 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a musical film released in 1954. It was directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Saul Chaplin and Gene de Paul, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The script (by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Dorothy Kingsley) is based on the short story The Sobbin' Women, by Stephen Vincent Benét. The film is particularly known for the unusual choreography by Michael Kidd, which makes dance numbers out of such mundane frontier pursuits as chopping wood and (most famously) raising a barn. Four of the actors who played the younger brothers were dancers, while another of the younger brothers was played by a champion gymnast and the remaining younger brother was played by a former professional baseball player. Howard Keel appeared as "Adam", Jeff Richards as "Benjamin", Matt Mattox as "Caleb", Marc Platt as "Daniel", Jacques d'Amboise as "Ephraim", Tommy Rall as "Frank", and Russ Tamblyn as "Gideon". (Morton Downey Jr. almost had Russ Tamblyn's part as "Gideon" in this musical.) All of the brides were played by dancers. Jane Powell appeared as "Milly", Julie Newmar as "Dorcas", Ruta Lee as "Ruth", Norma Doggett as "Martha", Virginia Gibson as "Liza", Betty Carr as "Sarah", and Nancy Kilgas as "Alice". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
