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Brigadoon (1954) is an MGM musical
Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the fictional character are interwoven into the narrative. The songs are used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters....
 feature film
Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial Film distributor in Movie theater and being the "main attraction" of the screening ....
 based on the Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 musical of the same name
Brigadoon

Brigadoon is a Musical theater with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.It tells the story of a mysterious Scotland village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night....
 by Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner

Alan Jay Lerner was an United States Broadway theatre lyricist and librettist. Together with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre....
 and Frederick Loewe. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli was a Hollywood film director and Theatre director. His skilled integration of story, music, lighting, and design elements in a film made him the most critically respected crafter of musical film....
 and stars Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
, Van Johnson
Van Johnson

Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II.Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the Second World War years...
, and Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse

Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s....
. Brigadoon has been broadcast on American television and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.

icans Tommy Albright (Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
) and Jeff Douglas (Van Johnson
Van Johnson

Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II.Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the Second World War years...
) are on a hunting trip in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 and become lost in the woodlands. They hap upon Brigadoon, a magical village that rises out of the mists every hundred years for only a day.






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Brigadoon (1954) is an MGM musical
Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the fictional character are interwoven into the narrative. The songs are used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters....
 feature film
Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial Film distributor in Movie theater and being the "main attraction" of the screening ....
 based on the Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 musical of the same name
Brigadoon

Brigadoon is a Musical theater with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.It tells the story of a mysterious Scotland village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night....
 by Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner

Alan Jay Lerner was an United States Broadway theatre lyricist and librettist. Together with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre....
 and Frederick Loewe. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli was a Hollywood film director and Theatre director. His skilled integration of story, music, lighting, and design elements in a film made him the most critically respected crafter of musical film....
 and stars Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
, Van Johnson
Van Johnson

Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II.Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the Second World War years...
, and Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse

Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s....
. Brigadoon has been broadcast on American television and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.

Plot

Americans Tommy Albright (Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
) and Jeff Douglas (Van Johnson
Van Johnson

Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II.Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the Second World War years...
) are on a hunting trip in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 and become lost in the woodlands. They hap upon Brigadoon, a magical village that rises out of the mists every hundred years for only a day. Tommy falls in love with village lass Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse

Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s....
). When he learns his love for Fiona will make it possible for him to remain in Brigadoon forever, he initially is willing to commit himself but backs down as the day ends and Brigadoon disappears. Back in New York City, he can think only of Fiona. He returns to Scotland. There, his great love causes Brigadoon to materialize before its appointed time. He crosses the bridge to the village and is united with Fiona forever.

Cast

  • Gene Kelly
    Gene Kelly

    Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
     — Tommy Albright
  • Van Johnson
    Van Johnson

    Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II.Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the Second World War years...
     — Jeff Douglas
  • Cyd Charisse
    Cyd Charisse

    Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s....
     — Fiona Campbell
  • Elaine Stewart
    Elaine Stewart

    Elaine Stewart is an United States actress and Model .Stewart made her debut by winning Miss See in See Magazine in 1952, with measurements 34-25-36....
     — Jane Ashton
  • Barry Jones
    Barry Jones

    Barry Jones may refer to:*Barry Jones, Baron Jones , British politician*Barry Jones , member of the ALP*Barry Jones , British-born actor*Barry Jones , Scottish magician...
     — Mr. Lundie
  • Hugh Laing — Harry Beaton
  • Albert Sharpe
    Albert Sharpe

    Albert Sharpe was an Ireland stage and film actor. . His most famous roles were those of Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People and as Finian McLonergan in the Broadway stage production of the musical Finian's Rainbow....
     — 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
    Eddie Quillan

    Edward "Eddie" Quillan was an United States film actor whose career began as a child on the vaudeville stages and silent films and continued through the age of television in the 1980s....
     — Sandy


Musical numbers

  1. "Once in the Highlands/Brigadoon/Down on MacConnachy Square" –Eddie Quillan, Villagers, and Offscreen M-G-M Chorus
  2. "Waiting for My Dearie" – Cyd Charisse (dubbed by Carol Richards) and Dee Turnell (dubbed by Bonnie Murray)
  3. "I'll Go Home with Bonnie Jean" – Jimmy Thompson (dubbed by John Gustafson), Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Chorus
  4. "The Heather on the Hill" – Gene Kelly, Danced by Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse
  5. "Almost Like Being in Love" – Sung and Danced by Gene Kelly
  6. "The Wedding Dance" – Danced by Jimmy Thompson and Virginia Bosler
  7. "The Chase" – Sung by men pursuing Hugh Laing
  8. "The Heather on the Hill" – Danced by Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse
  9. "I'll Go Home with Bonnie Jean" (reprise) – Sung offscreen by Jimmy Thompson, Carol Richards and Chorus
  10. "The Heather on the Hill" (reprise) – Sung offscreen by Jimmy Thompson, Carol Richards and Chorus
  11. "Waitin' for My Dearie" (reprise) – Sung offscreen by Jimmy Thompson, Carol Richards and Chorus
  12. "Finale: Brigadoon" – M-G-M Chorus
Source:


Four of the stage show's musical numbers ("Come to Me, Bend to Me", "There But For You Go I", "From This Day On", and "The Sword Dance") were cut prior to the film's release. The Breen office
Production Code

File:Code hays, cover.gifThe Production Code was the set of industry censorship guidelines, and the office enforcing them, which governed the production of Cinema of the United States from 1930 to 1968....
 refused to allow the use of the two songs the Meg Brockie character sang in the stage version ("The Love of My Life" and "My Mother's Wedding Day"), as the lyrics were considered too risquι for general audiences. With the omission of these songs, the supporting role of Meg Brockie was reduced in the film to scarcely more than a bit part. The minor song "Jeannie's Packin' Up" was also omitted. Some of this was done because, after listening to Gene Kelly's pre-recordings of "There But For You Go I" and "From This Day On", the makers of the film felt that the results did not show his voice to its best advantage, but some was done because producer Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed

Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was an United States lyricist and a Hollywood film producer....
 wanted to shape the two-and-a-half hour stage musical into a film that ran 108 minutes.

Complete sound and picture footage of three of the deleted musical numbers has survived, and it is included in the latest DVD release of the film.

The 1954 original motion picture soundtrack was originally incomplete, but was re-released with deleted songs, alternate takes, and undubbed vocals.

Reception

Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther

Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for over a quarter century. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters....
 in the New York Times of September 17, 1954, described the film as "curiously flat and out-of-joint, rambling all over creation and seldom generating warmth or charm." Crowther admired the costumes, sets, and decor but deplored the omission of several musical numbers. He found fault with the film's two stars and its director, "...the personable Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse have the lead dancing roles. Even so, their several individual numbers are done too slickly, too mechanistically. What should be wistful and lyric smack strongly of trickery and style...Mr. Kelly's [performance] is as thin and metallic as a nail; Miss Charisse's is solemn and posey...Vincente Minnelli's direction lacks his usual vitality and flow." He concluded by noting the film was "pretty weak synthetic Scotch."

Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin is an United States film critic and film historian. He has authored numerous mainstream books on the cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives....
 in his reappraisal feels this adaptation was unfairly overlooked when it first appeared and particularly praises the lovely score, orchestrated mainly by Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger

Conrad Salinger was an United States arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway theatre from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 in film to 1962 in film....
.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for three 1955 Academy Awards
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
:
  • Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - (Cedric Gibbons
    Cedric Gibbons

    Austin Cedric Gibbons, was an Irish American art director who was one of the most important and influential in the field in the history of United States film....
    , E. Preston Ames
    E. Preston Ames

    E. Preston Ames first made inroads into Hollywood when he was a drawing working on The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Within five years he had become a fully fledged art director....
    , Edwin B. Willis
    Edwin B. Willis

    Edwin Booth Willis was an award-winning motion picture set designer and decorator. Willis worked exclusively at MGM studios for his entire career....
    , F. Keogh Gleason
    F. Keogh Gleason

    Francis Keogh Gleason was a resident set decorator at MGM studios for over 40 years. In that time he won 4 Academy Awards and was nominated an additional 3 times....
    )
  • Best Costume Design, Color - (Irene Sharaff
    Irene Sharaff

    Irene Sharaff was an award-winning USA costume designer....
    )
  • Best Sound, Recording - Wesley C. Miller (MGM)


The film won a 1955 Golden Globe:
  • Best Cinematography, Color - (Joseph Ruttenberg)


External links