Father of the Bride on DVD

Vincente Minelli directed and Spencer Tracy stars in this original version of the movie remade so well in 1991 with Steve Martin.

But this is the better version.

Stanley Banks (Tracy) is a good father, a man who adores his beautiful daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and is comfortable with his well-ordered life. But that life isn’t going to stay well ordered, as he shows us.

As the movie opens, he’s sitting in his house - a scene of destruction that’s the aftermath of the wedding reception. He introduces us to the situation and then the movie goes into flashback mode and lets us witness the sequence of events that led up to the opening scene.

Spencer Tracy earned yet another Oscar nomination for his wonderful portrayal of Stanley, an immovable object assailed upon by irresistible forces. It's a comic commentary on the styles of the day and tackles issues such as how much to spend on the wedding (or when do you pull the plug?), can’t the damn kids just elope and be done with it?, etc.

Tracy, not surprisingly, is magnificent, gruff at times, warm at others, drunk at still others, and he’s always funny. Taylor is also magnificent: the beautiful blushing bride who also just happens to be growing into one of the sex goddesses of her age. The supporting cast, which includes Joan Bennett as Tracy’s wife Ellie, Don Taylor as the lucky groom, Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as his parents, and Leo G. Carroll as the caterer (played by Martin Short in the remake).

Father of the Bride inspired a 1951 sequel (Father's Little Dividend) and of course the Martin-starring remakes.

The DVD is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio, which means owners of 16x9 widescreen TV’s will have to stretch and/or zoom the picture to fit the screen. Despite this, the black and white picture quality is sharp and offers nice contrast. Audio is Dolby Digital mono and is fine under the 1950’s circumstances.

You get some nifty extras, too, including two newsreels (“President Truman Meets Father of the Bride” and “Wedding Bells for Movie Star Elizabeth Taylor”), some behind the scenes production notes and the theatrical trailer.

Father of the Bride, from Warner Home Video
94 min. full frame (1.33:1, not 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital mono
Starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor
Produced by Pandro S. Berman
Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Directed by Vincente Minelli

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