Every night at seven, brother and sister Broadway team Fred Astaire and Jane Powell (who are 30 years apart in age!) wow the audiences with their magical chemistry. Now, with the royal wedding gaining worldwide press in London, Fred and Jane are booked there in their latest show and find romance among the festivities. They are so accustomed to working together that the idea of breaking up is a difficult thought to consider.An enjoyable show biz musical originally created for Fred and June Allyson (and later Fred and Judy Garland), it ended up being the gorgeous Ms. Powell who slugged Astaire around in the unforgettable comedy number, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?". (I'd like to see how they fit that onto sheet music!) Powell's daintiness disappears in her black wig, Jersey accent and gum-chewing while saying lines like "You used to treat me like a high class dame" (teeth clenched of course). Then there's their dance on a rocking cruise ship crossing the Atlantic where everything but the ship's wheel gets into the way of their routine. And of course, don't forget Fred looking for his hat in Haiti where none of the chorus people playing Haitian natives are black.So there's a great deal of minor things to gripe about here, but when you've got Fred dancing on the ceiling while singing "You're all the World to Me" (a song which sounds amazingly like "I Want to be a Minstrel Man" from the Eddie Cantor musical "Kid Millions"), you have a moment that in 1951 you know audiences were buzzing about even when they saw the original trailer before the film's release.The funniest bit though comes from Keenan Wynn in a dual role as Astaire and Powell's American agent and his British twin brother, their split screen phone conversations as funny as Ethel Merman's conversations with the unseen Harry Truman in "Call Me Madam". This is without a doubt one of Wynn's best performances, stealing every moment he is on screen.As for Sarah Churchill as Astaire's love interest, she only dances with him briefly in one audition sequence, and comes off rather ordinary, moments of charm coming through here and there. Peter Lawford's obvious playboy love interest for Powell is barely explored, one sequence in an old British mansion giving you a glimpse into his family struggles which is never explored. As for the royal wedding itself, you definitely see the procession, but there is actually never any indication of who it is, the assumption being the then Princess Elizabeth who had married a few years before and by now was the mother of two children.

Fred Astaire and Jane Powell play a brother-and-sister dance team Tom and Ellen Bowen. The siblings get the chance of a lifetime gig; their manager(Keenan Wynn)books the team to perform in London during the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947. On the way to England, carefree and naive Ellen falls head over heals for a dashing Lord Brindale(Peter Lawford). Nothing real new, because Ellen seems to fall in love as the wind blows. While holding dance auditions confirmed bachelor Tom finds a romance of his own in a young dancer Ann Ashmond (Sarah Churchill). Will the dance team be broken up because of the new love interest? This song and dance musical comedy is very typical until the ever nimble Astaire does his incredible dance number on the ceiling and walls. A few of the memorable songs: "Too Late Now", "Ev'ry Night at Seven" and "What a lovely day for a Wedding". Kudos to director Stanley Donen and Alan J. Lerner doing his first screenplay. Can you imagine a royal wedding taking backseat to a dance team?

So, basically everybody around the globe knows- and has seen the famous dancing sequence with Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceilings. But how many people actually know that, that sequence is from this movie? I'm surprised that a movie with such a famous sequence isn't better known.In essence "Royal Wedding" is your typical MGM musical, with still a couple of extra pluses, that makes this movie distinct itself from the average, formulaic movie musical, from the same time period. Obviously the famous sequence with Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling is one of them but to me it also was the humor. Musicals really aren't best known for the well placed and original humor but this movie does a great job at providing a couple of genuine good and original laughs.The story is kept simple and formulaic and above all also of course very predictable. The movie doesn't offer an awful lot of surprises but yet the story serves its purpose and that fits the genre just right.There are a couple of great and likable characters in this movie, that help to make the movie an extra joy to watch. Fred Astaire of course steals the show with his acting and dancing but also Jane Powell as his sister was great. Not too happy about the casting of Sarah Churchill (Winston Churchill's daughter). No offense but she just isn't beautiful enough (she has got her daddy's looks, I'm afraid) for her part and also perhaps a tad too old. It just doesn't fit the genre.The musical numbers are all well executed, mainly those by Fred Astaire. The sequences were however a bit too 'stagey' for my taste, although I should admit that the musical genre has just never been my favorite movie genre.All in all an enjoyable to watch typical MGM musical, with a couple of more offerings in it than its fellow genre movies.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

ROYAL WEDDING was a colorful and splashy MGM musical that turned out to be one of Fred Astaire's best offerings, despite the initial trouble insuring a leading lady for the project. The film was originally planned for Fred and June Allyson, who had to drop out when she learned she was pregnant. Judy Garland was then approached, as the studio had been anxious to reunite her with Astaire since their triumph in EASTER PARADE, but Judy began her now-famous behavior patterns of showing up late on the set all the time or not at all, and Astaire was not having that, so Jane Powell was finally brought in to take the role. Astaire and Powell play Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother and sister song and dance team who have been tapped to perform at a royal wedding in London (I believe it's the Queen who has requested they perform), so they take a cruise ship to London. On the ship Ellen meets a debonair playboy (Peter Lawford) and at the London auditions, Tom falls for a dancer (Sarah Churchill)who he casts in the chorus of his show. This breezy plot provides the backdrop for several showstopping numbers, the most famous of which is "You're all the World to Me" in which Astaire, while staring at a photo of Churchill, is so head over heels in love that he dances on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Movie historians have argued for years about how this scene was done and frankly, I don't care...it's such a joyous expression of love through dance that nothing else really matters. Astaire also has a solo called "Sunday Jumps" where his partner is a hat rack and, as always, Fred makes his partner look good. There's also a showstopping duet with Astaire and Powell called "How Could you Believe me when I said I loved you when you know I've been a liar all my life?" which features Fred as a slick gangster and a surprising Powell, as a brunette, gum-chewing floozy. Liner notes from the soundtrack album claim that this song was written by composers Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane in a limo on the way to the studio one day. Despite a wooden performance from Sarah Churchill, daughter of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, this musical is a joy and one of the best from the MGM stable.