Last weekend for Cinema Sunday's Movie Musical May, I wrote about two movie musicals from the 1950's, one starring Marilyn Monroe and the other starring Jane Powell.
Well, I like to mix things up here in these Cinema Sunday posts.
So today I am writing about two movie musicals from the 1950's, one starring Marilyn Monroe and the other starring Jane Powell.
OK, seriously these are different movies.
For starters, 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes has Marilyn Monroe in a lead role as Lorelei Lee who with her best friend Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell) make a living as showgirls but their real occupation is having a good time with men. But these two friends have different tastes in men.
Dorothy just wants guys who are hunky and gorgeous and could not care less about the size of their bank accounts.
Lorelei likes a man to be wealthy to support her passion for diamonds, like her fiancé, Gus. Lorelei and Gus are planning to get married in France.
Which presents a problem for Esmond, Gus's strict father, who just knows Lorelei is just out for his son's money. So Esmond hires private detective Ernie Malone to spy on Lorelei.
Ernie sees some stuff that is not what it seems but makes Lorelei look to be as untrustworthy as Gus's dad suspects. Meanwhile, not knowing Ernie is spying on her best friend, Dorothy gets all hot and bothered over Ernie.
Stuff gets complicated.
Don't worry. Everything works out and after the movie ends, Lorelei and Dorothy will both enjoy legally sanctioned marriage approved missionary positioned sex with the men of their choosing.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is the movie where Marilyn Monroe shimmies and coos through "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in her iconic pink dress. It is a performance homaged by Madonna in her "Material Girl" video back in the 1980's.
In a scene where Lorelei needs to appear in court but can't, Dorothy arrives dressed as her friend and it's a major comedic performance as Jane Russell shimmies and coos her way through her testimony in a spot on Marilyn Monroe impression.
One thing that might get overlooked about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is the deep and abiding friendship between Dorothy and Lorelei. Whereas some movies might have put the two women in opposition over some man or some other damn thing, these two stay true to each and whatever problems they're having with men or money, it does not come between their friendship. They do have their occasional differences but they remain friends to the end.
Our next movie musical may be a bit less progressive in it's treatment of women.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a 1954 musical directed by Stanley Donen with choreography by Michael Kidd.
The choreography in this movie is amazing, energetic and inventive.
The story of this movie is...
Sigh!
Well, let's get to it.
In 1850, a backwoodsman named Adam (Howard Keel) arrives in an Oregon town to stock up on supplies. A list of supplies that includes a wife.
The town folks are aghast that Adam thinks he can pick himself out a wife as easily as buying a sack of flour or a jug of molasses.
But damned if Milly (Jane Powell) ain't up for the gig and signs up to be Adam's wife.
Wait until she gets to Adam's homestead and finds his six brothers waiting there: Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank, and Gideon. There are quite the uncouth and unwashed lot and Milly is pissed.
She's not there to be a wife to one man but a servant to seven men.
Did I mention the choreography in this movie is amazing?
So Milly makes the best of the situation and with some time, patience and hard work, she gets the brothers to clean up and act like they got some sense. She straightens them up enough that they are actually presentable to female women of the opposite sex so Adam and Milly take the 6 brothers into town.
Rule #1: do not get into any fights.
These young mountain men might be a bit rough around the edges and a little uncertain but they are courteous and polite and the only 6 available women in town take a liking to them. But the 6 available men from town don't take kindly to these rough neck interlopers and a fight breaks out.
Which breaks rule #1. Yeah, the town boys started it but still. Adam and Milly head back up the mountain with six sad and dejected men in tow.
A quick reminder that the choreography in this movie is amazing.
As winter starts to set in, the boys are pining away for the women they fell in love with. So Adam rallies his brethren that they should do whatever it takes to get their loves.
So the boys go into town under cover of darkness and kidnap the 6 women.
Really, there is some outstanding choreography in this movie.
OK, where were we? Oh yeah. Kidnapping.
A snow avalanche blocks the mountain pass and the women cannot escape back to town.
Milly is super pissed! Really? Kidnapping? Milly separates everyone. The women can stay with her in the house and the boys can sleep in the god damn barn.
Except for Adam who decides he's had enough of this bullshit and decides to ride out the winter in a hunter's cabin further up the mountain. And he's off.
Too late for Milly to tell him she's pregnant.
Man, that choreography just can't be beat! Awesome stuff!
Anyway, winter last about an entire year or something as the women kind of get used to their new living situation and they start to warm up to the six brothers again.
Despite, you know, the whole kidnapping thing.
So it's a whole Beauty & the Beast sort of thing.
With amazing choreography.
Milly gives birth, Adam returns and realizes he is a very stupid man. The snow finally melts as the menfolk come looking for their women and are distressed when they hear a baby crying. A minister who accompanied this rescue party demands of the 6 women, "Whose baby is that?"
The six women reply in unison, "It's mine!"
And the movie ends with a wedding and thus we end up with seven brides for seven brothers. Hey, that's the name of the movie.
Oh man! This movie.... what to say about this movie?
- Two of the three screenplay writers were women.
- The screenplay was based on a short story called "The Sobbin' Women" by Stephen Vincent Benét.
- That short story was based on the ancient Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women.
Somebody looked at this source material and thought, "You know, this would make for a really entertaining musical."
With kick ass choreography.
Seriously, the choreography is really good: the rapid fire movements of the dance at the social, the gymnastics on display during the barn raising scene that turns into a brawl and the slow, sad wood chopping scene as the brothers sadly reflect on their lonesome state.
The film looks good too with beautiful scenery and colors.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers can be a fun movie if you can ignore that Adam gets his bride like a commodity to be bought and his brothers get their brides through kidnapping.
Otherwise, it's all good.
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