Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), is a
musical film, photographed in
Ansco Color in the
CinemaScope format. The film was directed by
Stanley Donen, with music by
Saul Chaplin and
Gene de Paul and lyrics by
Johnny Mercer, and choreography by
Michael Kidd. The screenplay, by
Albert Hackett,
Frances Goodrich, and
Dorothy Kingsley, is based on the short story "
The Sobbin' Women", by
Stephen Vincent Benét, which was based in turn on the
Ancient Roman legend of
The Rape of the Sabine Women.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which is set in
Oregon in 1850, is particularly known for Kidd's unusual choreography, which makes dance numbers out of such mundane
frontier pursuits as chopping wood and
raising a barn. Film critic Stephanie Zacharek has called the barn-raising sequence in
Seven Brides "one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put on screen."