Royal Wedding (1951)

"Royal Wedding" is a great movie for anyone who loves those big MGM musicals of the 40's and 50's and the dancing of Fred Astaire. Of course, the big numbers in this film include Astaire dancing with a hat rack, which only goes to prove he could make any dance partner look good, as well as the famous number where Astaire dances on the walls and ceilings of his London hotel room. The trick here, well known by now, was that the room was actually set up to rotate. What is wondrous about this scene is that Astaire never seems to have any trouble keeping his balance as this rotation is going on. He just looks like someone who is so much in love he is just jumping with joy from floor to wall to ceiling and back. Less mentioned is the number where he dances with Jane Powell on board ship in choppy waters as furnishings roll about, but it is also a charming piece of choreography.The plot is fairly simple. Astaire and Powell play a brother and sister song and dance team, Tom and Ellen Bowen, both of whom claim to be against any long-term romantic entanglement. They are invited to perform in London during the period preceding the wedding of then Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. While in England they both fall in love, leading to a happy ending for both but breaking up the partnership in the process. It's rather interesting that art loosely imitated life in this case, since Fred Astaire's long-running dance partnership with his sister Adele was ended when she got married to a member of the English nobility in 1932. It's also strange that this film was actually made four years after the royal wedding took place. By that time the royal couple already had two children. As for good supporting performances, Keenan Wynn is quite funny playing twin brothers who are theatrical agents on opposite sides of "the pond". They can't understand each other during their telephone conversations because, although both are speaking English, they are using the familiar expressions of their respective countries.From a technical standpoint, this film may either be in rather rough shape or completely restored if you see it, since it spent a long time in the public domain before Warner Brothers restored it in 2007. If you have the restored copy, I highly recommend it.

Fred Astaire and Jane Powell play a brother-and-sister dance team Tom and Ellen Bowen. The siblings get the chance of a lifetime gig; their manager(Keenan Wynn)books the team to perform in London during the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947. On the way to England, carefree and naive Ellen falls head over heals for a dashing Lord Brindale(Peter Lawford). Nothing real new, because Ellen seems to fall in love as the wind blows. While holding dance auditions confirmed bachelor Tom finds a romance of his own in a young dancer Ann Ashmond (Sarah Churchill). Will the dance team be broken up because of the new love interest? This song and dance musical comedy is very typical until the ever nimble Astaire does his incredible dance number on the ceiling and walls. A few of the memorable songs: "Too Late Now", "Ev'ry Night at Seven" and "What a lovely day for a Wedding". Kudos to director Stanley Donen and Alan J. Lerner doing his first screenplay. Can you imagine a royal wedding taking backseat to a dance team?

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.

This just misses the Olypic Gold because despite Fred Astaire being on top of his game he is lumbered with an inept leading lady and a wooden 'second' leading man. On the other hand Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane (later to team again on the Broadway Show On A Clear Day You Can See Forever) deliver a standout score including all-time Great ballad Too Late Now totally thrown away on Jane Powell, an an equally Great 'patter' number in How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life.The plot is wafer-thin and based loosely on Astaire's real life early partnership with his sister Adele, who actually did marry into the British peerage, and feature's a brother-sister song and dance team who travel to England at the time of the Royal Wedding, meet new partners and heigh-ho. If Sarah Churchill and Peter Lawford were passengers the compensations outweigh the cost of the freight in the shape of Astaire's two all-time great dance sequences first in the gym and later on the walls and ceiling of his London apartment. These sequences alone put this in the ten-star category and make it a Must for Astaire devotees.