cyd charisse and gene kelly
by Douglas Messerli
Alan Jay Lerner (screenplay and lyrics), Frederick Loewe
(music), Vicente Minnelli (director) Brigadoon
/ 1954
Although Cyd Charisse was brilliant
as the gambler's dancing moll in the long "I've Got to Dance" routine
in Kelly's Singing in the Rain, she
is even more exciting as the restrained Scottish elder sister in Minnelli's Brigadoon, where she again pairs up with
Gene Kelly.
Particularly in "The Heather on the Hill," where Kelly first
sings the song's lyrics before the two break out into dance, we can sense
Fiona's growing sexuality in the gracefulness of the long-legged Charisse's
moves. The couple begin their duet as a tease, pulling on the basket in which
she gathers heather (which in actuality was purple spray-painted sumac) and
spinning like innocents before she begins her gentle run higher and higher up
the hill.
There is a shyness about Charisse's balletic movements that perfectly
fits her character and allows us to take in the scenery, loch and
heather-covered hills, below where they dance.
Minnelli and others wanted to film the scene on location in Scotland,
but the studio insisted they do the entire shoot on the lot, which led some
critics to later criticize it for its slightly staged, artificial look. Yet, so
film-lore goes, the set was so realistically painted that several birds
attempted to fly into it. Certainly the dance is magical enough that viewers
may want to join them, leaping through the screen.
Los Angeles, February 27, 2011
Reprinted from World Cinema
Review (February
2011).
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