Royal Wedding (1951) User Reviews

A great musical that long languished in the public domain

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 25 June 2015]

"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.

Feel good fluffiness

[Incalculacable · 7/10 · 5 February 2006]

If you like lighthearted, fluffy, feel-good films then this movie could be up your alley. The dancing is superb and very creative, and the singing from both Jane Powell and Fred Astaire is wonderful. Jane Powell is amazing in her role, very convincing. Fred Astaire shines as well. The only things wrong with this movie is a) as other people have commented, is the boring love interests. They seem very wooden, there's no chemistry, they don't sing and dance. Basically, they suck and could have been much better casted. The second thing is that a few of the songs are pretty boring, but I loved "Too Late Now" and "How could I believe you.." Very clever. Great dancing, great stars, beautiful costumes, great acting (from Jane Powell and Fred Astaire) and lovely songs! I really enjoyed watching this movie.

Invitation to the Dance...

[Lejink · 7/10 · 20 December 2007]

Typically enjoyable Fred Astaire vehicle from the 50's and if not on a par with the wonderful "The Bandwagon", "Royal Wedding" certainly deserves a podium position for its vibrant colours (in some scenes, you almost think you're seeing all seven colours of the rainbow in the shot!), fine cinematography (London is faithfully rendered with cobbled streets, red buses and postboxes, even a pea-souper before the "Clean Air" Act was passed later in the decade), topped of course by Astaire's superb dancing. Okay, he's way too old to be Jane Powell's brother and the plot is wafer thin as per usual with Fred's flicks, but his dancing both solo, including the celebrated "Dancing on the Ceiling" scene (later updated by director Donen in the 80's for pop star Lionel Richie's hit song of the same name), but including almost as good scenes dancing with the ship's gym equipment and in another scene, the room furniture, including his hatstand and in concert with the young vibrant Powell, he shines. She can dance by the way... The songs didn't quite connect with me apart from the riotously funny "How Could you Believe Me When I Said Loved You when You Know I've been a Liar all my Life"(surely a country and western song-title from heaven!), but then Fred hasn't the greatest voice and Powell's light operatic warblings don't move me much either. In the minor parts, a young Peter Lawford lords it up, improbably, as an - ahem - English lord, while Sarah Churchill, the great war leader's niece, no less, seems a tad plain both in appearance and her minimal dancing efforts. The humour, centring mainly on the different takes on the languages from the US and UK perspectives, is somewhat forced too but maestro Donen exerts a sure hand at the helm, from the stylish "wedding invitation" titles to the fly-away pan-out shot over London at the close. A pleasant underrated musical comedy with which to while away an afternoon or evening.

You must see these great dancing sequences...

[Tommy-92 · 3 June 2000]

Of course, there is Fred Astaire's delightful, legendary, innovative dance on the ceiling and his dance with a hatrack in the gym, both of which are great. But then there are also his delightful partnerings with Jane Powell, playing his Adele Astaire-esque sister and dancing partner. These include the opening number, "Every Night At Seven," their cute little attempt to dance aboard a rocky boat, and the dynamite "How Could You Believe Me, etc." AND "I Left My Hat in Haiti." Powell, known mostly for her operetic soprano that never quite seems to match her speaking voice, (and which can also be heard in a few forgettable songs here) rivals Ginger Rogers in her ability to keep up with Astaire and match him every step of the way. Not to be missed if you love musicals, dancing in musicals, and/or Fred Astaire dancing in musicals.

As for the rest of the film, the plot is thin as expected but breezes along smoothly. The characterizations of the English are silly caricatures. (Alan Jay Lerner wrote the screenplay and lyrics, but remember, this was five years before "My Fair Lady") Keenan Wynn does okay with the double role of an American agent and his British twin counterpart, though. Peter Lawford is Powell's English honey bun. (In real life, Adele Astaire did leave dancing when she married an English lord) And yes, that is Sarah Churchill, Winston's daughter, as about the only romantic partner of Fred's on film that was his own age.

An Unexpected Team

[ykwms · 7/10 · 6 February 2000]

Jane Powell (as Ellen Bowen) was a surprisingly adept partner for Fred Astaire for those of us who know her best as a brilliant soprano songstress. She kept up with him, step for step. She's probably best known for her fabulous voice as showcased in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, but she brought in the wonderful tune, "Too Late Now," here in ROYAL WEDDING. Astaire was his typical debonair self, and his role is reminiscent of that in THREE LITTLE WORDS.

The plot of ROYAL WEDDING is easy to follow and serves as a great backdrop for Astaire and Powell and their respective musical talents. And yes, Sarah Churchill is Winston's daughter. Worth seeing more than once.

typical of one of America's great art forms

[cwietlisbach · 7/10 · 20 May 2006]

Typical Fred Astaire,in other words great entertainment.Over the years the listing of favorite Astaire numbers has become a favorite pastime of many. This movie contains more than found in any other single show. The dance with clothes tree and using the wall and ceiling are precious. However there is another that is never mentioned that is on my list that delights me no end. How could you believe me when I said I loved you when you know I've been a liar all my life is one of the gems of American entertainment. To borrow an opinion from George Burns. the American musical composers and the theater and movie industry in which they showed their wares is America's greatest contribution to world culture.Royal Wedding is so typical of years of magnificent productions.

The one with Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 7 February 2007]

So, basically everybody around the globe knows- and has seen the famous dancing sequence with Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceilings. But how many people actually know that, that sequence is from this movie? I'm surprised that a movie with such a famous sequence isn't better known.

In essence "Royal Wedding" is your typical MGM musical, with still a couple of extra pluses, that makes this movie distinct itself from the average, formulaic movie musical, from the same time period. Obviously the famous sequence with Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling is one of them but to me it also was the humor. Musicals really aren't best known for the well placed and original humor but this movie does a great job at providing a couple of genuine good and original laughs.

The story is kept simple and formulaic and above all also of course very predictable. The movie doesn't offer an awful lot of surprises but yet the story serves its purpose and that fits the genre just right.

There are a couple of great and likable characters in this movie, that help to make the movie an extra joy to watch. Fred Astaire of course steals the show with his acting and dancing but also Jane Powell as his sister was great. Not too happy about the casting of Sarah Churchill (Winston Churchill's daughter). No offense but she just isn't beautiful enough (she has got her daddy's looks, I'm afraid) for her part and also perhaps a tad too old. It just doesn't fit the genre.

The musical numbers are all well executed, mainly those by Fred Astaire. The sequences were however a bit too 'stagey' for my taste, although I should admit that the musical genre has just never been my favorite movie genre.

All in all an enjoyable to watch typical MGM musical, with a couple of more offerings in it than its fellow genre movies.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Even with its shortcomings, there are many delightful things here

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 28 May 2015]

Royal Wedding may not be one of the classic musicals and everybody involved have been in and done better things, but any fans of great choreography and dancing and Fred Astaire will find plenty to like about it. It does have a good shortcomings, that are thankfully outweighed by the many things that are delightful.

Starting with what didn't come off so well, the story is as thin as a wafer and occasionally loses momentum when there's no singing or dancing. The script is very commonplace, and while it mostly flows well, reads well tonally and has entertaining moments some of the comic moments fall limp and it's cringe-worthingly stereotypical in places(i.e. Keenan Wynn's slang). The songs and choreography are top notch, but the (slightly) clumsily staged finale was an exception. Two performances don't work. Peter Lawford has to work with a dully written character that often felt incidental to the plot, and he brings very little personality or charm to it. Even worse is Sarah Churchill, she is incredibly wooden here and doesn't ever look comfortable with what she's given. Her chemistry with Astaire completely lacks warmth, and veers on non-existent on occasions.

The production values are very colourful however, not quite lavish but very beautiful nonetheless, and the photography shows adept technical skills and very good attention to detail. The songs are great, with three being particularly memorable. One is the Oscar-nominated Too Late Now, which has a lot of emotional resonance and is performed with just as much by Jane Powell(though maybe Judy Garland may have given it more heft if she was cast). Two is How Could You Believe Me..., which benefits from some of Lerner's funniest and cleverest lyric writing and a genuinely easy-going natural chemistry between Astaire and Powell. Last is the infectiously catchy I Left My Hat in Haiti. The choreography is even better, there is so much energy and sparkle to it and the two highlights both feature Astaire and are among his best and most iconic. One being Sunday Jumps, with the most inventive use of a duet with a hat-rack you'll ever find in a film, and the other being his dancing on the walls and ceiling in his hotel room in You're All the World to Me which is the epitome of jaw-dropping.

Royal Wedding may not be perfect in the writing department, but it's not too slow-going(even those bits lacking momentum don't hurt the film that badly) and has an endearingly light-footed, good-humoured(though not always) and warm-hearted quality, in a way also that often entertains and never talks down. So while there are flaws in the writing, the spirit and tone are just right. The characters are not too original and Lawford and Churchill's are not interesting at all, but the rest of the characters are very likable and engaging. Stanley Donen's direction is very accomplished technically and in terms of pacing and balancing everything is very assured also. The performances on the whole are fine, Keenan Wynn is amusing and Jane Powell is a more than worthy partner for Astaire and plays her role with plenty of attractive spunk and graceful charm. But it is Astaire who is the main reason to see the film, he was one of the dance world's greatest and one of the all-time greats at interpreting songs in musicals. While he didn't have the best voice in the world, though it was still an above-pleasant one, his dancing is masterful and he exudes complete confidence.

Overall, has shortcomings and falls short of being great(like it could have been considering it had Astaire and was directed by Donen). But these shortcomings are far outweighed by the good things, and the good things are delightful and a good many. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The Happiest Day In A Lifetime

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 11 February 2008]

One of Fred Astaire's most charming musicals is Royal Wedding where as if taken from his own real life, he's part of a brother and sister act with Jane Powell. We never did get to see Adele Astaire perform on screen, but rumor has it she was exquisite in her steps and lovely to see. And like Jane in this film she married into the aristocracy.

In fact both brother and sister have their romances in Royal Wedding, Fred with none other than Sarah Churchill who was the daughter of a well known British politician. On shipboard Jane attracts the attention of Peter Lawford who was a member of the aristocracy and something of a skirt chaser.

All this is against the background of the royal wedding that took place in 1947 between Mr. Phillip Mountbatten and Ms. Elizabeth Windsor. Another reviewer astutely remarked this film was on the MGM drawing boards for some time. In fact it was originally meant for Judy Garland, but she had her breakdown and Jane stepped into the part. Despite all the British locales, the cast never left the MGM lot, footage of the real royal wedding and other London establishing shots were used.

Jane got three lovely numbers to sing, The Happiest Day in a Lifetime, Open Your Eyes, and Too Late Now, the last being nominated for Best Song. In fact Jane Powell had a unique distinction of having two film songs up in the same year for the Oscar, the other being Wonder Why from Rich, Young, And Pretty. I can't recollect another performer this ever happened to, not even her co-star Fred Astaire or Bing Crosby who did introduce the Oscar winning song for 1951, In The Cool Cool Cool of the Evening from Here Comes The Groom.

Songwriters Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner didn't do too bad for Fred either. Royal Wedding is famous as the picture in which Fred Astaire did his surreal dance on the ceiling. Thinking about his lady love Sarah, Fred, alone in his hotel room starts to sing and dance You're All the World To Me and ends up dancing on the sides of the wall and ceiling of his room. This was accomplished by constructing a set that turned with the furniture and fixtures nailed down. I can't fathom the precision it took to get that number right and retain the spontaneous look that Astaire's dancing was noted for. Fred also sang and danced I Left My Hat in Haiti and Every Night at Seven.

The duet that Powell and Astaire have is the longest song title on record to date. How Can You Believe Me When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life has Fred and Jane as a gangster and his moll. Astaire was fabulous and Jane more than kept up with him in the number.

When Judy Garland had her breakdown, her first public appearance after leaving the hospital was on a pair of Bing Crosby's Philco Radio Program where guest starred with Bob Hope as well. Judy did a rollicking version of the Liar song with Bing and it's the only instance where you can get an idea of what she might have been like in Powell's role.

This film was a favorite of my mother's, when we watched on VHS about 20 years ago, she loved Fred Astaire's Sunday Jumps number. This is a sequence on board ship where Fred asks to use the ship's gym for rehearsal and does a marvelously inventive sequence with the gym equipment even including a coat hanger. If there's an example of Fred Astaire's ingenuity in making his material look spontaneous this is it. It's well known the number of man hours he rehearsed to get that spontaneous look, but it certainly pays off here.

And this review is dedicated to my mother, a very big fan of this film. I can still hear her remark about how graceful Fred Astaire moved.

Astaire yes, Churchill No.

[Spuzzlightyear · 7/10 · 24 December 2005]

Royal Wedding seems to have it all, great dancing and music, a fun plot, and a somewhat great cast. I say somewhat, for reasons I will get into a little later (as if you haven't noticed by the title of my review). Fred Astaire and Jane Powell star as a brother and sister dance team who are tearing Broadway up and down with their ridiculous show 'Every Night At Seven" (What IS that show about anyways?). Soon, London comes calling, and they want their show. Powell leaves her many boyfriends behind and instantly falls for Peter Lawford who is on the ship to London (wouldn't you?). Soon they're in London, and Astaire also falls in love, with a British dame played by Sarah Churchill. Soon, they're wondering if they should get married or not and sacrifice their careers! I mean, it's romantic trifle, but it's GOOD romantic trifle. I'm a little surprised that this movie is in the public domain! This film has two of Astaire's most famous dances on it, the one in the gym and the props, and the one where he's dancing on the ceiling. Both of these are very well done, and just cements further, as if it needed any more cementing, that Astaire was the greatest dancer the silver screen ever saw. Jane Powell is also surprisingly good here as the somewhat trampy sister act. I liked her a lot. The BIG problem I had with this movie though, was just the horsefaced Sarah Churchill as Fred Astaire's love interest. Can't dance, can't act, I mean, how does a guy fall in love with HER? This was the only thing that was keeping this movie down.

Dancing on the Ceiling

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 6 April 2015]

After a successful run on Broadway, sibling musical team Fred Astaire and Jane Powell (as Tom and Ellen Bowen) are invited to play London during "the wedding season." This means participating in the 1947 "Royal Wedding" of Princess Elizabeth and her cousin Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (presently known as Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh). Romance is in the London air as Ms. Powell meets playboy Peter Lawford (as John "Johnny" Brindale) and Mr. Astaire meets showgirl Sarah Churchill (as Anne Ashmond). Sarah is the daughter of Winston Churchill (who, with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, was one of the "Big Three" winners of World War II). Churchill's daughter and the actual UK wedding are thematic, but less than overwhelming...

It's a surprise to find so many of MGM's "That's Entertainment!" (1974) showstoppers were from average musicals. However, the soundtrack is grand and includes three of Astaire's best numbers. Without the Astaire highlights, "Royal Wedding" is sub-par stuff. The romances are dull and Powell, while lovely, seems too way young to be Astaire's sister. As reported here and in other sites' trivia, June Allyson was pregnant with Dick Powell Jr., and Judy Garland was bitten by the buzz bug; so, the role went to Jane Powell...

First, watch as Astaire dances with a hat-rack in "Sunday Jumps". This marvelous routine made headlines in 1997 when digitally altered to feature Astaire dancing with a "Dirt Devil" vacuum cleaner. Friends of the deceased star, and many TV viewers, were appalled. Happily, the commercial was removed. Next, watch for Astaire and Powell sing the interminably titled, but delightful, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?" This song also returned Astaire to the record best-seller lists. Finally, Astaire and MGM's crew get him dancing on the ceiling in "You're All the World to Me". As anyone with a laptop knows, it's not a difficult special effect; but it's really Astaire, not a spinning room, that makes it magical.

***** Royal Wedding (3/8/51) Stanley Donen ~ Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Churchill

Trite Script, Colorless Love Interests, But OH! THAT DANCING

[Bob-45 · 9/10 · 14 April 2001]

I wouldn't waste the keystrokes to comment on the trite story in ROYAL WEDDING. Worse, Sarah Churchill can't dance and has no chemistry with Fred Astaire. HOWEVER, Jane Powell is WONDERFUL as Astaire's sister. She's even more impressive here than in the wonderful SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. And, OH! THOSE DANCE NUMBERS. Astaire's singles numbers are the BEST dancing I've ever seen in a movie. His numbers with Powell are equally marvelous. Great music, great songs. Forget the romance (and weak comedy with Keenan Wynn) and enjoy the music and dance. SUPERFINE!

Predictable stuff, great highlights

[dave13-1 · 7/10 · 15 April 2012]

In the decade following his triumphal comeback in 1948's Easter Parade, Fred Astaire played a succession of slight variations on essentially the same character: a lifelong bachelor and a successful Broadway hoofer putting on a show, who finds time for romance with a woman half his age. Here, he and Jane Powell play a brother-sister song and dance act who separately find romance while on tour in London. The parallel romantic story lines are pretty tame and familiar stuff, and anyway, this sort of movie flies or fails on its musical numbers and this movie has a few famous ones. Fred does an elaborate dance number using a hat rack for a partner when his sister fails to show up for a shipboard rehearsal; the two dance on a rocking ship to comedic effect in a parallel to an actual event in Astaire's life; and Astaire dances on the walls and ceiling of his hotel room in the most famous number in the movie. The latter was a technical marvel at the time, requiring the cameras and crew to be bolted to a rotating frame which moved with the room as it rotated, giving the illusion that the room and camera were standing still on the ground as Astaire went up the walls and across the ceiling! A few of the stage numbers are pretty good, too, although the film loses momentum when the dancing stops. Jane Powell holds her own alongside Astaire in their numbers together, although be warned: her song numbers come from the Jeanette MacDonald school of film vocals and can leave your ears ringing from their shrillness. Enjoy the production numbers and don't expect much in between and you will not be disappointed.

Dancing Great; Story Stinks

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 24 May 2006]

This movie features some of the most famous dance scenes by Fred Astaire, such as the one where he dances on the walls and ceiling.

That particularly dance is impressive because the special-effects made it look realistic. Kudos to the filmmakers for doing that in a film that is 55 years old. Astaire also did a clever number earlier with a hat rack and did two entertaining dances with Jane Powell.

The dancing was the only good thing in the film. Most of the story deals with romances between Powell and Peter Lawford and Astaire and Sarah Churchill. The latter look a little old for the normal young-romance type angles viewers are used to seeing in films. Facially, Fred looked like he had been ill. He just didn't look good. Powell looked fine but her soprano voice almost broke my TV tube. It was brutal.

Since those famous Astaire dances can be seen on "That's Entertainment" tapes or DVDs, there was no reason to keep this film.

Why isn't this film better known?

[Spleen · 19 January 2003]

I've only seen two other Fred Astaire vehicles: "Top Hat" and "Swing Time", the more recent of which was made 15 years before this. The improvement is remarkable. At some time perhaps in the 1940s Astaire appears to have been given a charm transplant; in "Royal Wedding", instead of coming across, woodenly, as a bit of a cad, he's a perfectly decent fellow, with all of the human impulses it's easiest to like and intelligence to boot. It's as though he'd been taking lessons from Gene Kelly.

If the earlier dance spectacles are not to be judged too harshly for merely marking time between the breath-taking dance sequences – and I concur, they should not be judged too harshly for this – how much less should this one be judged harshly, with at least four sequences likely to get applause (all four DID get applause, at the screening I attended): the bit where Astaire "rehearses" when his partner doesn't show up by dancing with and around the gym equipment (again, this is exactly the kind of thing Gene Kelly would do); the scene in which he dances on the wall, then the ceiling, then the other wall, then the ceiling again – obviously within a set like the one used in "2001", but Astaire disguises this by finding a different, natural-looking transition from surface to surface each time; the over-the-top "I Left My Hat in Haiti" number; and the superbly performed (well acted and sung as well as well danced) "How Could You Believe Me … etc." routine. Any one of these would be reason enough to dust a mediocre film off and watch it at least once.

But this isn't a mediocre film. It's not just that there are four strong numbers and no weak ones; it's that it DOESN'T merely mark time between them. One thing that this has in common with Donen's other films is its desire to entertain at every moment. It's a light film, even a facetious one… yet we can feel for it, too. There's nothing contrived or pointless about the complication that threatens to thwart True Love. (Whether or not this really IS true love is of course beside the point.) Tom likes the lifestyle of a bachelor, Ellen wants to preserve her career; both characters are genuinely torn for perfectly legitimate reasons, and in fact, there's no way for them to resolve their difficulties except by simply choosing, which is why the sudden, simultaneous decision to get married to their respective partners at the end doesn't feel forced.

I go to watch films I've never heard of and expect very little from, all the time. Why? Because every once in a while, I strike gold.

Fred Astaire's dance on the ceiling is still the highlight of Royal Wedding

[tavm · 7/10 · 25 June 2012]

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. Update-4/5/21: I just watched on Warner Bros. DVD a much better-looking print.

Iconic Astaire Dance Numbers

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 11 October 2013]

Tom (Fred Astaire) and Ellen Bowen (Jane Powell) are a brother and sister song and dance act. They travel to London to do a show. They do fall for people along the way, but the story is almost unimportant.

This is most noted for the dancing of Fred Astaire. He did a couple of iconic dances for the ages. In one, he's dancing with a coat rack in the exercise room. It's all about his gracefulness. The other dance happens in his room as it gets rotated. He's literally dancing on the ceiling. These go down in movie dance history. Astaire and Bowen do a pretty good ballroom dance on the ship as the giant floor starts tilting back and forth. It's pretty good but lesser known.

Jane Powell does some real old fashion singing. It's from another age. Although I really liked one song sung by Powell and Astaire, 'HOW COULD YOU BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAID I LOVED YOU WHEN YOU KNOW I'VE BEEN A LIAR ALL MY LIFE'. It's a snappy little ditty.

Fred Astaire Defying Gravity

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 6 April 2013]

Every night at seven, brother and sister Broadway team Fred Astaire and Jane Powell (who are 30 years apart in age!) wow the audiences with their magical chemistry. Now, with the royal wedding gaining worldwide press in London, Fred and Jane are booked there in their latest show and find romance among the festivities. They are so accustomed to working together that the idea of breaking up is a difficult thought to consider.

An enjoyable show biz musical originally created for Fred and June Allyson (and later Fred and Judy Garland), it ended up being the gorgeous Ms. Powell who slugged Astaire around in the unforgettable comedy number, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?". (I'd like to see how they fit that onto sheet music!) Powell's daintiness disappears in her black wig, Jersey accent and gum-chewing while saying lines like "You used to treat me like a high class dame" (teeth clenched of course). Then there's their dance on a rocking cruise ship crossing the Atlantic where everything but the ship's wheel gets into the way of their routine. And of course, don't forget Fred looking for his hat in Haiti where none of the chorus people playing Haitian natives are black.

So there's a great deal of minor things to gripe about here, but when you've got Fred dancing on the ceiling while singing "You're all the World to Me" (a song which sounds amazingly like "I Want to be a Minstrel Man" from the Eddie Cantor musical "Kid Millions"), you have a moment that in 1951 you know audiences were buzzing about even when they saw the original trailer before the film's release.

The funniest bit though comes from Keenan Wynn in a dual role as Astaire and Powell's American agent and his British twin brother, their split screen phone conversations as funny as Ethel Merman's conversations with the unseen Harry Truman in "Call Me Madam". This is without a doubt one of Wynn's best performances, stealing every moment he is on screen.

As for Sarah Churchill as Astaire's love interest, she only dances with him briefly in one audition sequence, and comes off rather ordinary, moments of charm coming through here and there. Peter Lawford's obvious playboy love interest for Powell is barely explored, one sequence in an old British mansion giving you a glimpse into his family struggles which is never explored. As for the royal wedding itself, you definitely see the procession, but there is actually never any indication of who it is, the assumption being the then Princess Elizabeth who had married a few years before and by now was the mother of two children.

Astaironomically Brilliant!

[neithernor2000 · 10/10 · 14 October 2005]

Fred Astaire's gravity-be-damned four-wall dance solo was imbued with choreographic wonder and sprinkled judiciously with humor. He did it all because of a woman!!! Tom Bowen is a male dancer who is pure male but the most important woman in his life is not the one who had him defying gravity. It is his sister, Ellen: his equal on the terpsichorean turf. Their Runyonesque number was pitch perfect with lyrical precision provided by Alan Jay Lerner, who obviously spent quality time (physically or spiritually) with Damon Runyon. For the script and acting per se–with Keenan Wynn as a stupendous "double agent" –A Royal Wedding is worth the price of admission. Fred Astaire and Jane Powell give award-winning performances but their dancing puts this film on the top shelf of cinematic history. The hat-rack dance, the turbulent ship dance and–of course–the ceiling dance owe a debt to Ernie Kovacs, the man who dovetailed comedy, art, and special effects before George Lucas was born. Too bad "Kovackian" is such a cumbersome word. A personal aside: I was once invited to Alan Jay Lerner's Park Avenue home. The invitation came from the furniture company whose products Mrs. Lerner had ordered. AJ wasn't home. So be it.

Silver Wedding

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 18 February 2007]

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.

Shut Up And Dance

[slokes · 4/10 · 10 April 2005]

"Royal Wedding" boasts two great dance moments. In the first, Fred Astaire softshoes with a hatrack for a partner. In the other, he literally dances his way completely around a room, from floor to ceiling and back again.

Alas, Astaire's A-game moments aren't enough to distract one from the pitfalls of "Royal Wedding," a thinly-plotted musical with uninspired songs and a cast that ranges from game to gamey. Using the wedding of England's then-Princess Elizabeth as a backdrop, the movie seems to suffer from a terminal case of Anglophilia.

Astaire and Jane Powell are Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother-and-sister dance team who gladly jump on a boat to escape muggy New York for London, not quite swinging yet but pretty festive what with all this wedding business. Soon, romance is in the air for the dancers as well, as she meets a British lord and he a dancer hopelessly holding out for her fiancé in America.

There's not much else going on here, which is too bad. For while a musical isn't expected to have complex characters or Mamet-style plots, it needs a little something beyond star power to get the audience interested in what's going on. "Royal Wedding" has Astaire and Powell, two terrific performers saddled with bland songs, uninvolving dance numbers, and romantic partners who make incest seem preferable for our heroes.

That's especially true for Peter Lawford, whose last name should have been "Principle" for it certainly applied to him. He plays a caddish lord who sweeps Ellen off her feet. Given that she seems to enjoy the sport of making romantic overtures to men she then abandons, it would probably serve her right to find herself victimized by a non-noble imposter, yet Lawford's character is on the square (he couldn't have played it any other way). Their romance follows a smug and uninteresting course.

Astaire's love interest Anne is played by Sarah Churchill, who dances pleasantly and doesn't look too bad but seems to be cast in an uncomfortably load-bearing role as a nod of American respect to her father Winston, a great man in my eyes but not exactly Michael Redgrave in the actress-siring department.

There's also dull comedy, much of it in the form of Keenan Wynn's dual role as Transatlantic twins who talk past each other in their unconvincing slang. "Dig?" "Pip!" Director Stanley Donan tries to work some humor in the dance routines, but having the Bowens shipboard shimmy shattered by a shaky shipdeck just doesn't work either for laughs or hoofing. Nor do all the nods at stereotypical Brits who say things like "Cheerio" and only seem to live for the chance of waving at the Royal Carriage. While Powell and Astaire do dance well together, the numbers just don't grab you like they should, technically brilliant, perhaps, but unengaging.

No, you basically have just two great solo dance moments in "Royal Wedding." The remarkable thing about the ceiling-dancing number, now that we understand the how of it, is how well Astaire sells it by playing with audience expectation. No sooner are you comfortable with him dancing on one side of the frame then, with a subtle movement to disguise the fact the set has now been turned 90 degrees, he finds another side of the frame to jump upon, looking as natural as Spider-Man in the process. The hatrack dance is even better for my money, an engaging number all the brighter because its presented as a low-key workout even as Astaire manages some more gravity-defying, without the aid of camera tricks this time.

Since one of these numbers later became a vacuum commercial and the other a Lionel Ritchie video, it's nice to see them here as they were originally intended. Even a bad film is redeemed when Astaire gets going, and he does. But otherwise this Royal Wedding is strictly a Camilla rather than a Diana affair.

More than Dancing on the Ceiling...

[Isaac5855 · 8/10 · 13 July 2006]

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.

Not among Astaire's best, but it still is terrific...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 28 May 2012]

The print I saw for "Royal Wedding" was super-ugly and dark. Apparently the film is in the public domain and lots of lousy copies are out there--including the streaming version from Netflix. My advice is to see if the copy from MGM/Turner Entertainment is better--it should be.

As for the film, the casting is quite odd. There is a 30 years difference in the age of Fred Astaire and his on-screen 'sister' Jane Powell. Because of this, the chemistry seems a bit odd and you can't help but being taken out of the moment. Too bad they couldn't have gotten Eleanor Powell out of retirement, as she was as close to Astaire's talents as any woman alive and she was much closer in age to him. Seeing these two amazing dancers together would have been a treat, as she was a match for his athleticism and ability to tap.

The film is a re-written account of the life of Astaire and his real life sister, Adele. They were a huge act in the 20s and 30s and much of the film is taken from their lives--including her romance with a British Lord. Of course, being a Hollywood film, it's also stuffed with lots of polish and subplots--and the real story is only a starting point! But considering most folks watch films like this only to watch Fred dance, who cares?! As for the dancing, the film has some very nice numbers. My favorite is the very famous scene where he dances up the walls and on the ceiling in his hotel room--quite the stunt. He also had a nice dance with a hat tree! While the dancing isn't as spectacular, I also enjoyed "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life". This song and dance number with Powell had amazingly funny lyrics and is the complete antithesis of what you'd expect from the classy and polished Astaire. While it sure ain't subtle, it is entertaining. As for the rest of the songs and Powell's dancing, they are pleasant but unremarkable. Clearly, the focus is on Fred's dancing in this film.

As for my summary, I certainly wouldn't consider this to be among Fred Astaire's best. This doesn't mean it's bad--but considering how amazingly perfect his films of the 30s were (such as "Top Hot" and "The Gay Divorcée"), this doesn't mean "Royal Wedding" is a bad film--it's quite enjoyable and has some great moments. Just don't watch it off Netflix or on a horrible public domain copy.

By the way, this film has one of the creepiest lines in movie history when, near the end of the film, Fred and Jane tell their handler (Keenan Wynn) that "We wanna get married". They don't, thank goodness, mean to EACH OTHER (ewww) but I could see someone thinking that!

Two stars for two Astaire numbers!

[hemisphere65-1 · 2/10 · 22 December 2021]

This is a terrible movie full of lame, forgettable songs, lousy acting, and dreadful dialogue.

Astaire appears to be Powell's grandfather, so it's preposterous that they are playing siblings; should have been father-daughter, but I'll bet Astaire was so vain that he refused to allow that to be the case.

Powell can't act, her singing voice is obnoxious, and her dancing adequate.

Astaire can't act, his singing voice is horrible, but his dancing is phenomenal!

The hat rack dance and the ceiling number are the only reasons to watch this garbage!

Even the awesome Keenan Wynn can't do much with this stinking script.