Do you remember that cheap made to DVD film that exploited the fanfare around Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding? Sure you do, it was in every supermarket throughout the country and it was atrociously bad but that wasn’t the first time the film industry has taken advantage of the royal family. Yes today we’re reviewing Royal Wedding which thankfully only uses the royal wedding between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip as a backdrop but I have to admit, it would have been funny to see that story in the form of a musical. Plus unlike the Will and Kate DVD, this was made by MGM who have more than a passing familiarity with actual talent which the former lacked. Even though the tagline’s a bit unfortunate “MGM’s Gayest Technicolor Musical.” Now I know that Gay meant something completely different back in 1951 but it’s another indicator that this film hasn’t aged well.
So let’s start with the plot because it’s relatively simplistic. Tom and Ellen Bowen played by Fred Astaire and Jane Powell are a successful brother and sister dancing act on Broadway and then they get called to move their show to the west end for the royal wedding. They’re both delighted by this and go right away with Ellen quickly disposing of two disposable love interests before she gets on the boat. Luckily her love interest Lord John Brindale has also disposed of his two disposable love interests so they’re both free to fall in love, aahh. They arrive in London and Tom Bowen finds his love interest Anne Ashmond played by Sarah Churchill and conveniently she’s dancing in the show but darn it she still has her disposable love interest but luckily he’s in Chicago which means they can still go out. He can also hang out with her dad and get him back together with her mum. Meanwhile Ellen and John are falling in love. They have their show and it’s a success despite Tom skipping out on a few rehearsals because of Anne. Tom also decides if Anne’s not going to get rid of her disposable love interest then darn it, he’s going to do it so he asks his British agent to deal with it who’s played by Keenan Wynn who calls the American agent also played by Keenan Wynn, they’re twins you see, to make some inquiries. It turns out that Anne’s disposable love interest got married which means he is disposed. So Tom tells her this and she takes it quite well and tells him that they’re in love. The same thing happens with Ellen and John so Tom and Ellen meet up and decide that they should stick to their careers. So they go to the royal wedding and the sight of it makes them spontaneously decide to get married there and then so they do and everyone lives happily ever after. If you haven’t got it from the sarcasm the plot is terrible, it’s vacuous and there are very few genuinely funny lines and even when the script delivers, it’s a very small laugh. There’s also the pothole of why Anne needs Tom to get rid of her disposable interest, he hasn’t talked to her in two months now I live in the Skype generation but seriously, she never once called him or if that didn’t work call at his work. It makes her look either lazy or stupid depending on your point of view but neither of the couples are given much of a chance to make it believable that they’re falling in love, they just do and you’re meant to accept it.
Now the songs and dances, now I don’t know if this was down to Astaire or if the filmmakers but the songs don’t really seem that developed, they seem to exist solely to justify the dance sequences which are all quite good. When I looked Astaire up on Wikipedia, it said he didn’t believe, he could sing well, so maybe that’s the reason but regardless, the songs are a bit superfluous and it’s meant to be a musical. Too Late now is easily the best song in the movie, it was nominated for an Oscar and you can see why, it’s a genuinely sweet song and Jane Powell puts a lot of punch into it with her quite high pitched voice.. The melody is sweet and it’s the only time on the movie that I bought the Ellen and John romance. Next we have the opening song Every Night at seven which is just ok. The music is ok but forgettable and the dance/comedy sequence is quite good but the song itself just isn’t that interesting, it just doesn’t have the punch and excitement that an opening number is meant to have and Fred Astaire doesn’t really sing it with that much conviction. Sunday jumps isn’t a song so much as a dance sequence and it’s one of the sequences which this film is famous for and that is Fred Astaire dancing with a coat stand, It really does show of Fred Astaire’s amazing dancing talent and that’s about it. The we have Open your eyes and while Jane Powell does sing, it’s just another dance sequence, it’s quite an impressive waltz but it doesn’t have the energy of the Sunday jumps dance sequence, to inject some comedy into this dance sequence the ship’s rocking them about unfortunately it isn’t funny but it’s still a nice waltz. Then we have the happiest day of my life which isn’t a dance sequence and it’s quite a nice song. Powell’s voice as I’ve mentioned is quite high pitched but once you get used to it’s an ok song. Next we have the second sequence called You’re all the world to me which is the only unoriginal song in the movie but it makes up for that by having a quite spectacular dance sequence. The verse of the song he sings is sung with real emotion and it really does capture the giddiness of falling in love and of course Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling. It’s a really clever sequence and I don’t think it could be done that much better today, it looks amazing and it links with the theme of the song about the giddiness of falling in love. Next we have I left my hat in Haiti and the whole song is long, pointless and repetitive.
The dancing is good but it just feels like more of the same and in regards to the dancing it reminded me of Nina for the pirate and that dance sequence was a lot better. Then we have what a lovely day for a wedding which I would have used for the opening, it’s a short but cheery song and it really captures the festive mood and would have been a better mood setter. Then we have the longest song title ever How could you believe me when I said I loved you when you know I’ve been a liar all my life. This is the only song that manages to be funny and I think that’s largely to Astaire’s scenery chewing but it also shows both character’s cynicism towards love and illustrates where they are at this point. On the whole most of the songs are forgettable and serve only as a justification for the dances with a couple of exceptions.Now let’s talk about the actors in this film. Firstly we have Fred Astaire who plays Tom Bowen who is a dedicated dancer and that’s about it, there are times where he comes across as slightly charming but most of the time he just comes across as normal. Then we have Jane Powell playing Ellen Bowen now that casting decision has an interesting history apparently the first actress got pregnant, the second was Judy Garland who got fired and then Ellen Powell and she does an ok job throughout this film, she has some comedic talent but she’s fighting the writing on that score and while her voice does take a while to get used to when you do, it’s quite a sweet voice and she manages to keep up with Fred Astaire. Apparently Astaire was 30 years older than Powell which puts a strain on believability that their siblings but they counteract this with some great chemistry, their sibling reactions seem real, the way they tease each other, moan at each other and it seems very real. Sarah Churchill plays Anne Ashmond and she does an ok job even though she seems really bland, the only thing you’re going to remember about her is the accent. Which is better than Peter Lawford’s Lord John because you will not remember this character apart from maybe his whistling of too late now, he’s just there. The agents both played by Keenan Wynn annoy me, both of them have these atrocious over the top accents which I’m pretty sure is meant to be a joke but I just found it annoying. Then finally we have Albert Sharpe who plays James Ashmond and give him credit, his role is small but he manages to be consistently funny which in this film says a lot.
Now finally the special features, there are none if you buy this DVD all you’re getting is the menu, this is quite annoying because this film is in public domain so there’s no point in buying the DVD, there’s even a link to the movie on IMDB. But there is one thing I’d like to address, the DVD quality is terrible, the credits won’t stop shaking, there are flickers, scratch and the whole film seems washed out now I know this film is old. But I didn’t have this problem with the pirate or even older than that three smart girls. This film clearly hasn’t been given the tender loving care it needs but apparently there’s a remastered version of this film so it might be worth buying that but when I looked at a review of it they experienced the same problems I had with my copy so it might be a waste of money. All I know is you don’t need a HD TV to enjoy this movie. Although not technically a special feature this film has actual colour footage of Prince Phillip’s and Queen Elizabeth’s wedding so if you’re into that kind of thing.
To conclude, this is probably, the worst film, I’ve reviewed so far and that’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just boring and so many things about it annoy me like why is Lord John different from all of Ellen’s other boyfriends? Why does Anne never bother trying to contact her fiancée or at least discover what’s happened to him? Why do the two agents have completely different accents if they’re brothers? This film could have been great, the premise is ok but the writing has let it down and the fact that the brilliant dancing sequences are sometimes hard to make out really highlight that. I don’t recommend buying this film but if you like dance sequences and can put up with the picture quality then you should definitely download it.
No comments:
Post a Comment