Movie Review

 

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.