MartinHafer The story is one that is very fanciful and enjoyable. Two incongruous friends, Tommy and Jeff (Gene Kelly and Van Johnson) are hunting in Scotland when they come upon a town not on any map. Brigadoon is a lovely village but it soon becomes obvious it's a town out of time. Actually, it's a magical town that is stuck in the 18th century and it appears and then disappears every 100 years--which is a serious problem as Tommy has fallen in love with one of the residents (Cyd Charisse).I liked this film quite a bit, though it did have two flaws. The sound stage was too often an obvious sound stage--with obviously painted mountains as a backdrop. Also, I think it might have benefited if they'd made Jeff less of a completely cynical jerk. It was odd seeing a nice-guy actor like Van Johnson playing a nasty little alcoholic and they part could have been better without the crabby aspects of the character. However, the music is lovely, the story sweet and there is still a lot to admire in this film.I happened to watch the 1966 made for TV version of "Brigadoon" a week ago--and I enjoyed it enough that I sought out the original theatrical version from 1954. Both, naturally, are very similar though there are a few differences. First, because Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse were in this Hollywood production, naturally there would be more dancing than singing. Second, oddly, the story of how Brigadoon came to be was changed for the 1954 version. I have no idea why. And, finally, the 1954 version was made to look like a typical Hollywood production that was, as I mentioned above, made in a sound stage--and the 1966 version had a few actual outdoor scenes and much of the rest looked like it was on a theater stage. Both are very watchable, though I prefer the 1954 film. If you would like to see the 1966 version (starring Robert Goulet), it is available to watch free at archive.org.

atlasmb Many musicals take place in exotic locales, but few as exotic as Brigadoon--a quaint village frozen in time, unknown to the outside world. A good place to set a fantastic story about love and its power.Brigadoon has not always been a favorite of mine. But on further watching, I have come to enjoy this dream-like tale about a man, a woman, and a village.First of all, there are the sets--with the hillsides of heather so fanatically tended by Vincente Minelli's crew--and the set design itself. Add to that the costuming, the Lerner & Loewe songs, great orchestration, and the balletic beauty of Cyd Charisse partnered by Gene Kelly.I don't think this film should be dismissed due to its fantastical premise (that a town like Brigadoon exists). Otherwise, we must dismiss Peter Pan, Groundhog Day, Carousel, Heaven Can Wait, Camelot, and any number of other films which ask us to suspend disbelief in the name of love or beauty. Such films fan the fires of the imagination and use their premises to isolate issues or concepts, like the power of love. Or the importance of living each day like it's your last. Or preserving the childlike part of your personality.This is a beautifully rendered film and it reaches out to all the true romantics and asks what would you give up for a quiet, simpler life and a pure, passionate love?

dimplet The bottom line in a review is, did you enjoy the movie? The next question is why, or why not? For me, the movie is OK, but not great. Why? The music is as good as it gets, the acting is good, the story line tugs at your heartstrings. Yet it generally falls a bit flat. This is the same puzzle that Bosley Crowther confronted in his New York Times review of 1954. He had two complaints: several of the key songs from the Broadway production were cut, and the dancing was too mechanistic:-- "But the dancing and the performance—well, we're afraid that it is in here that the life and the smoothness of the original have been perceptibly lost—which is odd, because the personable Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse have the lead dancing roles. Even so, their several individual numbers are done too slickly, too mechanistically. What should be wistful and lyric smack strongly of trickery and style. And the several ensemble dances—with the exception of the wild and fierce "The Chase," wherein the Scots pursue a fugitive from their village—seem as calculated as Rockette parades.It might be noted that Mr. Kelly has taken credit for the choreography. On the stage, it was by Agnes De Mille." --Re-examining "The Heather on the Hill" dance routine, I have to agree. It is a long ballet number that seems to be saying, "We've got good taste." If there had been a separate choreographer, rather than the lead dancer, it might have been easier for the director to identify and correct the weaknesses. Brigadoon, which opened in 1947, is one of the early modern musicals. Oklahoma! in 1943 is generally credited as being the first modern musical, which fully integrated song and dance with the story, without resorting to gimmicks like making one or more of the roles a singer/dancer, such as in Showboat or the Fred Astaire movies. Actually, you could make a case for "The Wizard of Oz" as being the first. The problem confronting these musicals is how do you retain some credibility when people start singing and dancing? With Rodgers and Hammerstein, they worked hard to make the dance numbers fit the characters and locale, so in Oklahoma! we have cowboy-style dancing. With How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, we get whimsical officer worker dance routines. In Brigadoon, we do get Scottish dance routines, and it is unlikely that one or two numbers, like Heather on the Hill, would deflate the whole show. But we see a problem that would sink Hello, Dolly!, which Gene Kelly would both direct and choreograph: There is too much emphasis on technique. Hiring a separate choreographer would have helped, but the studio was in a cost-cutting mode.Filming it entirely in a studio didn't help, given that Scotland was like one of the characters in the story. Wikipedia says the weather in Scotland was too unpredictable, but they had found a spot in California that could have been a stand-in. I think the realism of filming outside would have helped make this fantasy work. Omitting four songs may also have hurt character development. More depth to the story might have helped bring the village of Brigadoon alive for the viewer.Ultimately, I do not know why Brigadoon is a bit disappointing. But it is worth watching. And when you do, you need to make an extra effort to shelve disbelief because this is a fairy tale. The strength of the story is wanting to escape from the rat race of the modern world, something many have felt for a long time. But the problems in the world are not just due to society, but to troubled individuals, and there is no full escape. In this regard, Brigadoon anticipates The Village, though it is certainly not as central to the plot.One element of the story is believable. I would move to Brigadoon in a heartbeat to be with Cyd Charisse!Spoiler alert:On Tuesday the village of Brigadoon gets bulldozed to make way for a hyper-space bypass and factory outlet shopping mall.Idea: Brigadoon is ripe for a remake with the missing numbers restored. It would look fantastic shot on location, or at least some CGI. It would seem George Clooney would be a natural for Tommy Albright, Tom Hanks could play Jeff, and Catherine Zeta-Jones would be a dynamite Fiona. Until you try to imagine them singing and dancing across the heather. Are there any leading men in Hollywood that can sing and dance? Well, there's always ballet dancers.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris, The Band Wagon, Gigi), I saw who the leading actor and a four star rating, but I didn't know anything about it, so I thought whatever, let's try it. Basically a pair of Americans from New York, Tommy Albright (Gene Kelly) and Jeff Douglas (Van Johnson) have come to Scotland on a hunting vacation, but they have managed to get themselves lost. Then they discover the quaint and cheerful village of Brigadoon, a place not on the map, but later on there is a good explanation for that, and until then Tommy has met Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse). She and all the other residents of the village are looking forward to the big wedding of Fiona's sister Jean (Virginia Bosler) and Harry Beaton (Hugh Laing) before the end of the day. After some love dance sequences between Tommy and Fiona, he and Jeff are told about the enchanted village, there were some witches or something that put a big spell over the village, and it now only wakes up one day every year, and to the villagers it just seems like two days have gone by, not two hundred years. So with time running out Tommy is deciding whether he wants to believe this story and stay in the village with new love Fiona, or leave and risk not seeing her again, he decides that leaving would be a better idea, especially after Jeff accidentally kills someone. Months go by after Tommy and Jeff have returned to New York, but Tommy's love for Fiona still hurts him deep inside, many certain words said in conversation remind him of being in Brigadoon. In the end, Tommy and Jeff take the chance to find the Scottish village again and keep it awake for all time, and obviously they do, and Tommy and Fiona are lovingly reunited. Also starring Elaine Stewart as Jane Ashton, Barry Jones as Mr. Lundie, Albert Sharpe as Andrew Campbell, Jimmy Thompson as Charlie Chisholm Dalrymple, Tudor Owen as Archie Beaton, Owen McGiveney as Angus, Dee Turnell as Ann, Dodie Heath as Meg Brockie and Eddie Quillan as Sandy. Kelly is good both acting and dancing, he did the choreography as well, Charisse does well as his love interest as well, and Johnson gets some good lines and moments too. Some of the songs including "I'll Go Home with Bonnie Jean", "The Heather on the Hill" and "Almost Like Being In Love" are catchy, and some of the dancing is good, but with dodgy Scottish accents and a little underdeveloped story I can see why this film is overlooked, but not a bad musical. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Sound, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Cinematography. Very good!