Brigadoon (1954)

Regista:

Vincente Minnelli

Sceneggiatore:

Alan Jay Lerner (musical play)

Data di uscita:

8 settembre 1954 (USA)

Genere:

Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Slogan:

The Big Broadway Musical Hit!

Plot:

Two Americans on a hunting trip in Scotland become lost. They encounter a small village, not on the map, called Brigadoon, in which people harbor a mysterious secret, and behave as if they were still living two hundred years in the past. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Cinemascope | Scotland | Bagpipe | 1700s

Premi:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win

Recensioni degli utenti:

"It's not the heat, it's the humanity!"

Cast

Gene Kelly	...	Tommy Albright
Van Johnson	...	Jeff Douglas
Cyd Charisse	...	Fiona Campbell
Elaine Stewart	...	Jane Ashton
Barry Jones	...	Mr. Lundie
Hugh Laing	...	Harry Beaton
Albert Sharpe	...	Andrew Campbell
Virginia Bosler	...	Jean Campbell
Jimmy Thompson	...	Charlie Chisholm Dalrymple
Tudor Owen	...	Archie Beaton
Owen McGiveney	...	Angus
Dee Turnell	...	Ann
Dodie Heath	...	Meg Brockie (as Dody Heath)
Eddie Quillan	...	Sandy
resto del cast in ordine alfabetico:
Peter Adams	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Betty Allen	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Bette Arlen	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Richard Beavers	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Rodney Bell	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Margaret Bert	...	Vegetable Woman (uncredited)
Anna Marie Biggs	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Madge Blake	...	Mrs. McIntosh (uncredited)
Oliver Blake	...	Frank (bartender) (uncredited)
Hugh Boswell	...	Mr. McIntosh (uncredited)
Mary Boyd	...	Herb Woman (uncredited)
Buddy Bryant	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Aileen Carlyle	...	Milkmaid (uncredited)
George Chakiris	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
George Cooper	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Jimmy Cross	...	New York Club patron (uncredited)
Lucille Curtis	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Roxann Delman	...	Woman at Wedding (uncredited)
Michael Dugan	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Al Ferguson	...	Baker (uncredited)
Peter Hansen	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Dorothy James	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Lorna Jordon	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Frances Karath	...	Little Girl in Village (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Faith Kruger	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Richard Landry	...	Best Man (uncredited)
Joan Larkin	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Peter Leeds	...	Peter (headwaiter) (uncredited)
Ray Linn Jr.	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Archer MacDonald	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Warren MacGregor	...	Tinker (uncredited)
Hank Mann	...	Toy Booth Vendor (uncredited)
Mack McLean	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Charles Morton	...	Sheepherder (uncredited)
Ernest Newton	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Birgit Nielsen	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Loulie Jean Norman	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Vesey O'Davoren	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Larry Olsen	...	Boy (uncredited)
Kathleen O'Malley	...	Girl with Mil Pails (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Richard Peel	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
William Reeves	...	Background Singer (uncredited)
Ann Roberts	...	Bracken Woman (uncredited)
Dennis Ross	...	Stable Boy (uncredited)
John Rosser	...	Ale Man (uncredited)
John Roy	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Erin Selwyn	...	Woolen Girl (uncredited)
Jeanne Shores	...	Woman at Wedding (uncredited)
Dick Simmons	...	New York club patron (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Betsy Stoddard	...	Woman with Cart (uncredited)
Gloria Stone	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Sara Taft	...	Poultry Woman (uncredited)
Connie Van	...	Woman with Bucket (uncredited)
Peter J. Votrian	...	Boy (uncredited)
Steve Wayne	...	New York Club patron (uncredited)
Stuart Whitman	...	New York club patron (uncredited)

Regia di
Vincente Minnelli

Scritto da
Alan Jay Lerner		(musical play)

Prodotto da
Arthur Freed	....	producer
Roger Edens	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Fotografia di
Joseph Ruttenberg		(director of photography)

Montaggio di
Albert Akst

Architetto-scenografo
E. Preston Ames		(as Preston Ames)
Cedric Gibbons

Arredatore
F. Keogh Gleason		(as Keogh Gleason)
Edwin B. Willis

Costumi di
Irene Sharaff

Trucco
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup designer

Aiuto regista
Frank Baur	....	assistant director

Sonoro
Wesley C. Miller	....	recording supervisor

Effetti speciali
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Editorial Department
Alvord Eiseman	....	color consultant

Music Department
Johnny Green	....	musical director
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator
Robert Tucker	....	music arranger: choral arrangements

Altro personale
Cheryl Crawford	....	stage presenter
Gene Kelly	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1954) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1954) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• New York City Ballet Company  Hugh Laing courtesy of

Durata:

108 min

Nazionalità:

USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Colore (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonoro:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System) | 4-Track Stereo

Divieti:

Australia:G | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16971, General Audience) | UK:U

Luoghi delle riprese:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Curiosità:

James Mitchell, who originated the role of Harry Beaton on Broadway, was initially scheduled to repeat the part on film; he ultimately chose instead to tour with the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre.

Errori:

Audio/video fuori sincrono: During the wedding procession the drummers' actions do not match the cadence.

Citazioni:

Jeff Douglas: Frank, put it on the bill.
Bartender: The bill, sir, is very high.
Jeff Douglas: So am I!

Movie Connections:

Citato in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Incredible Melting Man (#8.4)" (1996)

Colonna sonora:

The Wedding Dance

"It's not the heat, it's the humanity!"

And that is exactly the story BRIGADOON tries to tell. Two urbanites from New York, Tommy (Gene Kelly) and Jeff (Van Johnson), are grouse-hunting in Scotland--yes, they've come all the way to Scotland to shoot grouse, if you can believe that to begin with!--when they happen upon the tiny magical little Scottish village of Brigadoon, a (very literal) throwback to the mid-18th century in customs, livelihood and people. The Campbells are holding a wedding for their daughter Jean, whose sister Fiona (Cyd Charisse) is the first person who doesn't treat the strangers like... well, strangers. It doesn't take long, just a walk through 'The Heather On The Hill', for Tommy and Fiona to fall deeply in love. The only problem is that Brigadoon, thanks (or not) to their eager chaplain Mr. Forsythe, surfaces once every hundred years--it's been two hundred since Mr. Forsythe made his 'contract with God', and only two days have passed for the villagefolk in that same year in 1754. The question becomes one of love, of whether one is able to give up everything for a miracle: just as Mr. Forsythe has to give up his beloved Brigadoon to bring it its miracle, Tommy and Fiona, because 'if you love someone deeply enough, anything is possible', get their miracle as well.

There is certainly charm aplenty in BRIGADOON: the morning fair 'Down On MacConnachy Square' is lively and bustling; the beautiful dance between Kelly and Charisse as they gather 'The Heather On The Hill' is tender and beautiful, with more balletic romance than any choreography of Kelly's to date; even the forward girl who tries to turn Jeff's head (only to disappear from the movie thereafter) is cute in her way and her fervent belief that she might actually have a romance like that of her parents. BRIGADOON most certainly sets out to charm--even the general dodginess of the Scottish accents does not really detract from the rest of the film.

However, there is an element of uneasiness in BRIGADOON, perhaps conscious, perhaps not, that somewhat undermines its message. It wants us to believe that it really is the humanity, the *kind* of humanity that one gets in Brigadoon and in New York that makes one place preferable to the other. This is quite unsubtly displayed in the merry dreaminess that surrounds Brigadoon, in contrast with the almost *too* loud chattering that goes on in the New York bar teeming with humanity. Yet one is never quite sure whether Brigadoon is really the utopia it appears to be: this is underscored by the fact that (despite Kelly's pleas for on-location filming in Scotland) the scenery is obviously constructed on a set. It's still eerily beautiful in a fake way, and this is the trouble with the village portrayed in the film. Everything *seems* perfect, idyllic--happy and charming and easy and light. But then you learn the real history of the village, and the aura surrounding it doesn't look so much as magic but as *black* magic. Mr. Forsythe sounds more like an authoritarian dictator obsessed with his Brigadoon than a benign sweet old chaplain, and when Harry Beaton (Hugh Laing) tries to make a break for it, the hunt for him and the subsequent covering up of his death has such sinister undertones that one really starts to feel uncomfortable about what the people have become in the two short days (for them) that they have known about their village's uniqueness.

Of course, the film itself actually states this uneasiness that the audience will feel, not merely suggests it. This is evident in how Tommy performs a gentle reprise of his courtship dance with Fiona and rushes off, full of glee and love, to tell Jeff that he is staying in Brigadoon... only to be persuaded by a few curt sentences from Jeff that he should really give up the love of his lifetime to return to reality, to return to New York. Jeff plays the cynical, hard-headed pragmatist in all of us, and is then immediately depicted as a drunkard who spends all his days lounging in a bar, broken by his own inability to have faith in a 'miracle'. It's fitting for this film full of contradictions that the person who saved Brigadoon was the one who refused to believe it, and that the people of Brigadoon were saved by the death of one of its number.

Perhaps this is far too much analysis than BRIGADOON can bear. If one doesn't poke beyond its shiny, lavish MGM surface (and there really is no need to), then it is merely a star vehicle for Kelly, not a particularly good one, but one that is moderately entertaining and does allow him to showcase his talents (though again, not too effectively). The best number is probably the most famous song in it, 'Almost Like Being In Love', sung by a heart-light and foot-merry Kelly as he dances through a Scottish farm. The runner-up would be the beautiful 'Heather On The Hill' couples ballet--Kelly's ballet training really comes to the fore in BRIGADOON, his other films having been more influenced by tap dancing.

All in all, a charming package with a sinister underside, if one can believe that this shadowy underside to BRIGADOON--both village and film--could exist. 7/10.