Musicals month (Film 8 of 11)
The best way to find a wife, as we all know, is to throw a sack over their head and abduct them, especially when seven brothers desperately need wives. Well, there is a suspension of disbelief when it comes to musicals that you have to accept, because it is usually more about the songs and how they fit into the plot. Of course, this one may be more memorable for its dance numbers. And it also takes an even greater suspension of disbelief to accept these rustic mountain folk dancing so gracefully and so damn well. I do think the dance numbers are the highlight of the picture. My favorite is the number where the brothers are chopping wood, dancing, twirling with axes and pining about how they’d rather be sleeping with women than with sheep.
Wunderkind: Stanley Donen directed (or co-directed) three entries on the 1001 list: On the Town, Singin’ in the Rain and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, all well before his thirtieth birthday!
The seven brothers include future Jet from West Side Story, Russ Tamblyn.
The seven brides include: Future Catwoman Julie Newmar (Newmeyer) and future dice roller from the 70’s Alex Trebek game show High Rollers, Ms. Ruta Lee.
This one is worth it for the barn dancing sequence. Otherwise, it's Stockholm Syndrome: The Musical. There's just something wrong about basing your actions on something called "The Rape of the Sabine Women."
ReplyDeleteI'll also give this one extra credit for being one of my mother's favorite musicals, along with Meet Me in St. Louis.
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