Royal Wedding (1951)

Director:

Stanley Donen

Writers:

Alan Jay Lerner (story)
Alan Jay Lerner (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 March 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Tom and Ellen Bowen are a brother and sister dance act whose show closes in New York. Their agent books...

Plot Keywords:

Public Domain | Dancing | Steamship | London England | Ballroom Dancing

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Fred Astaire	...	Tom Bowen
Jane Powell	...	Ellen Bowen
Peter Lawford	...	Lord John Brindale
Sarah Churchill	...	Anne Ashmond
Keenan Wynn	...	Irving Klinger / Edgar Klinger
Albert Sharpe	...	James Ashmond

Also Known As:

Wedding Bells (UK)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:F (Ontario) | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This is one of a handful of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions of the 1950-1951 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now apparently in Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices, by numerous VHS and DVD distributors who do not normally handle copyrighted or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer material.

Quotes:

Chester: Marriages are very healthy, sir. You see, married men live much longer than bachelors.
Tom Bowen: If that's true, they're only trying to outlive their wives so they can be bachelors again.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

I LEFT MY HAT IN HAITI

Astaironomically Brilliant!

Fred Astaire's gravity-be-damned four-wall dance solo was imbued with choreographic wonder and sprinkled judiciously with humor. He did it all because of a woman!!! Tom Bowen is a male dancer who is pure male but the most important woman in his life is not the one who had him defying gravity. It is his sister, Ellen: his equal on the terpsichorean turf. Their Runyonesque number was pitch perfect with lyrical precision provided by Alan Jay Lerner, who obviously spent quality time (physically or spiritually) with Damon Runyon. For the script and acting per se–with Keenan Wynn as a stupendous "double agent" –A Royal Wedding is worth the price of admission. Fred Astaire and Jane Powell give award-winning performances but their dancing puts this film on the top shelf of cinematic history. The hat-rack dance, the turbulent ship dance and–of course–the ceiling dance owe a debt to Ernie Kovacs, the man who dovetailed comedy, art, and special effects before George Lucas was born. Too bad "Kovackian" is such a cumbersome word. A personal aside: I was once invited to Alan Jay Lerner's Park Avenue home. The invitation came from the furniture company whose products Mrs. Lerner had ordered. AJ wasn't home. So be it.