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Royal Wedding | 
 enlarge | Director: Stanley Donen
Actors: Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Churchill, Keenan Wynn
Studio: Good Times Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $4.98
Buy New: $1.35
You Save: $3.63 (73%)
New (46) Used (17) from $1.35
Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 38190
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.6
MPN: 81171
UPC: 018713811714
EAN: 0018713811714
ASIN: B00005B1YD
Theatrical Release Date: March 23, 1951
Release Date: May 15, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New! Factory Sealed 100%Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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Amazon.com
Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in this 1951 Alan Jay Lerner musical for MGM, directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The appealing story finds Astaire as part of a brother-and-sister act (along with Jane Powell) that travels to London at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. Astaire and Powell each find romances that threaten to break up the act, but that's mostly fun window dressing in a movie better known for some truly creative sequences made vivid by Donen, including Astaire's famous dance with a hat rack and his duet with Powell, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You (When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life)?" --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Wonderful Movie August 24, 2008
Denise C. Whelan (Staten Island, NY USA)
This movie is absolutely wonderful!!!! I love watching old movies, and this one is great. Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling!!! wow!!! They don't make movies like this any more, such a shame! All these wonderful stars are terribly missed!
Royal Wedding May 24, 2008
Kenneth L. Johnson
Fred Astaire's dancing is always great and the scene where he dances on the floor, wall and ceiling is unforgettable (How did they do that?). Jane Powell makes a great partner for him and Keenan Wynn's double appearances as Fred's London and New York representatives are funny.
Royal Wedding Review March 28, 2008
Lamby (Gassaway, WV)
If you like musicals, this is a must-have. Astair's famous dancing on-the-ceiling number. Real footage of the original Royal Wedding.
Great Musical! November 13, 2007
Rama Rao (Morgantown, WV USA)
Jane Powell and Fred Astaire star in this wonderfully directed musical as Ellen and Tom Bowen, sister and brother dancing team. After their act is broken up in New York they travel to England to put of their show. Ellen is a bit popular among men as she has several male friends; all of whom want to be her boyfriends. It is a bit of challenge for Tom to watch over his sister and make sure that she spends sometime practicing their dance routines. During their stay in London Ellen meets a charming British aristocrat named Lord John Brindale (Peter Lawford) and falls in love with him, and Tom meets a young dancer named Anne Ashmond (Sarah Churchill) with whom he develops romantic relationship. This movie is brilliantly directed by Stanley Donen, who is also known for directing some of the best musicals that include: Singing in The Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, The Pajama Game, and Kismet. The highlight of the movie is Fred Astaire dancing on walls and ceiling; a parody of himself by dancing with a hat rack and imitates Gene Kelly. The solo emphasizes his obsessive rehearsal habits when his sister is on a date. The movie is shot on a great set with excellent décor and costume. My favorite part of the movie is when Tom and Ellen run on street during the Royal Procession, after the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, to propose to their respective sweethearts; Brindale and Ashmond.
There are several numbers which are very enjoyable and the dance routines are great; "Every Night at Seven," dancing aboard a rocky ship, "How Could You Believe Me, and "I Left My Hat in Haiti," are some of the best routines of the movie. Jane Powell does her best to catch up with Fred Astaire as his dancing partner. Fred is always delightful to watch, Ginger Rogers was originally slated to play the role of Ellen, but circumstances forced the studios to cast Jane Powell: Highly recommended.
1. Gene Kelly Collection (Singin' in the Rain / An American in Paris / On the Town / Anatomy of a Dancer)
2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
3. Funny Face
4. The Pajama Game
5. KISMET
A Lotta Dance for Your Dime August 5, 2007
Stephanie DePue (Carolina Beach, NC USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The release of "Royal Wedding,' in 1951, fifteen years after the last of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films at poverty-stricken RKO Radio Pictures, finds many changes from Astaire's previous work. He's now at powerhouse MGM Studios, where they boasted of more stars than there were in heaven. Where musicals were a specialty-- after all, they had Stanley Donen, a talented director of musicals, though they didn't have Ginger Rogers -- and where all pictures, let alone musicals, were in brightly saturated color. So Astaire costars with Jane Powell, an MGM starlet rather typical of the studio's post-war crop, in brightly saturated color; Stanley Donen contributes his usual artful direction. The whole thing, songs and all, is written by anglophile American Alan Jay Lerner, still five years before his smash Broadway hit, cowritten with Frederick Loewe, the anglophile's dream, "My Fair Lady."
Astaire and Powell costar as a successful brother-sister team of hoofers, just winding up a Broadway engagement in the dog days of summer. London calls, there's a royal wedding on, as Princess (later to be Queen) Elizabeth is marrying; and the pair is happy to hop the next boat crossing the pond. The plot actually follows real life: Astaire first achieved stardom dancing with his sister Adele; but she left the act to marry an English lord, as will the Jane Powell character. Peter Lawford plays the lucky lord. Keenan Wynn plays a dual part, the agent-twins, Irving and Edgar Klinger, one based in New York, the other in London, with, supposedly, the accents to match. (Something must have been lost in translation here, is all I can say.) Sarah Churchill plays the plucky Englishwoman who steps into the act as the sister's replacement. And yes, she's the daughter of England's great wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but, unfortunately that doesn't make her a great dancer. She's also too tall for Astaire, even in the flats she constantly wears, and they ain't got no chemistry.
But the movie boasts four terrific dance numbers, and two that are merely fine. Astaire's solo in the gym of the cruise ship is a knockout. His hotel room solo, up, down and around, walls and ceiling, has left generations gasping for breath. His "I Left My Heart in Haiti,' is a big, colorful, old school production number. And "How Could You Believe Me," his biggest duet with Powell, owes a lot to vaudeville, and even more to the American writer Damon Runyon: it's got charm to burn. Powell's a more than competent dancer, especially since scuttlebutt says she had no rehearsal time with Astaire before filming started. She also has a fine soprano voice: listen as she sinks her teeth into one of Lerner's trademark big ballads, "Too Late Now." And then there's the pair's opening duet, "Every Night at 7," and their witty dance on the turbulent, rolling ship. It's just a lotta dance for your dime.
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