It's 1850 Oregon Territory. Adam descends from the mountain into town to look for a wife. Tavern server Milly accepts the marriage and they return to his cabin. She is overwhelmed and surprised with not only Adam but also his six equally uncouth brothers. Milly decides that the brothers need a makeover and six brides to care for them.This is gosh darn G-rated old fashion song and dance musical. The premise can be dated although I can imagine a remake with some changes. The best section is the barn rising. It is rip roaring good times. It's fun and joyous. Despite the dated story, it's still very watchable. The major issue is trying to individualize the brothers and the brides. They tend to blend together.

I'm sure that in 1954, any thought of this being misogynistic was only noticed by the most extreme of early feminists, granddaughters of suffragettes who wanted to toss a fly in the ointment of the real message of this macho musical. This gives no denial to the fact that they knew that the Howard Keel character was a male chauvinist pig, unapologetically so, and in the mountains of North America, why would he be any other way? He's searching for a wife, and finds her in the willing Jane Powell. He likes her spunk, and basically, it seems at first that his only sin is not telling her that there are six more just like him back at home. Powell, of course, has her initial hopes dashed, realizing that she's stuck after having been received. But the lovely Jane is no pushover, and gives them all what for. They slowly learn how to be gentlemen, but more often than not, turn back to their he-man ways as they pursue six of the lovely ladies back in civilization, eventually taking drastic measures that results with the women getting revenge and the marriage of Keel and Powell in danger of ending even before it's begun.The handsome six find their beautiful six, and a dance number between the uneducated young men and more civilized ladies ends up being the highlight of the film. Acting honors go to Jane Powell who gives even more toughness than she gets, and Russ Tamblyn as the youngest brother who ends up having a smarter head on his shoulders even than Keel.A great musical score adds to the cinematic look of this lesson in how to (and how not to) treat a lady, so anybody who sees this through misogynistic eyes is not seeing the point of the film clearly. Audiences of the 1950's were clearly smarter than today's in seeing what the brothers did as wrong, but quickly realizing that they would pay for their sins, even with a happy ending.This is one of those movie musicals that tried but failed to work on stage, and in it's 1980's re-conceptualization, I can see why it didn't work. It's fantastic on a big screen with beautiful sets capturing the wonders of nature. The fact that all six ladies end up falling for the brothers may disturb some progressive audiences, but in the context of a different time and a simpler world, it makes much more sense.

Howard Keel plays Adam Pontipee, he goes out to get him a wife, He gets one, it is so refreshing to see a perfect musical centered around men behaving like men, dancing fighting and at the end steal 6 girls to life with his brothers in the mountains. Their fathers and brothers chase the young men but Adam and his Brs organized an avalanche to close of the valley for the winter. When spring arrived, the girls did not want to go back and instead were forced to get married to the Brs with guns held by the girl's Fathers. Very Hilarious, really worth seeing it. I rate it 8/10. At the end they lived happily ever after. If you have not seen this version, go see it, it is truly worth watching.

It can't be denied that 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" has some... unfortunate... underlying ideas but, gosh darnnit, this film is just so fun to watch. I don't think it really condones the kidnapping of the women. In the film it's obvious that the idea is completely ridiculous but what else would you expect from a bunch of wild men who barely ever see women? And Milly is quick to chastise them and kick them out of the house. We see earlier on in the film that the ladies were already interested in the brothers so it's not completely impossible that they would forgive them and fall in love. Besides, I think that this was done to be ironic and funny rather than realistic. Also, you have to keep in mind that the 1950s were a more innocent time.One of the things I just love about 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' is that it is genuinely funny. I found myself laughing out loud quite often during my viewing. The songs are wonderfully catchy and I had them stuck in my head for days! However 'When You're In Love' seemed to be shoved in at a really awkward time, just after Milly and Adam had fought. "Lonesome Polecat" is just beautiful to watch and hear and I was extremely impressed to see it all done in one take when there were so many things that could have messed it up.The film loses a mark for the cheap-looking sets but I understand that it didn't have a lot of funding and did the best it could with what it had.I was completely mesmerised by the dancing in the barn-raising scene. Often I put on the scene to just listen to the tune but find myself sitting slack-jawed at the grace and skill of the dancers.The plot is fast-paced so I was engaged the whole time and the characters are brilliant. Adam is hilarious and Milly is unusually and delightfully strong for a female character in a 50s film!