archie Beaton
Owen McGiveney	...	Angus
Dee Turnell	...	Ann
Dodie Heath	...	Meg Brockie (as Dody Heath)
Eddie Quillan	...	Sandy

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo | Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:G (re-rating) (1971) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:G | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16971) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

James Mitchell, who originated the role of Harry Beaton on Broadway, was initially scheduled to repeat the part on film; he ultimately chose instead to tour with the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the New York scene Tommy Albright remembers Fiona singing a song, but she sang it before he appeared on the scene, so he never heard it.

Quotes:

Jeff Douglas: ...There's nothing a woman hates more than her fiancee's best friend. He knows all the secrets she's going to spend the rest of her life trying to find out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Gilmore Girls: I Can't Get Started (#2.22)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

The Chase

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow. What a Waste.

"Brigadoon" is really one of the best musicals ever made, a stunning blend of remarkable music with an unbeatable story. This movie *had* to be popular at some point-- what ever happened?! Nobody even knows it exists anymore! Wait a minute... this is sounding very familiar. Lerner and Loewe's disappearing-village fable expertly combines the mysticism of the Scottish Highlands with the unbreakable dancing chops of Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. It is an explosion of sound, color, and (a tolerable level of) emotion. And as a Scotsman, something makes me connect to the blaring bagpipes and the fantastically well-done accents, not to mention the glorious costumes and phenomenal sets. This is the movie musical as it was originally intended, a fascinating mixture of tunes and story, of fantasy and realism, of words and the things better left unsaid. This is a lambasted masterpiece and deserves recognition for what it is: very near to the perfection many better-known copycats claim is their own (I'm talking to you, "Sound of Music" and "West Side Story").