Brigadoon (1954)

Despite all of the critical bashing of Brigadoon, I thought it was very nicely presented. Before I go any further, be forwarned that I have never seen Brigadoon on stage - only on screen - so I can't make comparisons. IMHO, MGM couldn't have casted a better Tommy; Gene Kelly is perfect and (although I agree that he may not be the best singer ever) I didn't doubt his ability to play the part a bit. Van Johnson steals the show as well. As well, Cyd Charisse was wonderful as Fiona, she made the character seem so believeable and was perfect for the part.

Granted, Brigadoon would have been much better had it been filmed on location in Scotland, but due to budget cuts MGM was forced to film it in beautiful, sunny Culver City. The painted backgrounds are obvious (the same injustice was done to "7 Brides" which, like Brigadoon, was to be done on location but was ultimately filmed at the studio) but the backdrops are not meant to be the centerpiece of the show; why are we placing so much fault on these? I agree that the dance sequences got to be a bit long, but with Gene Kelly, who cares?

We can, however, be thankful that MGM didn't cast Howard Keel or Kathryn Grayson in Brigadoon. As much as I love Keel's work in his other MGM endeavours (such as Show Boat and 7 Brides), he would have been totally wrong in Brigadoon and Grayson's operatic singing would have done Fiona a terrible injustice.

Overall I thought Brigadoon to be a wonderful screen interpretation of one of Broadway's crown jewels. It will definately be getting a second viewing here!. Rate 8/10