Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1954.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1954.

Before watching the movie:

I’ve heard of this movie, and the basic synopsis, but I never got the impression it was a musical. So I don’t know much of anything. I’d even forgotten until I looked it up that the reason it reminds me of the legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women is because it’s based on it.

When I think of frontier musicals, I think of the infamy of Paint Your Wagon. Which I haven’t actually seen and would probably like better than its reputation.

I think Howard Keel wore the same mustache that’s pictured in the last movie I saw him in. I think I’d like him better without it.

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Show Boat

September is Stage Musicals Lunar Cycle

Show Boat. Universal Pictures 1951.

Before watching the movie:

Things I know about this movie: there’s a boat. Shows happen upon it. Old Man River keeps rolling along (deeper than you’d think the human voice can go).

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The Man in the White Suit

The Man in the White Suit. Ealing Studios 1951.

Before watching the movie:

I’d heard about the premise of this movie before, but I never considered the idea that it might be a comedy. Alec Guinness leading a comedy sounds like the sort of idea Leslie Nielsen leading Airplane! was: a serious actor playing the straight man. However, the blurb describes him as “impish”, so I’m highly intrigued.

I also hadn’t realized until I started filing this post into categories that I’ve never done a movie from the 1950s. Now I just need to review Birth of a Nation and a Charlie Chaplin film, and I’ll have the entire span of feature-length movies represented (at least I assume the medium was too new to tell stories that long before 1910).

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