This is a great movie about a backwoodsman named Adam who goes into town to find him a woman to cook and clean and pick up after him and six brothers. He scours the town, sizing up the women he finds, but most of them don't meet his approval. Either they're too weak, or too old, or already married, but he eventually comes across Millie, a woman who works at inn, and she's out back chopping wood. After taking a look at her apparent durability and tasting her cooking, he asks her to marry him... but nothing flowery here, he straight out asks her if she wants to come out with him to live on his farm. He then practically explains to her that he would have properly wooed her, if there had been enough time, but he just didn't have the time. Millie is kind of taken with Adam however and looks right past his rough frankness, thinking that he's quite taken with her. She's also not very happy with her life at the inn, having the feed and pick up after a small army everyday. When she's taken home however, she finds out that's exactly what she signed on for. She's upset at first, but she really takes the boys to her heart and starts preparing them to find girls of their own... and as they're all rough backwoodsmen who've never been in a lady's presence for longer than a second, she has to teach them some manners. The boy's make an impression on several girls in town, but things don't go as planned and they all end up back on the farm with only themselves for company. Now that they've discovered love though, they're all miserable, and Adam is worried he'll lose them all. He hatches a plot to kidnap their lovers, but when he carries it out and brings them unwillingly back home, Millie is so furious that she kicks the men out of the house for the winter (as the pass back to the village is of course snowed in). Adam is miffed at Millie's anger and decides to hide away in some forest cabin for the winter, leaving the boys to fetch and carry for the girls, without actually being able to interact with any of them. As spring comes around, the girls seem to have more than forgiven the boys, and Millie seems to be pregnant. Will the boys and girls be able to be together when the girl's fathers catch up with them? And will Adam ever value Millie as his brothers seem to value their ladies? Watch the find out!!!
I love this movie. The plot and the songs might sound a little but chauvinistic, and it is, but unlike many films of the time, this chauvinism is contested. In fact the way Adam acts toward Millie is almost satirically overplayed as we watch and listen to him size up women to be his wife/ maid, as we hear him convince his brothers that it is ok to kidnap the girls by telling them about the rape of the sabine women, etc. Don't get me wrong, this was a reality in the past. This exact situation actually happened with members of my own family... and they actually had six other siblings, though one was female. The way Seven Brides presents the 'man first' attitude is to have it noticeably present, and have Millie noticeably resist it. Also, the brothers are all sweetly infatuated with their sweethearts of choice, and At the end, Adam and Millie's situation also takes a turn toward the better nearing the end of the story. To top it all off, the songs are great, and it's a musical about freaking lumberjacks! How often do you come across that!? It's a combination of one of the most 'girly' interests- musicals, and one of the most masculine personalities- lumberjacks/ backwoodsmen. If you like musicals, love stories, pioneering times, comedies, barn yard brawls, or just good film, this is a definite must watch.
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