Product: Father of the Bride [VHS] (1950)
Rating: 5.0
One Wedding You Definitely Want to Attend
Unlike some previous reviewers, I have to say that I think that the original "Father of the Bride" has stood the test of time and I found it to be just as enjoyable, if not more so, in some cases, as the Steve Martin remake.Spencer Tracy stars as Stanley Banks, an attorney happily married to his wife Ellie (Joan Bennett), with three children and a lovely house. His only daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) drops a bombshell on Stanley and Ellie one evening by announcing that she is getting married to someone named Buckley (Don Taylor). From that moment on, the Banks family's life is turned topsy-turvy by the upcoming wedding.I found Spencer Tracy's performance to be very genuine. I didn't see him as being so consumed by the cost of the wedding (although what father doesn't worry about the financial bottom line?) that who his daughter was marrying was secondary. I found his performance reflected the shock and sadness over losing his daughter to Mr. Right and the confusion over getting lost in the wedding shuffle, as most fathers of the bride do.The engagement party, where Stanley is left to tend the kitchen, thereby missing the entirety of the party and the excitement showcases this fact perfectly. Again, Stanley is left out after the ceremony, when he wants to kiss the bride and cannot seem to get to her.Joan Bennett is wonderfully cast as Ellie, rivaling Myrna Loy as the perfect cinematic mother.Elizabeth Taylor is lovely as the bride to be and although her big fight with Buckley over where they will honeymoon is a bit farfetched (would they really break up over their vacation destination? - - and if they would, wouldn't that signal much larger problems?), her wide-eyed innocence and concern for her father during this time is touching.Interestingly enough, Taylor wore her wedding dress in this film to her actual first wedding to Nicky Hilton, at the time this movie premiered (and was divorcing him by the time they began filming the sequel).This film isn't necessarily Oscar material, but it's a wonderful cinematic collection of some Hollywood greats on film (Tracy, Bennett, Taylor, Billie Burke as the groom's mother) and a definite feel good film for the whole family.RSVP to this one.