The dance numbers by Adam's six brothers and the women they have chosen are the main reason to watch this movie. They are enormous fun. The barn-raising dance and the "lonesome polecat" number are particularly exciting. These segments of the film really show its originality--the use of music and dance to advance the story as organic parts of the film.
In conventional musicals, the story stops cold while we take a break for a song or a dance sequence, which may or may not serve to interpret the happenings in the story. Not so in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
The "lonesome polecat" dance is really intriguing--slow, hypnotic, and dreamlike, against a stylized background.
Howard Keel and Jane Powell in the lead roles are nice enough. They're given songs that are not very memorable musically but have clever lyrics. But again, the real stars are the dancers.
The real problem with the movie involves the parts of the story where people are not singing or dancing. Some viewers have complained that these parts contain too much stereotypical Americana. I would go further and say that the movie presents a caricature of Americana.
We are meant to laugh at Adam's failure to let his new wife know that he has six brothers and that she will be living in the same house with them, cooking and cleaning for them, washing their clothes, and in general being their servant. Not so funny, in my opinion. Nor is the abduction of the seven "brides" later in the picture. The fact that all of these women readily come to enjoy their abduction is preposterous.
Feminists would certainly take offense at these depictions of women, but you don't have to be a feminist to find the story downright stupid. In the 1950s possibly people might say, "Well, that's how women are, and in any case it's only a movie." But none of the women I know are remotely like that, and thank goodness.
Nevertheless, it's a musical well worth seeing.
In conventional musicals, the story stops cold while we take a break for a song or a dance sequence, which may or may not serve to interpret the happenings in the story. Not so in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
The "lonesome polecat" dance is really intriguing--slow, hypnotic, and dreamlike, against a stylized background.
Howard Keel and Jane Powell in the lead roles are nice enough. They're given songs that are not very memorable musically but have clever lyrics. But again, the real stars are the dancers.
The real problem with the movie involves the parts of the story where people are not singing or dancing. Some viewers have complained that these parts contain too much stereotypical Americana. I would go further and say that the movie presents a caricature of Americana.
We are meant to laugh at Adam's failure to let his new wife know that he has six brothers and that she will be living in the same house with them, cooking and cleaning for them, washing their clothes, and in general being their servant. Not so funny, in my opinion. Nor is the abduction of the seven "brides" later in the picture. The fact that all of these women readily come to enjoy their abduction is preposterous.
Feminists would certainly take offense at these depictions of women, but you don't have to be a feminist to find the story downright stupid. In the 1950s possibly people might say, "Well, that's how women are, and in any case it's only a movie." But none of the women I know are remotely like that, and thank goodness.
Nevertheless, it's a musical well worth seeing.