Royal Wedding (1951)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Pretty Good

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Royal Wedding may not be one of the classic musicals and everybody involved have been in and done better things, but any fans of great choreography and dancing and Fred Astaire will find plenty to like about it. It does have a good shortcomings, that are thankfully outweighed by the many things that are delightful.Starting with what didn't come off so well, the story is as thin as a wafer and occasionally loses momentum when there's no singing or dancing. The script is very commonplace, and while it mostly flows well, reads well tonally and has entertaining moments some of the comic moments fall limp and it's cringe-worthingly stereotypical in places(i.e. Keenan Wynn's slang). The songs and choreography are top notch, but the (slightly) clumsily staged finale was an exception. Two performances don't work. Peter Lawford has to work with a dully written character that often felt incidental to the plot, and he brings very little personality or charm to it. Even worse is Sarah Churchill, she is incredibly wooden here and doesn't ever look comfortable with what she's given. Her chemistry with Astaire completely lacks warmth, and veers on non-existent on occasions.The production values are very colourful however, not quite lavish but very beautiful nonetheless, and the photography shows adept technical skills and very good attention to detail. The songs are great, with three being particularly memorable. One is the Oscar-nominated Too Late Now, which has a lot of emotional resonance and is performed with just as much by Jane Powell(though maybe Judy Garland may have given it more heft if she was cast). Two is How Could You Believe Me..., which benefits from some of Lerner's funniest and cleverest lyric writing and a genuinely easy-going natural chemistry between Astaire and Powell. Last is the infectiously catchy I Left My Hat in Haiti. The choreography is even better, there is so much energy and sparkle to it and the two highlights both feature Astaire and are among his best and most iconic. One being Sunday Jumps, with the most inventive use of a duet with a hat-rack you'll ever find in a film, and the other being his dancing on the walls and ceiling in his hotel room in You're All the World to Me which is the epitome of jaw-dropping.Royal Wedding may not be perfect in the writing department, but it's not too slow-going(even those bits lacking momentum don't hurt the film that badly) and has an endearingly light-footed, good-humoured(though not always) and warm-hearted quality, in a way also that often entertains and never talks down. So while there are flaws in the writing, the spirit and tone are just right. The characters are not too original and Lawford and Churchill's are not interesting at all, but the rest of the characters are very likable and engaging. Stanley Donen's direction is very accomplished technically and in terms of pacing and balancing everything is very assured also. The performances on the whole are fine, Keenan Wynn is amusing and Jane Powell is a more than worthy partner for Astaire and plays her role with plenty of attractive spunk and graceful charm. But it is Astaire who is the main reason to see the film, he was one of the dance world's greatest and one of the all-time greats at interpreting songs in musicals. While he didn't have the best voice in the world, though it was still an above-pleasant one, his dancing is masterful and he exudes complete confidence.Overall, has shortcomings and falls short of being great(like it could have been considering it had Astaire and was directed by Donen). But these shortcomings are far outweighed by the good things, and the good things are delightful and a good many. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The idea was to memorialize the long disbanded song and dance team of Fred and Adele Astaire, while taking advantage of the publicity associated with the recent marriage of Queen Elizabeth, to help dramatize the historic fact that Adele left the act, around age 35, to marry a British nobleman. Fred would play himself, and audiences would have to imagine that he was about 20 years younger. Who to cast as Adele? Vera-Ellen was briefly considered, but passed for June Allison, who soon discovered she was pregnant, thus replaced by the troubled Judy Garland, who was soon fired for being tardy. All these ladies were in their late 20s or early 30s, thus might be somewhat feasible younger sisters of Fred(Adele was actually older). But, the final choice became 21 y.o. Jane Powell: 30 years Fred's junior. Jane, of course, had established herself as a significant MGM star by that time, had a great singing voice, which typically overshadowed her also substantial dancing talent. This was her first role playing a full adult, as opposed to a teen, and she turned out to be a great partner for Fred. But, it would have been much more believable if she had been characterized as Fred's daughter, rather than sister! Now, who to cast as Fred's new love in the UK? Fred's character was a confirmed old bachelor. Ideally, a member of the British aristocracy was wanted, to increase the film appeal to Brits. Sarah Churchill, Winston's daughter, was chosen. This reportedly did seem to help draw British audiences. Being in her late 30s, she was reasonably old to be a likely romantic partner for Fred. However, she had no film charisma and had a mannish-looking face. It's unbelievable that Fred would get so excited about her as to dance on the ceiling and walls of his room in celebration! Fred appeared to have much more romantic chemistry with Jane than Sarah! Also, the idea of her training with Fred to be a chorus girl, at near age 40, sounds unpromising. As the director, I probably would have opted for Vera-Ellen in her place, with whom Fred had very recently costarred, in "Three Little Words", and would again costar the following year in "The Belle of New York". She was good looking and a top dancing talent, to realistically make Fred dance on his ceiling (He would levitate in the future film with her!). She also had a rather regal demeanor, later playing a princess. She was young enough to be a believable dancing starter, yet perhaps old enough to have a plausible romantic interest in Fred.The 4th lead was Peter Lawford. On the positive, he was bred a Brit, as suggested by his speech, and was popular with women viewers. He made a good looking couple with Jane. Both he and Jane are scripted as having an endless supply of potential girl or boyfriends, thus a potential union of an alpha male and a queen bee. Despite only rudimentary singing and dancing skills, he had been cast in several prior musicals, although he reportedly hated to have to sing or dance in them. According to Jane, he was also only minimally dedicated to his acting career. He worked out OK in his minimally demanding role. Often, the supporting actors in musicals help supply additional musical or comedic talent. However, with the multitalented charismatic Fred and Jane, this wasn't so essential here.The director was the famous Stanley Donen, who devised the apparatus for creating the illusion that Fred was dancing on the ceiling and walls of his room, while singing "You're All the World to Me". The cameraman had to be tied down, as he rotated with the room, in only 2 takes. Despite all the things going for this film, it languishes in relative obscurity compared to his previous hit "On the Town", and subsequent film "Singing in the Rain". Jane would again costar in his hit "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".The team of Burton Lane and Alan Lerner composed the musical numbers, which weren't hit parade grade, but serviceable, especially with emphasis on dance. Lane had been a long time, though minor, composer for MGM. This was Lerner's first film role as the lyricist, being hired mainly on the strength of his "Brigadoon" play. His frequent composer partner, Fredrick Loewe, would rejoin him for several notable musicals in the future.In addition to Fred's dancing on the ceiling, there are several other unusual dance numbers. The scene where Fred and Jane are attempting to dance on the ship during a severe storm, causing the furniture and themselves to slide around, is fun. Fred's solo dance with his expensive, custom-made, coat & hat rack is also unusual and skilled, although I find Kelly's prior dance with assorted mops and brooms, in "Thousands Cheer", more interesting...The comedic vaudeville-styled number "How could you believe me.....", in which Jane plays a floozy to Fred's film flam man, is also quite good. Reminds us of "A Couple of Swells" with Fred and Judy, in "Easter Parade". Jane especially liked this, as it was her first chance to play other than a sweet goody goody girl. Made up as a sensuous Latino, in the colorful "I Left My Hat in Haiti", dancing with Fred, she is also out of her usual character, and fun to watch.

In the decade following his triumphal comeback in 1948's Easter Parade, Fred Astaire played a succession of slight variations on essentially the same character: a lifelong bachelor and a successful Broadway hoofer putting on a show, who finds time for romance with a woman half his age. Here, he and Jane Powell play a brother-sister song and dance act who separately find romance while on tour in London. The parallel romantic story lines are pretty tame and familiar stuff, and anyway, this sort of movie flies or fails on its musical numbers and this movie has a few famous ones. Fred does an elaborate dance number using a hat rack for a partner when his sister fails to show up for a shipboard rehearsal; the two dance on a rocking ship to comedic effect in a parallel to an actual event in Astaire's life; and Astaire dances on the walls and ceiling of his hotel room in the most famous number in the movie. The latter was a technical marvel at the time, requiring the cameras and crew to be bolted to a rotating frame which moved with the room as it rotated, giving the illusion that the room and camera were standing still on the ground as Astaire went up the walls and across the ceiling! A few of the stage numbers are pretty good, too, although the film loses momentum when the dancing stops. Jane Powell holds her own alongside Astaire in their numbers together, although be warned: her song numbers come from the Jeanette MacDonald school of film vocals and can leave your ears ringing from their shrillness. Enjoy the production numbers and don't expect much in between and you will not be disappointed.

Fred Astaire and Jane Powell play a brother-and-sister dance team Tom and Ellen Bowen. The siblings get the chance of a lifetime gig; their manager(Keenan Wynn)books the team to perform in London during the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947. On the way to England, carefree and naive Ellen falls head over heals for a dashing Lord Brindale(Peter Lawford). Nothing real new, because Ellen seems to fall in love as the wind blows. While holding dance auditions confirmed bachelor Tom finds a romance of his own in a young dancer Ann Ashmond (Sarah Churchill). Will the dance team be broken up because of the new love interest? This song and dance musical comedy is very typical until the ever nimble Astaire does his incredible dance number on the ceiling and walls. A few of the memorable songs: "Too Late Now", "Ev'ry Night at Seven" and "What a lovely day for a Wedding". Kudos to director Stanley Donen and Alan J. Lerner doing his first screenplay. Can you imagine a royal wedding taking backseat to a dance team?