Royal Wedding is a 1951 American musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Set in 1947 London at the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, the film follows an American brother-sister song and dance duo who, while performing, each fall in love — he, with a female dancer, and she, with an impoverished but well-connected nobleman. The film marked Donen's second directorial feature. It was released as Wedding Bells in the United Kingdom.
Theatrical poster
Peter Lawford, Jane Powell and Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding
Astaire in "Sunday Jumps"
Astaire in "You're All the World to Me"
Stanley Donen was an American film director and choreographer. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 1998, and the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. Four of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
Donen in 2010
Sinatra and Kelly in Anchors Aweigh
Fred Astaire dances on the walls and ceiling in Royal Wedding, a special effect using a rotating reinforced-steel cylindrical chamber in which to film.
Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain