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DVD Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Well, bless my beautiful hide! Director Stanley Donen invests this rollicking musical with a hearty exuberance. Howard Keel, with his big-as-all-outdoors baritone, stars as a bold "mountain man" living in the Oregon woods who brings home a bride (plucky songbird soprano Jane Powell) to his six slovenly brothers. Taming the rambunctious brood, Jane proceeds to make gentlemen of them so they can woo sweethearts of their own. But old habits die hard: their flirting gives way to fighting in the film's celebrated barn-raising scene, a lively acrobatic dance number exuberantly choreographed by Michael Kidd. Big brother chimes in with his own brand of advice--an old-fashioned kidnapping! Donen manages to get away with such a politically incorrect plot by investing the boys with a innocent sweetness, most notably the youngest brother played with genial earnestness by Rusty (Russ) Tamblyn (pre-West Side Story). This modest production became a huge hit and remains one of MGM's best-loved musical comedies, an energetic, high-kicking classic. --Sean Axmaker
Review(s): DVD Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Very entertaining!
This musical is such a staple of American culture that you already know everything about the plot already. You've probably seen the movie, or been in or seen one of the millions of high-school drama versions of this old standby. A rugged mountain man/farmer (how he farms in the mountains is not explained) finds a wife and brings her back to his cabin to cook and clean for him and his six brothers. She cleans them up, teaches them a thing or two about manners, and then dance fighting ensues at a barnraising. The brothers get served, they serve it right back, and then it's on. Unfortunately, the newly-raised barn is quickly razed as a result. After that debacle, the brothers figure the only way to get wives is to kidnap them, so they do so in a manner not entirely unlike how the Grinch stole Christmas. After a long winter the womenfolk all come down with a bad case of Stockholm Syndrome, and you might guess what happens after that.
Despite the kidnappin' and so forth, this remains a good-natured movie with some excellent singing and dancing. And at a hour 40 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome, unlike, say, the decent but interminable "Paint Your Wagon." The director's commentary is priceless, as he is clearly well into retirement and doesn't care what anybody thinks about him or his movie at this point. It's probably the most honest commentary ever put on DVD. This movie is well worth a watch.
"Twin Peaks" fans may enjoy seeing a very young Russ Tamblyn as the youngest brother.
One of my favorites
I have loved this movie ever since I was about three
years old. The tape I have now is the
3rd one I have had. (I wore the other 2 out from watching them so much. And, I made my poor cousin Adam watch it with me every time my parents babysat him after school.
And he is 7 years older than me! (like I said, poor guy!)
If you like old time, western, musical, and romance movies
with a touch of comedy and action, this is the best.
a "Wonderful Wonderful Day" for SEVEN BRIDES.. fans!
Excellent new `Special Edition' of the musical masterpiece SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, featuring both versions of the film plus a generous array of extras.
Set against the backdrop of settlement-era Oregon, the story concerns Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel) who takes a wife in Milly (Jane Powell) before delivering her to his mountaintop ranch. The honeymoon comes to an abrupt end when Milly learns she must also keep house for Adam's six unruly - and uncouth - brothers! But after Milly teaches them the finer points of "Goin' Courtin'" they go and and find brides of their own...with diastrous, hilarious and heartwarming results.
The cast is simply amazing. Among the `Brothers' are Russ Tamblyn, Broadway dancer Marc Platt, New York City Ballet star Jacques d'Amboise and KISS ME KATE's Tommy Rall. The `Brides' include Broadway's Virginia Gibson, B-movie beauty Ruta Lee (in her film debut) and future `Catwoman' Julie Newmar.
The score has become one of the most beloved ever written and elevates the on-screen story into the high heavens. Gene DePaul and Johnny Mercer's flavoursome tunestack includes Milly's jubilant "Wonderful Wonderful Day"; her moonlight aria "When You're in Love" and the soaring "June Bride" with the girls dancing in corsets and bloomers. Adam isn't overlooked music-wise, his numbers include "Bless Yore Beautiful Hide", the syncopated and irresistible "Sobbin' Women" and the brothers' plaintive "Lonesome Polecat". Choreographer Michael Kidd's routines in this film are among his all-time best, including what many consider his Magnum Opus, the showstopping "Barn Raising Ballet". With so many talented dancers among the `Brothers' and `Brides', it's no wonder that this film is so rich in musical numbers.
This is the peak of the original M-G-M musical. It's hard to believe now, but at the time the studio heads had no faith whatsoever in the project and dismissed it as a B-movie. BRIGADOON was also being made at the same time, a film M-G-M held great hopes for, though it was SEVEN BRIDES.. that the audiences and critics fell in love with.
SEVEN BRIDES.. was actually filmed twice. It was intended for the film to be seen exclusively in the new CinemaScope but many movie theaters did not have the facilities to show films in this ratio. So an open-matte 1:78 `flat' format version of the film was made to accommodate the problem. This Special Edition contains both versions of the film. It's almost like attending two different performances of the same show. The CinemaScope version looks a treat in 16:9 enhanced widescreen, and the colours are magnificent.
Extras include an updated version of "Sobbin' Women: The Making of..." (previously seen on the first DVD edition) which features new interview footage with Jane Powell as well as Jacques d'Amboise. Audio commentary is provided by director Stanley Donen who offers listeners a rare insight into the production of this masterpiece. There are two rare newsreels ("Radio City Music Hall Premiere" and "M-G-M 30th Anniversary" which features commentary by Jane Powell and Ann Miller). Also included is the rare CinemaScope "M-G-M Jubilee Overture".
With this all-new `Special Edition', it's a "Wonderful Wonderful Day" for SEVEN BRIDES.. fans!
Related DVD's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The hit Broadway musical from the 1940s gets a lavish if not always exciting workout in this 1955 film version directed by old lion Fred Zinnemann (High Noon). Gordon MacRae brings his sterling voice to the role of cowboy Curly, and Shirley Jones plays Laurie, the object of his affection. The Rodgers and Hammerstein score includes "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," and "People Will Say We're in Love," and Agnes DeMille provides the buoyant choreography. Among the supporting cast, Gloria Grahame is memorable as Ado Annie, the "girl who cain't say no," and Rod Steiger overdoes it as the villainous Jud. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gordon MacRae - Gloria Grahame Director(s): Fred Zinnemann DVD Release Date: Released the 27 April 1999 Usually ships in 6 to 8 days
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Decades before the Hollywood film industry became famous for megabudget disaster and science fiction spectaculars, the studios of Southern California (and particularly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) were renowned for a uniquely American (and nearly extinct) kind of picture known as The Musical. Indeed, when the prestigious British film magazine Sight & Sound conducts its international critics poll in the second year of every decade, this 1952 MGM picture is the American musical that consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It's not only a great song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a sprightly Debbie Reynolds; it's also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry's uneasy transition from silent pictures to "talkies." Kelly plays... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Donald O'Connor - Debbie Reynolds Director(s): Stanley Donen DVD Release Date: Released the 24 September 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," George Cukor (The Women, The Philadelphia Story), transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really star wattage that keeps this film exciting, that and such great songs as "On the Street... More Info about this DVD Director(s): George Cukor DVD Release Date: Released the 08 December 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Music Man was one of the last great movie musicals from any studio, and it proved to be that rarest of events: a Broadway show that was measurably improved by its transition to the screen. Robert Preston made his musical debut--both live and on film--as "Professor" Harold Hill, the upbeat charlatan who promises to teach a small-town boys band by the "think system." But it's the part Preston was born to play and the one for which he will always be best remembered. Composer Meredith Willson based The Music Man on his own small-town Midwestern boyhood, circa 1912, a quasi-mythical place where the old-maid librarian looks and sings like Shirley Jones. The boy himself is an adorable Ron Howard, lisp-singing "Gary, Indiana." Willson's entire score, featuring a combination of... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Morton DaCosta - Scott Benson (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 23 February 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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One of the finest American musicals, this 1944 film by Vincente Minnelli is an intentionally self-contained story set in 1903, in which a happy St. Louis family is shaken to their roots by the prospect of moving to New York, where the father has a better job pending. Judy Garland heads the cast in what amounts to a splendid, end-of-an-era story that nicely rhymes with the onset of the 20th century. The film is extraordinarily alive, the characters strong, and the musical numbers are so splendidly part of the storytelling that you don't feel the film has stopped for an interlude. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Vincente Minnelli - Alan D. Courtney - Roy Mack DVD Release Date: Released the 06 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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