Title Card: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was written by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Dorothy Kingsley and was directed by Stanley Donen. It was released in 1954. The film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In 1850, there’s wood to be chopped, dances to be danced, and women to be married. Adam Pontipee, played by Howard Keel, meets local tavern worker Milly, played by Jane Powell. Within hours of meeting and falling for her, Adam asks her to marry him—a proposal which she accepts. Upon returning to Adam’s mountain cabin, Milly is surprised to learn that Adam is the eldest of seven brothers, all living together. Despite her disappointment at not being able to live the married life she had envisioned for herself, she tasks herself with cleaning up her new home and teaching the brothers how to be polite and proper men. These six lovelorn men soon realize that the only way they’ll meet and marry a woman like Milly is if they drop their poor manners and do things her way. At a social gathering in town, they meet six women and try out their new personas on them. The girls take a liking to these brothers, but trouble erupts when their current suitors find out about these new sweethearts.
There’s a shameful hole in my movie-watching past, and it consists almost exclusively of unwatched musicals. I don’t dislike musicals. I just haven’t watched many of them. It’s a damn shame because a great many of them can be counted amongst the best films ever made. Singin’ in the Rain, anyone?1 My wife, on the other hand, has maybe seen every single musical ever made. Thank goodness she still decided to marry me. I think she saw my musical inexperience as an opportunity to educate me on the finer points of this genre, one of those being this film. Which I loved. Loved a whole lot. Like many musicals, the songs are the main draw here, and there are some serious bangers (as the youths say).2 You would do well to check out Bless Yore Beautiful Hide, Goin’ Courtin’, and The Barn Dance. If you’re anything like me, you should go into the film without any notions about it. Its bouncy, tuneful, and vibrant spirit will win you over. If you’ve already seen it, why not give it another watch? You already know how excellent it is. 🎞