Waste of time

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Just rewatched this public domain M-G-M musical on Netflix Streaming. How disappointing I was to see a close to wretched print there instead of a restored one that I read was available on the Warner DVD. Still, I once again enjoyed seeing Fred Astaire dance on the ceiling in his declaring his love for Sarah Churchill. I loved seeing him dance with a hat rack. And I was overjoyed to see his dances with Jane Powell whether on a ship during a storm making for some hilarious encounters with inanimate objects, pretending to be a king and maid, employing some Latin rhythms in a Haiti sequence, or doing a roaring '20s number to "How Can You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life". And while I've always known Fred to also be a pretty good singer, Powell isn't so bad either though her operatic voice isn't something I'm a big fan of. Keenan Wynn also provides some amusement as both their manager Irving Klinger and his English brother Edgar especially when a split screen is made when they call each other. The romantic subplots involving Astaire/Churchill and Powell/Peter Lawford didn't involve me too much so I'm glad they don't dominate too much of the story. And how awesome to see the footage of the wedding of then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on this, her Diamond Jubilee year as Queen of England. So on that note, Royal Wedding gets a high recommendation from me.

This is a movie loosely based on Fred Astaire and his sister who used to dance with Fred until she married royalty. Jane plays his sister in the movie. It is believable to me even though Fred was in his 50's and Jane was 21. Fred and Jane basically tour the world and entertain with their song and dance. Fred does some of the most memorable dances as a solo act in the film. He does the dance with the wooden coat rack. He also does my all time favorite where he dances on all sides of a room. He and Jane do a couple of really original song and dance scenes. The first one is where they sing and dance on a ship as it goes thru a storm. They slip and slide around in an entertaining scene. This scene actually happened to Fred and his real life sister. They also do a funny vaudeville-like scene where they stomp on each other. Winston Churchill's daughter plays Fred's love interest and Peter Lawford plays Jane's. Keenan Wynn is his usual funny self in a dual role.

American brother and sister song-and-dance act sets sail for England after their manager gets them a London booking on the eve of Princess Elizabeth's royal nuptials. Stereotypical Brits litter the phony, contrived scenario (one waits--not in vain--for the first "Jolly good show!" or the proverbial walk in the fog). In the leads, Fred Astaire and Jane Powell are a perky, polite sibling pair; she puts her Yankee beaus on hold to be romanced by a bird-chasing Lord (Peter Lawford, as British a Lord as M-G-M could buy) while Fred fancies Sarah Churchill, a performer whose idea of romance is to dance on the ceiling (cue the next musical number!). Astaire dances (very well) and acts (not so well), while Jane hits the high notes. It's rather a dismaying picture without a single good song. Even Mr. Astaire's solo numbers look like flagrant chapter stops in the bland action. ** from ****

ROYAL WEDDING was a colorful and splashy MGM musical that turned out to be one of Fred Astaire's best offerings, despite the initial trouble insuring a leading lady for the project. The film was originally planned for Fred and June Allyson, who had to drop out when she learned she was pregnant. Judy Garland was then approached, as the studio had been anxious to reunite her with Astaire since their triumph in EASTER PARADE, but Judy began her now-famous behavior patterns of showing up late on the set all the time or not at all, and Astaire was not having that, so Jane Powell was finally brought in to take the role. Astaire and Powell play Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother and sister song and dance team who have been tapped to perform at a royal wedding in London (I believe it's the Queen who has requested they perform), so they take a cruise ship to London. On the ship Ellen meets a debonair playboy (Peter Lawford) and at the London auditions, Tom falls for a dancer (Sarah Churchill)who he casts in the chorus of his show. This breezy plot provides the backdrop for several showstopping numbers, the most famous of which is "You're all the World to Me" in which Astaire, while staring at a photo of Churchill, is so head over heels in love that he dances on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Movie historians have argued for years about how this scene was done and frankly, I don't care...it's such a joyous expression of love through dance that nothing else really matters. Astaire also has a solo called "Sunday Jumps" where his partner is a hat rack and, as always, Fred makes his partner look good. There's also a showstopping duet with Astaire and Powell called "How Could you Believe me when I said I loved you when you know I've been a liar all my life?" which features Fred as a slick gangster and a surprising Powell, as a brunette, gum-chewing floozy. Liner notes from the soundtrack album claim that this song was written by composers Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane in a limo on the way to the studio one day. Despite a wooden performance from Sarah Churchill, daughter of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, this musical is a joy and one of the best from the MGM stable.