Royal Wedding

MGM, 1951
Starring Jane Powell, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, and Sarah Churchill
Directed by Stanley Donen
Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Powell came into her first adult role at MGM nearly by accident. She replaced Judy Garland, who was still having personal problems, and Judy replaced June Allyson, who got pregnant and dropped out. Stanley Donen replaced Charles Walters after Walters had trouble with Garland. After all that trouble, how does the story of a brother-sister team who fall in love on a trip to England during the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip, Duke of Ediburgh, look now? Let's start on Broadway with the big number from the show Every Night at Seven and find out...

The Story: Brother and sister dance team Tom and Ellen Bowen go over to London with their show just in time for the big wedding, thanks to their fast-talking agent Irving (Keenan Wynn). On the boat over, Ellen meets handsome but broke Sir John Brinsdale (Lawford), who prefers chasing women to settling down. Ellen falls hard for him, but she has a different beau every week. Meanwhile, her brother has his sights set on lovely chorus girl Anne Ashmond (Churchill), but she's engaged to a man in Chicago. Tom turns to the Irving's veddy British twin brother Edgar (Wynn) to find out more about him...and make sure everything turns out right in time for that big wedding!

The Song and Dance: With Donen at the helm, the emphasis is firmly on the "dance" side of things. The wonderful numbers and charming performances by the four leads are the main reason to catch this now. This was Powell's first adult role, and she runs with it, more than matching Astaire in her acting and her dancing ability. Wynn manages to pull off his unusual dual role as the extremely different set of twins equally well, and Albert Sharpe adds authenticity as Sarah's crusty father, the owner of a local pub.

Favorite Number: "Every Night at Seven" is the title number of Tom and Ellen's show-within-a-show, the whimsical story of a prince who falls for a maid. He and Powell also get my favorite number from this, playing street toughs whose relationship has soured in "How Could You Believe Me When You Said I Loved You When You Knew I'd Been a Liar All My Life?" (Yes, the title is that long.) Powell sings "Open Your Eyes," but their dance winds up being more complicated than they thought when the ocean liner hits a storm and keeps rolling. Powell's big solo is the lovely Oscar-nominated ballad "Too Late Now."

Astaire gets three of his most famous solos here. He dances with a hat rack in a gym in "Sunday Jumps" while waiting for Powell to appear. "You're All the World to Me" has Astaire so thrilled with his feelings for Churchill that he's literally dancing on the ceiling of his hotel room. "I Left My Hat In Haiti" is a more traditional chorus number that has Astaire pursuing a beauty and his chapeau amid the colorful citizens of the Caribbean.

Trivia: The story was inspired by Astaire's relationship with his sister Adele in the 20's and 30's. They really were a popular dancing team who broke up when she married a duke.

So, how did they pull off "All the World to Me?" The room was actually a barrel. The camera and its operator were mounted to an ironing board that could move along with the room.

Sarah Churchill was the daughter of British prime minister Winston Churchill.

What I Don't Like: This is about as fluffy a story as you can get...and ironically, other than the pub and a couple of actors, there's not really much British flavor. It was filmed in its entirety in Hollywood. The emphasis on Princess Elizabeth's wedding also very much dates it to the late 40's-early 50's.

The Big Finale: A charmer with some lovely performances; worth seeing for the delightful musical numbers alone.

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so you can pretty much pick it up anywhere, usually for under 10 dollars.

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