Backwoodsmen, Barn Raising, and Shotgun Marriage

When the 1954 classic musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers came on TMC tonight, I knew I had to watch it. I am one of those people that falls into the category of musical-lovers. This is a film I have heard a lot about but never personally seen until tonight.

Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel), a backwoods lumberjack, comes to town in the spring for supplies and to bring home a wife/maid to help take care of him and his six brothers. He finds and meets Milly (Jane Powell) in town and then brings her home to meet his brothers. Milly is startled to meet Benjamin (Jeff Richards), Caleb (Matt Mattox), Dan (Marc Platt), Ephraim (Jacques d'Amboise), Frank (Tommy Rall) and Gideon (Russ Tamblyn). Milly straightens the boys out and then they fall in love with six girls at a barn raising. The boys realize how lonely they really are and its up to Milly and Adam to help the boys win the girls over by kidnapping them. Interwoven in the plot are timeless songs and energetic, acrobatic dance numbers.

The artistry, talent, and importance of this film has been widely recognized. The National Film Registry selected the film for preservation in 2004. It was ranked #21 on AFI's list of best musicals and made Entertainment Weekly's list of Top 25 Musicals.

MGM released Seven Brides and another musical Brigadoon both in the same year, 1954. MGM thought that Brigadoon would be the commerical success and relegated Seven Brides to b-movie status. Vincent Minelli's Brigadoon was given the money and the real location sets while Seven Brides was given only painted backdrops and limited funding. Ironically for MGM, Brigadoon became technically a commerical flop whereas Seven Brides was a commerical success.

Personally, I found the film to be full of talent with great muscial numbers, a great cast, and amazing dance routines. The dancing in particular use a plethora of equipment and props to enhance and make the moves seem more difficult. All of the dances are very acrobatic in nature as well as fast paced. The entire film is extremely colorful, from the costumes to the scenery. Despite the plot device of women being kidnapped, the film actually gives more power to the women in the film. Milly is the boss and what she says goes.

The film was based on Stephen Vincent Benét's short story "The Sobbin' Women", which was based on the Plutarch myth "The Sabine Women". For a history of this film, you can read here or you can read more history and a history of how the movie was made here. History and synopsis of the film can also be found here, courtesey of Classic Film Guide. You can read reviews of this movie here, thanks to rambles.net, here thanks to This To Say blogspot, and this one thanks to the BBC.