Classic Film Guide

Royal Wedding (1951)

The first film by director Stanley Donen, though he'd co-directed On the Town (1949) with Gene Kelly, was written by Alan Jay Lerner (released the same year he earned his first Oscar for writing An American in Paris (1951), which featured Kelly in the title role). This Arthur Freed production stars Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, replacing Judy Garland who was finally fired by MGM management for repeatedly missing or delaying rehearsals. Except for a couple of memorable sequences featuring Astaire's unique talent, one in which he dances with a hat-rack and another in which he dances on the walls & ceiling of a room, the only other noteworthy items in this otherwise average Musical are its colorful production numbers (one is staged on a rocking ship), the longest song title in a Hollywood film ("How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life"), and its Academy Award nominated Song, "Too Late Now". The film's title refers to its setting, in London during the Princess Elizabeth-Prince Philip wedding season.

Astaire & Powell (their only film together) play the brother and sister song & dance team, Tom & Ellen Bowen, famous for their stage show "Every Night at Seven". He's a confirmed bachelor who won't let love interfere with his work, she's a shameless flirt who refuses to be tied down, or give up the act. But Ellen meets another flirt, Lord John Brindale played by Peter Lawford, while Tom spends time with an engaged dancer in the show, Anne Ashmond (played by Winston Churchill's "actress" daughter Sarah), who's estranged from her American fiancé. Keenan Wynn plays twin brothers of different nationalities (?), American Irving & British Edgar Klinger, the Bowen's manager; Mae Clarke (uncredited) plays a telephone operator who connects their transatlantic phone call. Albert Sharpe plays Anne's pub owner father James; Viola Roache (uncredited) plays his separated wife Sarah. Multiple wedding bells (and a reconciliation), other than just the titled one, are predictably in the works.

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