Royal Wedding (1951): watch the full film free, legally

Broadway siblings bound for London

Royal Wedding is a 1951 American musical comedy directed by Stanley Donen, his second feature as director. Fred Astaire and Jane Powell play Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother and sister who headline the hit Broadway production Every Night at Seven. Burton Lane wrote the music and Alan Jay Lerner wrote the lyrics. In the United Kingdom, the film was released as Wedding Bells.

The story is set in 1947 London, during the period leading up to the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten. Tom and Ellen are persuaded to bring their Broadway show to London, where its title and timing can capitalize on the forthcoming royal wedding. On the transatlantic crossing, Ellen meets Lord John Brindale, an impoverished but well-connected nobleman, and quickly falls in love with him.

In London, Tom becomes interested in dancer Anne Ashmond while the show is being cast. He helps Anne reconcile with her estranged parents, then asks his agent to find the fiancé she says is in Chicago. The search reveals that the fiancé is married. Peter Lawford plays Lord John, Sarah Churchill plays Anne, Keenan Wynn plays Tom's agent Irving Klinger and London agent Edgar Klinger, and Albert Sharpe plays Anne's father, James Ashmond.

Songs, dances and a rotating room

Nick Castle choreographed the dances. The opening number, “Ev'ry Night at Seven,” presents Astaire and Powell performing from the fictional Broadway musical that Tom and Ellen bring to London. In “Open Your Eyes,” Powell sings before she and Astaire begin a romantic ballroom routine aboard the liner. A storm changes it into a comic dance as the pair slide with the ship's movement. The number was based on an incident Astaire and his wife experienced while traveling by ship to London in 1923.

Astaire dances with a hat rack in the ship's gym for “Sunday Jumps,” a self-parody. Powell sings “The Happiest Days of My Life” to Lawford while Astaire sits at the piano, and later sings “Too Late Now” as an open declaration of love. “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life” was considered the longest-titled song in MGM musical history. “I Left My Hat in Haiti,” largely the work of Castle, gives Powell, Astaire and a chorus a Caribbean-themed routine.

For “You're All the World to Me,” a set was built inside a revolving barrel. MGM's John Arnold developed a camera mount for the film that could rotate a 35mm camera 360 degrees along the axis of its lens while also allowing pans and tilts. Astaire appears to dance on the walls and ceiling of his room. The scene later inspired Lionel Richie's “Dancing on the Ceiling” and its accompanying video. The film's songs were issued by MGM on a 10-inch long-play record.

Changes before the cameras rolled

Former dancer Charles Walters was originally set to direct, and June Allyson had been cast opposite Astaire. When Allyson became pregnant, Judy Garland replaced her over Walters's objection. Garland began missing workdays before principal photography, citing sickness. According to Garland biographer Gerold Frank, she was despondent about her career and personal life and asked MGM to release her from her contract.

MGM agreed, nullifying the contract Garland had signed in 1935 on September 28, 1950. Powell replaced her, and Donen joined the production as director. Principal photography ran from July 6 through August 24, 1950, with retakes in mid-October.

Contemporary response and song recognition

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that the film had “one swell number, three or four that are good, a laugh here, a laugh there,” and said Astaire had fared both better and worse in his career. Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times called it excellent in songs and dances but “so-so in story,” while crediting Astaire and Powell with giving the production its spirit.

MGM records list earnings of $2,548,000 in the United States and Canada and $1,354,000 elsewhere, with a studio profit of $584,000. Variety included it among the top box-office hits of 1951. “Too Late Now” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 24th Academy Awards. It lost to “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” from Here Comes the Groom.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “Royal Wedding”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.