Rebecca's Reviews (extended edition): Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
VHS - Rated G.

We say the word Musical like it's an apology. Like it's a bad thing that people burst out into song and spontaneous dance sequences. All these films want to do is make its audience smile, to whisk them away and to fill the world with maybe a few tunes to whistle or sing after the credits roll.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is like ultimate comfort food. It's not complex, it's not difficult but it's still delicious, still wonderful like a giant plate of home made macaroni and cheese.

Back in the day, this was one of the first movies my family owned on VHS. All because our local library had a copy of it. We got a copy of it in the days when piracy wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and watched it so much that we wore our tape out. Come to think of it, the copy at the library may be that very same copy that I fell in love with... So those of you who still have a VCR you're in luck!

Here's the Cliff Notes version: Adam (played by Howard Keel whose voice is as deep as the ocean and just as big) is a mountain man in the days of the Ingalls and the Trek West, who needs to find a wife. So he puts Wife on his shopping list for the next time he goes to town. Determined, he finds one in the feisty Millie. What he doesn't tell her is that he lives with his six other adult backwoodsmen brothers. Talk about a short honeymoon. She sets out to civilize her new brothers in law, and introducing a bit of culture to the backwoods. Hilarity and musical grandeur ensue.

This film is over fifty years old, but is still a joy to watch. Chock full of music, as any good musical should be, but the real stand outs are the pieces sung by the brothers --- particularly the Sobbin Women where the brothers plot to kidnap the girls they like in order to make them like them more. One track minds, little forethought and even less logic. But that is the way of the musical.

The Barn Dance