#seven brides for seven brothers (1954)

[historical-hollywood]

Jane Powell as Milly lays down the law for the six youngest Pontipee brothers (clockwise, from bottom left: Tommy Rall as Frank, Mark Platt as Daniel, Jacques D'Amboise as Ephraim, Matt Mattox as Caleb, and Russ Tamblyn as Gideon, perched atop Jeff Richards as Benjamin) in these promotional stills for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).

[dimepicture]

[letterboxd-loggd]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) Stanley Donen

January 11th 2023

[readytospock]

meow

meow... meow?... meow!... Meow!... MEOW!... MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW!!! *almost gets hit over the head by a shovel*

[jasonsutekh]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Seven brothers who live in a remote cabin are in search of wives but their heavy-handed ways don’t impress the young women of the local town, or their families.

Several of the songs are at least amusing if not outright entertaining. Most rely on having a catchy chorus line or extended dance interludes. It was fortunate that after a while the men were differentiated with shirts of different colours that also contrast the townsfolk and woodland well.

Essentially the entire plot is deliberately sexist in which even redemptions are just rewarding unhealthy attitudes. Many of the more offensive and rape-like ideas are only fended off for a time by equally unhealthy religious doctrine which eventually leads them to get what they set out for in the first place as though it’s now justified.

It’s fortunate that the joviality of the movie wasn’t brought down by too much real violence, just hammy fist fights and mass kidnapping which are presented as comedic. There’s also a few moments of tactical conflict resolution which mark some of the very little development the characters receive.

In various ways the plot is similar to Beauty and the Beast, due to the kidnapping of women and the notable arc about Stockholm Syndrome setting in so that when the townspeople riot to rescue them they don’t want to leave anymore. It’s difficult to tell some of the characters apart at times but largely it doesn’t matter since they’re mostly just gender archetypes anyway.

3/10 -This one’s bad but it’s got some good in it, just there-

-All the actors portraying the brothers were chosen for their dancing ability except two, one of which was a singer, the other a former baseball player.

-At the start of “Wonderful Wonderful Day” birds take flight but one can be seen bumping into the backdrop.

-The brothers were made redheads mainly to distinguish them from the townspeople.

[sidonius5]

𝒯𝒽𝑒 1940'𝓈-1950'𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℐ 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 3 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓂𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓃𝒸𝓎. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓑𝓻𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑜𝓁𝓁 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓉. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝒸𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 ℐ 𝒶𝒷𝓈𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎. 𝒮𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃 𝑜𝒷𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝒾𝒷𝓁𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁 𝓃𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 𝒶𝓁𝓈𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒶 𝒷𝒶𝓇𝓃 𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝑒𝓁𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓈 𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓈𝑜. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎'𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑒𝓁𝓉 𝒹𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜𝓌𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝑔𝑜 𝒶 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝒻𝒶𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝒾𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 ℐ 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒, 𝓅𝓁𝓊𝓈 ℐ 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒶 𝓂𝒶𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽 𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓂, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒶𝓈 𝗚𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝗻 𝒶𝓀𝒶 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐲𝐧. ℐ 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝐌𝐫. 𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐲𝐧 𝒾𝓃 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓂𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓉𝒽𝓁𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸𝒾𝓈𝓂 𝓅𝓁𝓊𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒻𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓂 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝓂𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 ℐ 𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌 𝒾𝓉. 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓑𝓻𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁 ℐ 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓁𝓁 𝑒𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎. ❤︎

[studiob487]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Directed by: Stanley Donen

Starring: Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Jeff Richards, Julie Newmar, Matt Mattox, Ruta Lee, Marc Platt, Norma Doggett, Jacques d'Amboise, Virginia Gibson, Tommy Rall, Betty Carr, Russ Tamblyn, Nancy Kilgas

Genre: musical, comedy

Six brothers go to town to find wives after their eldest brother gets married.

Warning- so much misogyny!

I watched this movie July '22 and my head was spinning. I can't describe what I was feeling - I was laughing so hard at what I was seeing though certainly not for the intended reasons. I can't say I was totally surprised, because of where the story started and seemed to be leading. Still, I hoped by the time the kidnapping happened things would turn around but I was still baffled. I was yelling at my screen, "Oh please, don't - you aren't seriously going to-! Oh my god, you are! no, NO, NOOOoooO!" I remember feeling like, "damn, I really wish someone was watching this with me", and they could feel as ridiculous as I was feeling. I was gonna put this movie out of my memory because even sharing about it to friends the vibe I generally got back was, "...and you watch this shit?"

DomoDraperr@tiktok watches Seven Brides for Seven Brothers pt. 3

Saw the reaction above (love his 'Watching [_] being uncomfortable but not knowing why' series) and I was crying laughing. So yes, memories came flooding back. And here we are.

Yep, a bunch of brothers kidnap several women. Milly condemns it, and the movie itself sort of says it was a bad thing but only so far as, "boys will be boys" you know what I mean? And all the girls forgive and marry them by the end. This wasn't a few awkward comments; they kidnapped several women and even clobbered one of their suitors. Even though the lead male character, Adam (played by Howard Keel), finally learns what he did was wrong, it was in that typical "if it were my daughter-~" reasoning. Not so much as you shouldn't be taking away the agency of another human being. ... progress, I guess? ...

This movie was a surprise success at the time - as MGM was putting their money on Brigadoon. Critic reviews were positive, it was the 5th most popular film at British box office in 1955, AFI in 2001 ranked it #21 on a list for best musicals, and so on. Yes, quick wiki summary for you and the point is: a movie about a bunch of brothers kidnapping women wasn't controversial. My point is audiences were walking out on Sylvia Scarlett (1935) for a bit of "crossdressing" and more recently Rope (1948) was banned in some cities for being too gay (without ever directly referencing to homosexuality). I think that pretty much sums up US' priorities right now too.

This movie was based on a short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, "The Sobbin' Women", which itself was based on "The Rape of the Sabine Women" myth.

Anyhow, I'm not saying you can't enjoy it or you should feel bad if you do (let's just not try to pretend it isn't what it is). The music about the sobbing women is pretty damn catchy, if I'm being begrudgingly honest. The dancing is fun - even one rare negative contemporary review would admit. And another in '85 describes it as "profoundly sexist and eminently hummable".

I was definitely entertained - eyes wide open the whole way through. Whether it's for the right reasons or not, whether the 'right' reasons matter... up to you if you wanna see for yourself.

McSweeney's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Explainer by Devorah Blachor (2020)

[sheepwithspecs]

dance scenes that make me want to wear dresses more often

video link:

[historical-hollywood]

Howard Keel as Adam Pontipee poses with the six brides for his six brothers [top row, left to right:] Nancy Kilgas as Alice Elcott, Betty Carr as Sarah Kine, and Ruta Lee (then known as Ruta Kilmonis) as Ruth Jepson; and [bottom row, left to right:] Norma Doggett as Martha, Virginia Gibson as Liza, and Julie Newmar (then known as Julie Newmeyer) as Dorcas Gaylen.

Stanley Donen’s SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (‘54)

[adaptationsdaily]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

[chaoseclips]

Comfort movies!✨

Post 10 comfort movies and tag however many people:]

1 . Deep Sea (2023)

2. Coco (2017)

3. The Thief and the Cobbler (1993)

4. Luca (2021)

5. The Princess Bride (1987)

6. Ponyo (2008)

7. Monkey King: Hero is Back (2015)

8. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

10. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Tagging @cosmoshard @confuzzledhooman and anyone else who would like✨

[dimepicture]

[astonishinglysane]

Movies I’ve Watched - 2024

45/?: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) - watched 2/13/24

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. It has dated quite a bit, and has some problematic elements (although the movie is never on the side of the ones committing them), but it is still a fun watch. The dance sequence at the barn-raising is amazing. The choreography wouldn’t work in almost any other musical, but it is perfect for these characters. None of the songs are super catchy, but they get the job done.

[rogerdeakinsdp]

Cinematography by: Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC The Greatest Showman (2017) Directed by Michael Gracey Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

“Michael [Gracey] already had a very strong visual notion of the film, as he had been working on it for such a long time. He had created a range of digital storyboards and previzualised scenes to sell the idea to the studio. These were quite elaborate and took the visual look away from a photorealistic approach and more into the realms of theatricality, artifice and the magical imagination. They had a sort of handmade quality – the live action was to be blended with old-school, painterly backdrops, and other elements such as miniatures of the Manhattan cityscape.

We didn’t look at any other films about Barnum and his life. Rather we talked about developing a Technicolor-based look to support the artifice. We considered the effect of the two- and three-strip Technicolor process on colour in movies such as An American In Paris (1951, dir. Vincente Minnelli, DP Alfred Gilks), Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954, dir. Stanley Donen, DP George J. Folsey) and The Robe (1953, dir. Henry Koster, DP Leon Shamroy). The idea was to take the real and transform it into this vivid, imaginative, magical Technicolor realm.” — Seamus McGarvey, British Cinematographer

[best-movie-ever-tournament]

Seven:

Look it's definitely a product of its time. Inescapable commentary to be made about the heavy misogyny and... more than questionable relationship development (stockholm syndrome who's she?) But for some reason this goddamn movie musical just won't leave me alone. I've written college essays about it. When I was in elementary school, I hyperfixated on it so hard I could recite the script-- lines, songs, blocking, even do a good bit of choreography-- all from heart. I'd play that barn dance scene over and over when I was down, just to feel something. This film scratched an itch so deep in the crevices of my brain that I'm stuck with it for better or for worse.

Brigadoon:

SCOTLAND

[vintgies]

Jane Powell as Milly Pontipee Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) dir. Stanley Donen