Cinema Sunday: Brigadoon

Today is Sunday, June 16th and it’s Father’s Day here in the United States.

I know I will NOT be receiving any kind of card or gift from my wife to commemorate the day. 

 

Because Andrea gave me a card and gift for Father’s Day last week. 

 

Why last week? Because she thought last Sunday was Father’s Day.

 

Now before we make fun of her for that mistake, I will confess I graciously accepted her gift for Father’s Day because I too thought last Sunday was Father’s Day. 

 

It was only the next day while watching TV and I began wondering why are all of these commercials and promotions for Father’s Day AFTER Father’s Day that I took a moment to investigate the matter.

 

June 16th, not the 9th, was Father’s Day.

 

Andrea is now worried something is wrong with her brain because of this and my also thinking June 9th was Father’s Day offers no assurance.

 

Because we all know there’s something wrong with my brain.

 

Enough of all that.

 

It’s time for Cinema Sunday.

This week’s movie is from 1955, stars Gene Kelly, Cyd Charrisse & Van Johnson and it’s call Brigadoon.   

 

Brigadoon is a town in Scotland that is also not in Scotland.

 

Every 100 years, the town coalesces out of the mists to exist for a day and vanishes again.  

 

It’s time for Brigadoon’s 20th century appearance just as a couple of hunters from America come wondering by, Tommy (Gene Kelly) and Jeff (Van Johnson).  

 

Jeff is grumpy as to why they had to come all the way to Scotland to shoot stuff. There are perfectly good American deer wondering around the Adirondacks.

Tommy is gloomy, needing to put as much distance between him and New York City, his marketing job and a fiancé he might not actually be in love with. 

 

The two men get lost and looking to get their bearings, find a village that is not on their map. 

Greeting them on the outskirts of town is the lovely Fiona. Tommy (Fiancé? What fiancé?) immediately falls in love with Fiona because she's played by Cyd Charisse.

(That's pretty much the extent of it.)    

 

The village is weird, a place out of time. Everyone is dressed and behaving as if it was 300 years ago or something.  

Because it is. 

Time for Mr. Plot Exposition! 

• It seems to protect them from the evils of the world, the village priests prayed extra super duper hard and Brigadoon was granted a miracle.
• Brigadoon disappears into the mists for a hundred years to reappear for a day. Each day in Brigadoon is 100 years in the real world.  
• Thus Brigadoon is protected from the evils of the world. And also protected from advancements in indoor plumbing. 
• An outsider can join the village but only if they are willing to forego completely the outside world and if they truly and deeply love someone in the village. For such compelling reasons like they're really hot and look like Cyd Charisse.
• However if someone from the village leaves, Brigadoon will disappear forever.  

Everybody got that? Good! Thank you, Mr. Plot Exposition! 

One disgruntled villager wants to leave and the other villagers try to stop him. Jeff stops the disgruntled villager by shooting him. His reasons are three-fold.

• Jeff is American.
• He has a gun.
• He is drunk.  

Meanwhile, Tommy wants to stay in Brigadoon because...  Fiona is so HOT, dude!  But...

Jeff gets in Tommy's head, makes him second guess himself and so they leave. 

And Brigadoon vanishes.   

Back to New York City!  Tommy is half-assing his marketing job and trying to ghost his fiancé.  (We meet  this woman and yeah, she is a babbling, shallow person but damn, I feel sorry for her. She deserves better than being treated this way by Tommy.)  

Damn it!  It's time to go back across the ocean and bang the hot Scottish chick!

Tommy returns to the spot where Brigadoon vanished and begins calling for Fiona.  Will his deep abiding lust love for Fiona be rewarded? Or has he missed his chance at true lust love forever? 

Spoiler: Tommy gets another chance. 

The end! 

OK, the concept is intriguing, the village frozen in time, reappearing for only 1 day every 100 years.  And the romance at the core of this fantasy, a love between 2 people divided by time is an engaging premise. 

I think Brigadoon is undone by the performances of it's leads or perhaps the script they had to work with.  I loved Cyd Charisse in It's Always Fair Weather but her role in Brigadoon is little more than set dressing. Fiona is beautiful and beguiling but there's no more depth than that.  

But it's Gene Kelly as Tommy who really undermines the show. He comes off as whiny and selfish.  Kelly does try to turn on the charm with that classic smile and his athletic grace but it seems that Kelly is going through the motions here, lacking in the emotional investment this role required. 

Or don't think about these things and Brigadoon is a perfect fine movie.   

French movie poster  

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Blog Bidness: the End of Cinema Sunday 

I have watched (and continue to watch) a lot of movies and having only one blog post a weekend to write about them was not enough. 

So in January I rolled out Cinema Saturday to help break the bottle neck of movies I've seen and wanted to post about.

But writing TWO film based posts a week is difficult. 

So I am changing how I write about the movies I've seen.  

I will start in July a new series of posts called Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post which I will post on Saturday. On those occasions where I have the spoons to handle two posts, I will post a 2nd Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post on Sunday.    

I will continue to share my love of movies but under a more manageable plan.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.