Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a wonderful musical about a backwoods family of seven brothers and their clumsy and creative ways of finding a bride. This unusual film was released by MGM in 1954. Well-known actors (such as Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Julie Newmar [Newmeyer], Russ Tamblyn, and Jeff Richards) helped increase the film’s popularity and success. This movie is filled with laughs and songs that are certain to keep you entertained. It all begins when Adam Pontipee comes to town with the intention of taking home a wife. During his wife-hunt, he meets Milly, a hardworking young woman, and she agrees to marry him despite knowing nothing about him! Milly looks forward to her home in the mountains, away from town, with only one man to care for. However, Adam has conveniently left out his six other brothers! After Milly meets all the brothers, she sets about turning them into proper gentleman and correcting their horrendous habits. Their first test and social engagement comes at a barn-raising. There, they meet six lovely young ladies and the brothers fall in love. But these lovesick brothers fail their first test when they respond to the taunts of the jealous suitors and start a huge fight. Back home, they grieve for the girls they can’t have until Adam encourages them to go get the girls and carry them off in a similar fashion to what the Romans did to the Sabine women. They sneak down to the town, kidnap the girls, cause an avalanche, and bring them back to the farm. Milly gives all the men a terrible scolding, forbids them to see the girls, and exiles them to the barn. Adam is greatly upset by Milly’s anger and leaves the farm to spend the winter in the trapping cabin. While the winter goes on, the brothers get Milly’s permission to court the girls and they all have a glorious time till spring. By now, all the snow has melted and the townspeople are making plans to get their daughters, sisters, etc. back. Adam returns and decides the girls should be returned after thinking about his own daughter, Hannah, who Milly had in Adam’s absence. However, the girls don’t want to leave. What follows is a hilarious misunderstanding and chase of the girls, brothers, townsmen, and suitors. Eventually, the girls marry the brothers in a shotgun wedding and everyone is happy. This movie is an absolute must-see! From the alphabetical and biblical names of the brothers (Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frankincense, and Gideon) to the creative dancing duel at the barn-raising, this musical is filled with laughs and smiles at every turn.
Although all the songs in this musical are good, my favorite songs are “Going Courtin’” and “Sobbin’ Women”. The first song is sung by Milly and the brothers during her attempt to explain the concept of “courting” to these backwoods men. The second song is sung by Adam and the brothers as Adam tries to inspire them to do something about their girls which ultimately leads to the kidnapping. Although I could probably find lots of my favorite lines, I will use one from the beginning. As Milly is being introduced to the brothers, Daniel and Ephraim come up at the same time.

Milly: Which one is Daniel and which is Ephraim?

Both: Me!

I hope you can watch this movie sometime. I first saw it as a play, which is equally amusing, but you really need to see the movie. If you have seen this movie, let me know about it! Leave a comment. See you next time!