Royal Wedding

A Hollywood musical set in London. Tom and Ellen are a brother and sister who dance together on Broadway. Their show is invited to London and they travel by ship. The city is preparing for a royal wedding and everywhere is crowded. Both of them fall for someone there. Ellen takes up with an English lord, Tom with a dancer he meets at an audition. The narrative runs both lines. But the real reason for the film is two dance sequences. The first was shot during a storm at sea: the floor tilts, the furniture slides and the dance moves with it. The second is among the most-cited numbers in the history of cinema: Fred Astaire goes up the wall of a hotel room, dances on the ceiling and comes back down. For that scene the room was built inside a large drum. As the room turned the camera turned with it, and the performer stayed on the same floor throughout. Fred Astaire plays Tom and Jane Powell plays Ellen. Peter Lawford is in the cast. Stanley Donen directed. Essential viewing for anyone who likes classical musicals and Astaire. For a viewer wanting a strong story, the plot is thin and the film exists entirely for its numbers.