Royal Wedding
Short description
Royal Wedding follows Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother-and-sister dance act from New York who travel to London to perform at the time of a royal wedding. On the voyage over, Ellen meets an English aristocrat, Lord John Brindale, while Tom, a confirmed bachelor, eventually falls for Anne Ashmond, an English dancer connected to the show. The pair, who have long avoided marriage, each find themselves reconsidering that stance as the celebrations around them unfold. The film is set against the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth.
The film was directed by Stanley Donen, the second of the sixteen features he directed in chronological order, following On the Town and preceding Singin' in the Rain. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the screenplay, and Arthur Freed produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Fred Astaire plays Tom, with Jane Powell as Ellen, Peter Lawford as John Brindale, Sarah Churchill as Anne Ashmond, Keenan Wynn in a dual role as Irving and Edgar Klinger, and Albert Sharpe as James Ashmond.
Made on a budget of about two million dollars, the film took roughly four million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 6,700 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.4 out of 10 from 118 votes, and a critics' rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 23 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was released in the UK under the title "Wedding Bells" to avoid being mistaken for a documentary about the recent wedding of Princess Elizabeth, who later became Her Majesty Elizabeth II.
- The dance to the song "You're All the World to Me" was filmed inside a rotating drum with a diameter of over 6 meters, which also housed the operator and camera.
- Fred Astaire (who played Tom) later recounted that he tried dancing with more than 30 hat racks available in stores until the studio management finally ordered a custom-made hat rack for the filming, which ultimately cost $900 (or over $9,000 in 2021 prices).
- Initially, it was supposed to be the first joint project of Fred Astaire and June Allyson, but a few weeks before the start of filming, Allyson discovered she was pregnant and left the project. Judy Garland was planned as her replacement. Garland had only recently gone on a long-promised vacation and came to the filming with obvious reluctance. After a few weeks of rehearsal, it became clear that Garland was not in shape and could not film. On June 17, 1959, she did not show up for rehearsal and was fired. The role went to Jane Powell, and by the end of filming, it turned out she was also pregnant.
- Several children from the Hollywood Professional School (originally founded in 1921 as the Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts) danced and sang in the film. During their free time from filming, they attended school lessons in a tent right on the set.
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