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| re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 03:07 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 03:04 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
| In reply to: re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film - Michael_Portantiere 11:34 am EST 03/10/21 | |
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| The film as a whole is really a hilarious comedy about male/female relations and every scene is loaded with sexual innuendo. A couple of months after the abduction, the 6 girls (when not in Millie's presence) talk about how each has been sleeping in her boyfriend's bed every night and really enjoying it. At the end when the fathers arrive, each girl proclaims the baby is hers -- but wait a minute, the abduction (at the most) occurred only 4 months or so earlier, implying all had been engaged in carnal activity and (at least one) must have conceived some time prior to the (supposed) kidnapping. So was it a real kidnapping or a convincingly staged performance to hoodwink their puritanical parents? |
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| re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 04:25 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
| In reply to: re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film - BroadwayTonyJ 03:04 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
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| Your point about the timeline is well taken, but unless I'm misunderstanding you, the kidnapping is very much portrayed as real, not a staged performance that the women were in on. | |
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| re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 06:04 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 05:50 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
| In reply to: re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film - Michael_Portantiere 04:25 pm EST 03/10/21 | |
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| I just watched the scene on my DVD. Yes and no, the entire scene is done comically and is in no way realistic. It's actually described as "creative kidnapping" by the scene selection subtitle. 4 of the girls are actually being romanced by their unexciting town boyfriends when 4 corresponding Pontipees dispatch the losers in a flash and carry off their respective brides. Another girl gets swooped up while baking a pie, and the last one gets carried off while looking for her cat. At least two of the 6 seem "overjoyed" for a second (especially the one who gets kissed), but it's all too rough and heavy handed. Donen should have taken a lesson from similar situations in other films and done it stylistically and with wit. Have the girl be frightened at first but then melt into the guy's arms after a good smooch. It worked with Tyrone Power and Alice Faye in In Old Chicago, Errol Flynn pulled it off with Olivia de Havilland, Clark Gable with various women, but (best of all) Larry Keith with Susan Lucci on an episode of All My Children. The girls then go to the wagon willingly. When the pursuit and gunfire begin, it's too late to turn back. The ride to the Pontipee place is harrowing. When they arrive with no parson and they're stuck for the winter, the girls naturally greet Millie in tears. My previous post's suggestions then work because the girls' sexual fantasies are being realized. I think the audience could interpret the abduction as a staged performance if the girls then wink at the screen after claiming the baby is theirs. Lubitsch could have pulled it off. Donen should have re-thought the whole scene to make it work better. I've seen the film dozens of times, initially probably in the 60's. The abduction scene didn't bother me then because it was done comically plus the times and our culture were a lot different. Today it comes off as too rough and too scary. |
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