Royal Wedding (1951)
An American brother-and-sister dance act crosses the Atlantic to perform in London during the week of Princess Elizabeth's 1947 wedding, each falling for a partner on the far side of the ocean.
Royal Wedding is best remembered for Fred Astaire’s zero-gravity solo, in which he appears to dance up the walls and across the ceiling of his hotel room, achieved by building the whole set inside a rotating drum rigged to a custom camera mount. Jane Powell stepped into the lead after Judy Garland’s unreliability during production led MGM to terminate her contract.
Background
Royal Wedding follows an American brother-and-sister dance act who travel to London to perform during the week of Princess Elizabeth’s 1947 wedding, with each sibling falling for a partner on the other side of the Atlantic. Jane Powell stepped into the female lead after Judy Garland, originally cast in the role, was removed from the production and had her MGM contract terminated due to reliability problems during this period of her career.
What to watch for
Watch for Fred Astaire’s celebrated solo dance number, in which he appears to dance up the walls and across the ceiling of his hotel room. The effect was achieved by building the entire room set inside a large rotating drum, with the camera rigged to rotate along with it so that, from the audience’s perspective, Astaire appears to defy gravity. It remains one of the most technically inventive dance sequences of the classic Hollywood musical era.
