Royal Wedding

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.

I love this movie. Good acting by Powell, Astaire, and one of my favorites - Peter Lawford. Unfortunately the transfer to DVD is very poor. I think the film is badly in need of restoring. Even the colour (such as the skin on Jane Powell's face) is not constant in the film while watching. I bought it because I felt I had nothing to lose. It was a good price and is better than my EP copy that jumps, if that gives you any idea of the quality. It's probably better if you get a chance to get a hold of a SP version of the video. Of course the DVD is nice as you can skip to your favourite scenes, but there are no extra features with this one. Fred Astaire's dancing on the ceiling routine is a real classic though, and the movie is definitely worth seeing! If you buy the DVD just be prepared to overlook the flaws. Also, just a warning that there are two DVD versions, one in colour and the other is advertized as B & W.*Note: Thanks to another reviewer, I found out that the best version of this movie was released by GOODTIMES DVD as it was digitally remastered. It is also sold by amazon, but be careful when ordering because there are quite a few different dvd releases of this movie. The picture in the Goodtimes version is much better than the other releases (and believe me I practically bought all of them before finding the best one, lol).*

"Royal Wedding" is among the top five or so of the great Technicolor musicals of the late 1940s and 1950s. For fans of the genre, it is not to be missed, and finally a decent-looking studio release is available. "The Belle of New York", on the other hand, is a different story.How do these misfires happen? You have the number-one musical-producing studio and number-one musical star of all time, a worthy partner, a supporting cast of terrific character actors, a pair of great songwriters, top pros writing and directing, and yet the result of their collaboration is this lifeless waste of an hour and a half. "The Belle of New York" is Astaire's second-to-worst movie, better only than the dreadful "Yolanda and the Thief". The plot is uninteresting, and Fred's character is perhaps, this time, just a bit too much of a wastrel to be sympathetic. The special effect of the couple floating and dancing in the air is too silly to watch without a little embarrassment, and the comedy gags don't work. One protracted dance number bringing to life the paintings of Courier and Ives (the Thomas Kinkades of the 19th century) goes on so long you almost forget what the movie was about. "Belle" is a genuine flop, without one memorable musical number, and no redeeming attribute other than Vera-Ellen's legs, which are finally shown off near the end.Buy this DVD package. You'll only watch "Belle" once, but you'll watch "Royal Wedding" over and over.

Much has been made here about how poor this DVD transfer is. Well, it isn't great, but it's no worse than the old VHS copy I have -- and, of course, it's a DVD. This is a cheap way to get your hands on Fred Astair dancing on the cieling, or dancing on a tilting ocean liner floor, or dancing with a hat rack. Pick up this disc and you even have the great fun of watching the genuinely dreadful musical number, "I Left My Hat in Haiti." (Consider that a bonus feature).I must confess, the DVD features ARE pretty bad. The scene selection drops you off in the middle of dance numbers. I don't quite follow the logic, but oh, well.Great fans will want a fully restored transfer with a ton of bonus features, and will be willing to pay for it. For the rest of us, this cheap disc is a way to get Fred dancing on the cieling for a very low price.

It's clear from reviews posted on here that many fans of Astaire's "Royal Wedding" have been disappointed and frustrated following the purchase of one of a number of third rate copies of the film which found their way on to the market following the lapse of copyright. Having viewed two or three of them, I shared in this frustration at the extremely poor reproduction of both picture and sound, and therefore offer a huge vote of thanks to Warner Bros for rescuing this neglected gem and restoring it to its former glory."Royal Wedding" is indeed a little gem from later in the legendary Astaire's career, and teams him (for the only time, I think) with Jane Powell, of "Seven Brides..." fame. For me, this teaming is a revelation, and Powell partners Astaire in some wonderfully witty and energetic song and dance numbers, such as the hilarious "How Could You Believe Me" and the sensational "I Left My Hat In Haiti", the latter providing a barnstorming riot of rhythm and colour as the film's musical finale.Throw in an amusing script, some excellent comic support from Keenan Wynn and Albert Sharpe, a couple of great solos from the master Astaire, and quality songs from Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane, and you've got a quality picture from Astaire's MGM phase. It may just lack that little extra special something that set "Easter Parade" and "The Band Wagon" apart as stand out classics from Astaire's MGM years, but believe it, it's still pretty darn entertaining stuff!Repeat: buy THIS edition of "Royal Wedding" which pairs it with "The Belle of New York", and NOT any of the other vastly inferior versions on offer!!!

A double bill of lesser seen Fred Astaire movies are both very welcome to DVD - as others have pointed out, this is THE version to buy of "Royal Wedding", the others available may be cheap but then they are unwatchable with excruciatingly poor quality.I've always had a soft spot for "The Belle of New York", some reviewers don't seem to care for it that much, but I've always found it most enjoyable. I thought Vera Ellen complimented Fred's style very well, the most enjoyable routine for me was "Ooops", danced as Fred and Vera ride a trolley car. Vera's solo routine, "Naughty but nice" is also great fun. Alice Pearce has a good comedy cameo role as another Salvation Army lass, the film is beautiful to look at with glamourous costumes and settings and really does deserve to be better known."Royal Wedding" is equally entertaining, Jane Powell shines in her first "grown-up" role as Fred's sister and her singing of the beautiful ballad "Too late now" to Peter Lawford as they romantically walk beside a river bank deservedly turned it into a big hit. It's a lovely, lovely song that you easily remember and find yourself humming, a real high light of the film.The intriguing routine where Fred dances on the ceiling as he celebrates his love for his new girl friend, played by Sarah Churchill, has been much discussed and is always a joy to watch. This DVD includes a short, and very interesting, documentary about the making of the film and the secret of the filming of this dance is fully described.This DVD release features interesting extras on each disc, MGM cartoons and original trailers, and is technically well up to par. Good picture quality, although I did find the audio level on "Royal Wedding" to be a little low, but it's only a minor quibble. This release is, however, region 1 coded so make sure you can play it before ordering.Another DVD I can thoroughly recommend to lovers of Hollywood musicals from the golden age - they don't come much better than this!

Royal Wedding is my favorite Astaire musical, and till now I have been very disappointed with the quality of any DVD purchased.This [REGION 1 NTSC] DVD produced on the "Diamond Entertainment" label has been FULLY RESTORED WITH AN ENHANCED DIGITAL MASTER. There are also some nice extras on this DVD.I have a 52" Plasma TV and multi region Sony DVD player that picks out all faults in a DVD, and I have to say that for the first time Royal Wedding looks & sounds great.The reason it's 4 not 5 stars are that the titles are the originals, and not restored. If they had restored the titles had been restored it would be 5.

This is a nice movie featuring the absolutely remarkable number where Astaire dances on the walls and ceiling of his room--this is still amazing even now when we are used to seeing these sorts of things thanks to CGI. Several other great dances and some very pretty songs sung by Jane Powell.Unfortunately, this Elstree Hill Entertainment DVD is absolutely dreadful: a bad, foggy print and a soundtrack that sounds as if it was recorded in a box. Really disappointing and frankly pathetic. Amazon should refuse to sell anything from this company.

Having noted some of the other reviews I decided on the "American Pop Classics" version in hopes that the "digitally remastered" claim on the box would mean just that. If it has been remastered, I'd hate to have seen the original. The picture and sound quality are truly awful. Very suspicious that at the start the MGM lion is missing and the movie commences with the title. A huge disappointment - DO NOT BUY. Although I don't really want the other film, it seems from the reviews that the Royal Wedding/Belle of New York package is a better bet.