Review of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
By Rachel Merkley
(March 15, 2015)
Directed by Stanley
Donen
102 minutes
Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers
is a humorous, song-filled film that depicts the events from the lives of Milly
and Adam Pontipee. The time era is 1850 in the Oregon Territory, also referred
to as bear country. Adam’s homestead in the mountains has: a house, timberline,
and meadows, basically everything one could want except a woman. The opening scene has Adam venturing into
town to stock up on the supplies he needs, one being to stake his claim on a wife.
Adam eventually comes across Milly performing her bar maid duties of chopping
wood, milking cows, and cooking, which is proof enough she will make a good
wife. Milly agrees to marry him once she finishes her chores. On the 12 mile carriage
ride to the homestead, Milly marvels through song about what a wonderful day it
is as she sees the life she has dreamed about coming true.
Milly’s dream is quickly shattered when she
discovers that in addition to Adam, there are six brothers, all of them filthy
and unruly. Another revelation is that Adam’s version of a wife is the same as
a “hired girl” to keep house and cook. Milly manages to change the brothers and
upon the group going into town, the men find women that Adam and the brother’s kidnap
and plan to marry. An avalanche triggered from the girl’s cries barricade the
pass to the homestead which also gives the brother’s and their captives the
rest of winter to fall in love. Milly also finds out she is pregnant and the
arrival of Milly’s baby coincides with spring and the pass opening. Adam now
being a father to a daughter helps him realize how wrong his actions were and
he should return the town’s daughters. However, Adam is unable to remedy the
situation because the town’s people arrive to reclaim their daughters. Upon the
town’s men reaching their daughters, they hear a baby which the women all claim
to be the mother to because then their father’s will let them marry the
Pontipee brother they have fallen in love with and fathered the crying baby.
The girl’s tactic works and all six participate in a shotgun wedding where the
brides and brothers are pronounced “men and wives”.
Evidence of the farming life can be seen in the
plot but when watching the movie through the lens of agriculture, the audience
can gain a deeper understanding of what the homesteading life in the 1850's
could entail, including the aspects of daily life, their entertainment, and the
beliefs farmers have.
The daily agricultural living in the 1850's is much
different than modern times. The clothing in the film was a representation that
could be considered unique to the 1850 agriculture era. Adam began the movie
with what could be termed mountain men clothing—brown leather with fringe.
Later he and his brothers wore trousers with button up collar shirts with long
sleeve. The women also work a collared dress that had arm lengths that varied
from elbow length or longer. When the women were performing their duties they
wore aprons over their clothing. Under their dresses they wore pantaloons.
Looking deeper at the women clothing, they had patches on their skirts which
showed that they had limited clothing that they wore until it was unwearable.
Milly also had a skirt that appeared to be patchwork, made out of random
fabrics available to her. When the women ventured out they also wore bonnets.
Basic things, like utilities, are taken for
granted of today but back then it was not as easy to come by. People then used
lanterns for light and pumps to bring water to the surface from a well below.
In the film this is seen with pumps lining the street and Adam informing Milly
that the water is “right outside the front door”. Heat is another utility that required
effort to get. Wood burning stoves or fireplaces were prominent in most of the
homes and businesses. In addition to this, piles of firewood were stacked next
to buildings and Milly and the brothers were shown chopping wood.
Another aspect of daily life is that people usually
put forth manual labor in order to provide for themselves and their family.
Chores were done by everyone: cutting down trees, plowing, fence making, stock
to feed, cows to milk, cooking, cleaning, and sewing. The buildings were also
built by themselves or with the help of nearby residents. The buildings that were
shown in the film were made of logs. In the town the buildings were located in
close proximity to each other and the people that ran the establishment also
lived above the business. The homes not located in town were farther apart and
created a feeling of isolation as was seen with the Pontipee brothers. The
homes were also smaller and in some cases, like the Pontipees, all the children
shared a room. Livestock was also shown within close proximity of the
buildings. Some of the town buildings had chickens housed in cages next to
them, the bar had a cow in its side yard, and the Pontipee’s had a barn nearby with
livestock wandering the property. Another characteristic of the era shown was a
store that provided all the needed items, including a barber, and farmers have
the option to trade what they produce for the items available to purchase.
Outside of the stores in town were also tying posts so their patrons could
secure their horse and carriage—the form of transportation.
The forms of entertainment in the 1850's also
revolve around the role of agriculture. Some of the activities either discussed
or performed in the film were: quilting bees, dances, corn huskings, barn
raising, picnics, arm wrestling, and going into town. The majority of these
forms of entertainment revolve around production which portrays that people who
farm are always working but they try to make their work fun. They also make work
a social event so they can create relationships with other people while also
increasing their output. Finally, their entertainment also portrays how hard of
workers the agricultural people are.
The beliefs that agriculture instills in people
that work the land is subtle throughout the movie yet if the audience is
looking agriculturally, it is more prominent and it provides the characters
more depth. There is an understanding illustrated for the homesteading era
specifically: farming takes a good portion of the day so there is not a lot of
time to waste. Adam demonstrates this when he justifies the lack of courting
before his proposal to Milly. He mentions that as homesteaders “there’s not
time.” Adam has responsibilities back home, specifically to tend his stock. His
duties are what also prevent him from returning to town with his grain for
“another five months”. There is also a purpose for the people that have
migrated west and that is to make something out of the land. A term Adam used
was “stakin’” a claim when finding a wife but this was actually the belief that
the west was available to be claimed and the people just had to work the land
to own it. In addition to this, the farmers had a hand in developing the
country as a whole. This was also represented by the town preacher who once
informed Milly that she needed to get married because “the country needed to be
settled”. Further, when Milly’s mother died, she left her “packets of seeds for
a flower garden” which shows the value that farmers place on working the land. Irrevocably,
farming was important to these people.
A second belief is that farmers are hard
working. The list of chores described in the movie support this but also Adam’s
need for a “wife who can work alongside him” and Milly’s character responding
that before she can marry him she’d “have to finish [her] chores.” Moreover, Milly
demonstrates this when she turns the brothers and the house into a product for
her to be proud of and she jumps right into helping run the farm with the
brothers.
A third belief portrayed in the film is that
farmers have religious beliefs. Milly’s father left her two books, one being
the bible which shows great importance to the people from this era as it was a
treasured keepsake they passed down. Another form of evidence from the movie
was Adam’s parents chose bible names for all of their kids and Milly carried on
the tradition with her daughter. The bible does have a presence in the
characters life shown when they return home from farming and offer a prayer
before eating, their prayers ask for assistance with farming, and they read the
bible as a household before turning into bed.
The film, Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers, does indeed contain agricultural themes that can
be found in the culture of 1850 homesteaders and it is evident when looking at
the deeper at the movie. The daily life of homesteaders is depicted as helping
establish the land; their entertainment happens parallel to them producing; and
their beliefs that: working the land contributes to a greater cause, it takes
hard work, and there is a religious aspect to it.
Work Cited
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Warner Home
Video, 1954. Film.
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