| Royal Wedding | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Stanley Donen |
| Written by | Alan Jay Lerner |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Robert Planck |
| Edited by | Albert Akst |
| Music by | Burton Lane(music) Alan Jay Lerner(lyrics) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Loew's, Inc. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 93 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.7 million[2] |
| Box office | $3.9 million[2] |
Royal Wedding is a 1951 Americanmusicalcomedy film directed byStanley Donen, and starringFred Astaire andJane Powell, with music byBurton Lane and lyrics byAlan Jay Lerner. Set in 1947London at the time of thewedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, the film follows an American brother-sistersong anddance duo who, while performing, each fall in love — he, with a female dancer, and she, with an impoverished but well-connected nobleman. The film marked Donen's second directorial feature. It was released asWedding Bells in the United Kingdom.[3]
Royal Wedding is one of several MGM musicals thatentered the public domain because the studio failed to renew thecopyright registration in the 28th year after its publication.[4]
The story sees brother and sister Tom and Ellen Bowen as stars of a showEvery Night at Seven, aBroadway success. They are persuaded to take the show to London, capitalizing on theimminent royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten.
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On the ship, Ellen meets and quickly falls in love with the impoverished but well-connected Lord John Brindale. Whilst casting the show in London, Tom falls in love with a newly engaged dancer, Anne Ashmond. Tom assists Anne in reconciling her estranged parents and also asks his agent to locate Anne's supposed fiancé inChicago – only to discover that he's married and therefore Anne is free to do what she likes.
Carried away by the emotion of the wedding, the two couples decide that they will also be married that day. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Tom's London agent, Edgar Klinger, who knows someone in the Archbishop's office who can cut through the official red tape and also has a cooperative minister in his pocket, Anne and Tom, and Ellen and John, are in fact married on the royal wedding day.
Stanley Donen andJane Powell were not part of the film's original crew and cast; former dancerCharles Walters was the film's original director, withJune Allyson as Astaire's co-star.[1]Judy Garland was then signed as Ellen due to Allyson's pregnancy, over the objection of Walters who had spent a year-and-a-half nurturing her through her previous film,Summer Stock. Instead of listening to Walters' objection,Arthur Freed brought in Donen as director; Garland, who during rehearsal worked only half-days, started calling in sick asprincipal photography was to begin. Her behavior prompted Freed to replace her with Jane Powell and suspend Garland. According to Garland biographer Gerold Frank, she was despondent about her career and personal life and she asked MGM to be released from her contract. MGM agreed and the contract that had begun in 1935 was abrogated on September 28, 1950.[1][5]
Principal photography took place in 1950, from July 6 to August 24; retakes took place in mid-October.[1]
The scene featuring the song "You're All the World to Me" was filmed by building a set inside a revolving barrel and mounting the camera and its operator to anironing board which could be rotated along with the room.[1] Astaire danced in the barrel set as if he really danced on the wall and ceiling. It inspired theLionel Richie song "Dancing on the Ceiling" with the music video featuring Richie doing the same room dance as a tribute to Astaire.
The songs inRoyal Wedding were written byBurton Lane (music) andAlan Jay Lerner (lyrics). The dances were choreographed byNick Castle.[6]
According to MGM's records, the film earned $2,548,000 in the US and Canada and $1,354,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit to the studio of $584,000.[2] The film was listed byVariety as one of the top box office hits of 1951.[10]
Upon its release,Bosley Crowther inThe New York Times wrote that the film had "a lively lot of dancing and some pleasantly handled songs"; according to Crowther, "Mr. Astaire has fared better in his lifetime - and he has also fared much worse."[11]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,Royal Wedding had a 91% approval rating based on 23 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Vintage MGM musical stuff, characterized by Stanley Donen's fleet direction and some amazing dance performances from star Fred Astaire."[12]
"Too Late Now" was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Original Song at the24th Academy Awards, losing the award to "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" byHoagy Carmichael andJohnny Mercer, which featured inHere Comes the Groom.
The film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
In 2007,Warner Home Video releasedRoyal Wedding in a DVD set as part of its "Classic Musicals From The Dream Factory" series, along with "three fine-but-unexceptional films directed byNorman Taurog" and two other films:The Belle of New York andThe Pirate.[15]
The film was later featured in anepisode ofCinema Insomnia.[16] It is also distributed through Corinth Films.[17]
The songs listedabove were published by MGM on an early 10 inchlong play record recorded at 33⅓ rpm (MGM E-543).
The song "Sunday Jumps" was referenced byMel Gibson inWhat Women Want and byDavid Byrne in theTalking Heads concert filmStop Making Sense. "Sunday Jumps" was also parodied byKermit the Frog inThe Great Muppet Caper.[citation needed]
Notes
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