Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (ENG)

Released in 1954 in the United States by Metro Goldwyn Meyer, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a classic in the musical category. Set in a nineteenth century Oregon with a very strong Western vibe, this movie includes both great musics and acting.
It is based on the short story The Sobbin’ Women by Stephen Vincent Benet, which in turn was inspired by the abduction of the Sabine women as narrated in Plutarch's Life of Romulus.
To perform the numerous dance numbers and action sequences, choreographer Micheal Kidd wanted trained dancers to portray all six of Adam Pontipee's brothers and their wives; but, at the same time, he also wanted the Pontipees to look as realistic farmers and lumberjack, so he had to base all his choreographic around activities you would accept from such people: cutting wood, taking care of the cattle etc. The only Pontipee who was not a dancer was Jeff Richards, Benjamin, who actually was a famous baseball player.

Milly (Jane Powell) and the Pontipee: Benjamin (Jeff Richards), Caleb (Matt Mattox), Daniel (Marc Platt), Ephraim (Jacques d'Amboise), Frank (Tommy Rall) and Gideon (Russ Tamblyn).

One of the first musicals to capitalize on the new wide-screen process of CinemaScope (film-making process in which a motion picture is projected on a screen, with the width of the image two and a half times its height), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was unusual as a musical film, it not being based on a prior Broadway musical show. It was directed by Stanley Donen though, who was already famous as director of Singin' in the Rain (released in 1952).

Plot
It's 1850, when the lumberjack Adam Pontipee arrives in town to buy food and supplies for him and his six brothers to cope with the coming winter. The seven men live all together on the mountains and during winter their house remains isolated for over four months.
While shopping for groceries, Adam decides to look for a bride. He eventually meets Milly, who works as a waitress in the local saloon, and proposes to her after seeing the quality of her cooking and her insistence on finishing her chores before she leaves with him. Despite not knowing him at all, she accepts; he is a handsome strong man and she is used to take care of many customers at the saloon, taking care of only him would be a great improvement in her life.
Being married by the reverend, the couple leaves town as legitimate husband and wife, but along the way Adam deceives Milly, leaving out he has six younger brothers whom his wife will have to take care of.
When they arrive at his mountain cabin however, she meets Adam's six brothers – Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank, and Gideon – who all live with him and now, with Milly. She accuses Adam of manipulating her into becoming his servant, but he acknowledges that he really loves her and nonetheless needs her help due to how difficult living in the backwoods is. Being now married to him Milly understands that his actions where more naive than cruel and she ends up accepting their situation.
Starting from the next day, Milly teaches Pontipees Brothers manners and in a very short time they turn into real gentlemen.
After a couple of months, in town a social gathering takes place and all the Pontipees attend the party to prove to Milly what they learnt from her.
At first the boys behave themselves and they meet six girls: Dorcas, Ruth, Martha, Liza, Sarah, and Alice, all of whom take a fancy to each other despite already having suitors. Unfortunately, later that day the suitors repeatedly attack the Pontipees in order to make them show their rudeness and the party ends in a fight. The Pontipees are expelled from town and forced to go back in the mountains.
As winter comes and the brothers pine for the women they fell in love with, Adam, inspired by the Rape of the Sabin Women (an historical event he read in Milly's book), suggests to go back in town and kidnap the girls. On the way back to the mountains, the six women shouting cause an avalanche that isolates the cabin and stops the townspeople pursuing them.
Furious at the Pontipees' actions, Milly forces the men to live in the barn while the women stay in the house with her, especially because the boys forgot to kidnap a parson who could have made their unions legitimate. In response, Adam leaves for the trapping cabin further up the mountain to spend the winter alone.
Spring arrives and the women and the Pontipees are paired off and happy in each other's company until Milly gives birth to a baby girl named Hannah and Gideon leaves to tell Adam. After the snow in Echo Pass melts, Adam returns, ashamed for his actions. Upon meeting his daughter, he realizes how worried the townspeople must be over the missing women and tells his brothers they should return them; but having fallen in love the six couples are unwilling to part.
When the townspeople arrive, among them there is Alice's father, Reverend Elcott, who hears a baby crying (it would be Hannah of course). Worried that baby might be born outside of marriage, he asks to the women whose child this is and they all answer mine. The Reverend could do anything but give the six brothers and the six women a collective wedding.

Customs
The custom designer of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is Walter Plunkett (1902-1982).

Born in Oakland, Plunkett studied law in California, but was hardly interested in that subject and in 1923 moved to New York, where he began work as an actor and a costume and set designer. Referred to Hollywood, he moved back to California and found work as an extra. In 1927, Walter's first (credited) work as a costume designer appeared on screen for Hard Boiled Haggerty and during the early thirties, he managed to fashion the enormous costume and wardrobe department into a department that was both efficient and creative. With so much free reign, Walter set about creating outstanding costumes that rivaled the work of his contemporaries, such as Travis Banton and Adrian. His two best-known films were Gone with the Wind (1939) (including that dress made from green velvet drapes, probably the most famous movie costume of all time), and Singin' in the Rain (1952).
Openly homosexual, Walter retired from films and spent the last years of his life with his partner Lee.

Walter on working at MGM: It was a lucky and very glorious thing for me. I was lucky that I was a part of the Hollywood movie-making era when costume designers were considered important and were allowed more money.

Nowadays, Walter's sketches are auctioned for thousands of dollars and even more cost the customs themselves.
Here you can see some of his sketches.