Charisse is a lovely singer and an exquisite dancer and wonderful actress...and Kelly' s voice is uniquely and handsomely nuanced and of course his dancing so masculine, athletic and creatively exquisite and his acting skills are undeniable!!!! What a joy, joy, joy to see them together or separately...ALWAYS!!!! Thank you for posting...as everyone privileged to see...will be BLESSED by these Heaven-sent beloved ones!
The score of Brigadoon so matched the story and I have loved this show since my first experience of it many moons ago. I happen to feel that the movie did not do it justice in many many ways. And this song -- what a pity it was cut.
This scene was absolutely gorgeous, and should have been left in the film. I hear what everyone is saying, however, this is the only love scene in the film, and shows us the pain both characters are going through, actually, very much like real life, painful choices we all must make. Again, this is very moving and for me, it has great depth of emotion, we’re lucky to finally see this little gem at last!
The scene is in the film but is set to different music (a reprise of Heather On The Hill) because the song -sadly- was cut. Gene didn't have to change the choreography and, oh, that kiss. Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse were two of the most beautiful people in the Movies.
Actually, only the vocal part was cut from the film. The dance was retained, but was set to a reprise of "Heather On The Hill" rather than "From This Day On".
Very likely because despite Carol Richards and Gene Kelly giving it their best attempt, it just didn't have the soaring quality that a true soprano and a lyric baritone/tenor would have brought to the number to match the beautifully soaring music.
I also think that part should not have been removed. That part makes everything more exciting! I think I read somewhere that the movie was too long because, besides this scene, others were also made and removed from the film. : ( Such a pity!
Cyd Charisse preferred to work in the early morning because by noon when the California heat came she said she lost her energy. She was an exacting artist. She always knew her lines, she always knew her choreography and she followed direction beautifully. She and her husband Tony Martin were notable givers to good causes and special events benefitting good causes. When Cyd was at parties she was know for finding a calm place to sit and relax and let people come to her.
Throughtout the film Cyd Charisse holds herself as a ballerina would and moves like a ballerina. It's most effective given the story and the characters.
She was a ballerina. And by golly what a ballerina. In one scene - I can't remember what it wad from she danced with a HUGE veil behind her. The studio had to use a jet engine to keep it floating...
@@mercedezize The dream sequence when Cyd turns from a gangster's moll into a dream girl in dazzling white is towards the end of 'Singin' in the Rain'. The main theme and name of this episode are 'Broadway Melody' (a song written for the first of the series of that name back in 1929) but the music for Gene's encounter with Cyd as the white goddess was specially composed.
In the film, the dance is left in, but set to the tune of The Heather On The Hill. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the emotional impact of this song, with the sung intro by the stars.
This song really needs a strong soprano and a strong baritone/tenor to really put it over. While Carol Richards and Gene Kelly did a good job with it, the vocals just didn't match the soaring music. That was very likely why the vocal section of the scene was cut.
He would have to be. Consider the fact that a well - trained ballerina like Cyd Charisse was all muscle and therefore probably heavier than a woman of similar height. At the same time she would have known how to carry her weight optimally and to use that ability to make life easier for her co-star.
Love this movie and would love it even more if we could edit out the whole "witches were running around Scotland ruining our patriarchal, Presbyterian paradise" scene. But that's Lerner's misogyny. Kelly and Charisse are wonderful dancers/lovers.
Brigadoon (1954) is a holdover from a different era with different expectations. Soundstage dressed up to look like woods and streams. It does not hold up and looks like a filmed version of a high school play. One year later, Oklahoma's location settings aided in taking film musicals to the next level. I thought this cut scene brought the adventure side of Brigadoon to a grinding halt. Depends on who the studio was targeting I suppose.
Kelly and the director both intended to film Brigadoon on location in Scotland. Kelly even scouted locations in Scotland. But MGM did not want to go for the increased costs. In addition, this movie was filmed in cinema scope, a new format in 1954. It is well suited to locations because it would take in all the beauty of the landscape, but a single dancer working against scenery looks a bit lost. This problem is visible in the number "It's almost like being in love." It's hard to find Kelly as he dances up the hills created for him on the soundstage. The scene with the meeting of the clans could have been amazing on location, but cinema scope and scenery make it a thoroughly underwhelming scene. By the time Kelly does It's Always Fair Weather, he has learned much more about avoiding the traps of cinema scope, and Donen as co director definitely was key to managing the film format. His excellent roller skating number proves this.
BTW Oklahoma used another film format known as Todd AO. It was an amazing film that captured movement in a wonderful way. Todd AO was also used in "Hello Dolly" that Kelly directed.
@@girlfromthebronxbywayofelb7288 The reason that MGM wouldn't greenlight shooting the film on location was because by 1954, more and more people were staying home to watch television rather than going out to the movies, and it was eating into their profits. Had Brigadoon been made just a few years earlier, Kelly and Minnelli probably would have easily gotten the studio to allow them to film in Scotland.
Had Kathryn Grayson done the role as originally intended rather than a dubbed Cyd Charisse, this beautiful song would probably have been retained in the final cut of the film. Nothing against Carol Richards, who had a lovely voice, but she wasn't a soprano, and couldn't match the soaring music with an equally soaring soprano voice. This song just begs to be sung by someone like a Kathryn Grayson or Jane Powell. Also Gene Kelly's thin tenor wasn't up to the power needed to really put the song over, but with the right female singer, that could have been forgiven.
Perhaps the dance was a little to suggestive (sexy) for the time and implied they might have had something "going on" which would have had disapproval at that time. I notice the lighting is very dark and she can't be seen at all in some of it. If they were as close as this dance implies he would have been a cad to leave her. It would have ruined the innocent feel of the musical? Good the scene was cut for these reasons.
I think you're mistaken - it's the beginning song (up to 2'20") that was cut. The dance is in the film. Can you see how the quality changes at 2min 20 sec? It goes from the outtake (poorer quality) to the more polished look of the finished film. The dance was their parting; the director (Vincente Minnelli) must have decided the song was not necessary to the scene.
The dance is a little "sexy" for the time, is realy, but the dance is not out of the movie, just the song. I don't know why, maybe is a little longer at all.
