Rating: 
Summary: WARNER SLIPPING IN THEIR CLASSIC INTEGRITY
Review: "Father of the Bride" is the Vincente Minnelli comedy that introduced us to the angst of hosting your daughter's wedding reception. Spencer Tracy is the careworn 'dad' in the title, Joan Bennett, his adoring wife and Elizabeth Taylor is the bride. In comparing the original with the Steve Martin remake of the early 1990's, its remarkable to see how much of the brilliant screenplay was simply imported for the update. But for classic buffs, there will only be one "Father of the Bride".After their sterling efforts on "Mildred Pierce" I had high hopes that Warner was going to continue their excellence in catalogue title remastering. Perhaps I was mistaken. Although the original film elements of "Father of the Bride" have worn remarkably well, there remain chips, scratches, camera flutter and a few nasty occasions of tearing that crop up on the negative used to remaster this DVD. The picture has an uncharacteristically soft look to it. Aliasing, pixelization and edge enhancement are all present, sometimes obviously so. Shimmering of fine details is also a cause for concern. Over all, this release is a definite step down in committment and quality from other Warner DVD's of the classics and I, for one, find the sudden "ho-hum" attitude a bit alarming. The audio, as expected, is mono, as it originally was and, in general, it is nicely represented with little to no background hiss.
Extras: REALLY DISAPPOINTING! - two featurettes - one celebrating Elizabeth Taylor's real life marriage to Nicky Hilton, the other, a photo op with then, President Truman, meeting the cast of the film - BOTH WITH NO SOUND!!! Honestly, what is the point?
BOTTOM LINE: Although most people will not be disappointed by the transfer quality of this disc, it should be noted that Warner has definitely begun to pare down their restoration efforts, especially where there MGM catalogue titles are concerned.
Rating: 
Summary: Charming as ever!
Review: "Father of the bride", starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Bennett is just magical. It's basically the story of a young girl who's anouncing to her parents ( Tracy and Bennett ), that she is getting married at age 20, to a young man they hardly know. the news comes has a shock to her father, who's afraid of losing her. And the whole process of planning the marriage comes along. Bennett wants a big wedding for her daughter,to replace the one she never had. But Tracy doesn't want to ruin himself, and tries to keep the wedding as cheap as possible though it doesn't quite come to this. The movies is fun, charming and just as magical as a Tracy film can be. Tracy never acted really but impersonnated his values and morals through passionnate characters that believed in what they were saying and stucked to it. And in this particular performance, he's more vulnerable, than we've seen before, showing the real depth of what a father goes through when is daughter gets married. Because as he says in the film, A son doesn't mean the same to a father than a daughter. And that's what the movie is all about. The relationship between a father and a duaghter, in between the constant love of a mother.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Wedding Comedy With Spencer Tracy Never Better
Review: "Father of the Bride", is a total delight from beginning to end blessed as it is with one of the most splendid performances delivered by veteran actor Spencer Tracy in a career littered with fine work. It has quite rightfully earned the status of "classic" and despite it's firm place in 1950's America, it's quite simple premise of one families experience with the nightmare of a wedding "out of control", is one which still can be identified with even in the present day. It was the first of two wonderful teamings that Spencer Tracy had with his favourite "screen daughter" Elizabeth Taylor and their warm professional and personal regard for each other translates into some terrific screen chemistry in their roles of in-love daughter planning her dream wedding, and harassed father becoming totally traumatised by the expense and size of the affair as it grows bigger by the minute. MGM studios pulled out all the stops to make this film one of their major productions for 1950 and being by tradition the "family Studio" they were ideally suited to bring this story of the ideal family wedding to the screen. Based on a very popular novel of the same title by Edward Streeter it does indeed tell a simple story but laces the proceedings with many highly amusing incidents that most people who have experienced planning a wedding can identify with. Spencer Tracy plays Stanley Banks a prosperous Lawyer who finally it seems has every thing he wants in life, a lovely wife, house fully paid for, a beautiful daughter in college and two young sons. Suddenly he finds his whole cosy existence turned upside down when one evening his cherished daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor, never more lovely), announces that she is to be married and immediately Stanley finds himself swept into a whirlpool of wedding preparations designed to drive even the most sane individual into madness. As the date of the wedding approaches the original plans for a "quiet family wedding with just a few friends", balloons out into a major production and Stanley finds his sanity put to the extreme test as he has to deal with huge bills, snobby wedding consultants, irrate removalists, bills for invitations, bridemaids gifts,and reluctantly a new tuxedo. He has to share his house with a mounting pile of wedding gifts, some in questionnable taste like Aunt Hattie's Venus de Milo Clock and faces the chore of deciding who can actually be cut out of the invitation list to save costs without some offense being taken. Naturally along the way there are fights, disputes over the mounting costs and the absolute fright when suddenly Kay calls off the whole show when her fiance Buckley Dunstan fails to say he loves her often enough! The dreaded occasion of actually having to meet the "in laws" also causes poor Stanley no end of grief and the meeting ends with him getting totally drunk relating stories of Kay as a young girl to her propective in- laws. When everything is finally in place after months of wedding plans, engagement parties and rehearsals for the big day, followed by the giant wedding that Ellie (Joan Bennett) had always wanted herself but never had, Stanley finally realises that he is being robbed of the one thing that he cherishes most in life, his beloved daughter Kay, the apple of his eye, and realises that things will never be the same for he and Ellie again. With a narration delivered by Spencer Tracy which makes wry observations about the proceedings at hand, "Father of the Bride", is a highly amusing showcase for his supreme talents as a comic actor which often are forgotten in the light of his countless power house dramatic performances. Nominated for an Academy Award for his wonderful performance as was the film for Best Picture Tracy has never been better than here as we witness with an almost horrified amusement how Stanley's existence spins out of control. Joan Bennett, a frequent co star of Tracy's back at Fox in the 1930's here makes a belated MGM debut as Stanley's wife who gets caught up in all the arrangements for the wedding. Her work with Tracy is magical and it's one of her best later day performances. Her scene dealing with cutting down the invitation list but still wanting to include her Garden Club members as she is due for re-election is priceless. Elizabeth Taylor absolutely shines in the role of Kay and was there ever a more lovely bride seen on screen? Made just prior to her first real life wedding Elizabeth is wonderfully alive as the excited young girl facing marriage and her terrific screen chemistry with Spencer Tracy is a joy and contributes greatly to the more emotional points in the story. A sterling supporting cast so typical of MGM is gathered here, from the "in-laws",Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen, through to the stuffy disapproving wedding planner Leo G. Carroll in a superb performance who succeeds in a number of highly amusing scenes to ruffle Stanley's already quite tattered feathers. Directed with gusto by famed director Vincente Minnelli during his golden period at MGM the film was a huge success at the Box Office aided as it was by Elizabeth Taylor's real life nuptials a few months later. Being a major production for that year there is great expertise in every department from Pandro S. Berman producing, art direction by veteran Cedric Gibbons and stunning costume design, in particular for Elizabeth Taylor's beautiful wedding gown created by designer Helen Rose. Remade in the 1990's, the 1950 version of "Father of the Bride",is still unsurpassed and preserves forever Spencer Tracy's classic performance which could not be equalled. Passed off by many as now being dated I feel the humour and the situations still ring very true to anyone who has gone through planning a wedding. This terrific film was followed by an enjoyable sequel the following year "Father's Little Dividend" which continued on the trials and tribulations of Stanley Banks now facing the prospect of becoming a Grandfather with amusing results. Both make great classic viewing but this film is the gem of the two and should not be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Charming as ever!
Review: "Father of the bride", starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Bennett is just magical. It's basically the story of a young girl who's anouncing to her parents ( Tracy and Bennett ), that she is getting married at age 20, to a young man they hardly know. the news comes has a shock to her father, who's afraid of losing her. And the whole process of planning the marriage comes along. Bennett wants a big wedding for her daughter,to replace the one she never had. But Tracy doesn't want to ruin himself, and tries to keep the wedding as cheap as possible though it doesn't quite come to this. The movies is fun, charming and just as magical as a Tracy film can be. Tracy never acted really but impersonnated his values and morals through passionnate characters that believed in what they were saying and stucked to it. And in this particular performance, he's more vulnerable, than we've seen before, showing the real depth of what a father goes through when is daughter gets married. Because as he says in the film, A son doesn't mean the same to a father than a daughter. And that's what the movie is all about. The relationship between a father and a duaghter, in between the constant love of a mother.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet Classic
Review: A sweet, sincere class with lots of interesting and insightful observations about weddings that are every bit as relevant today as when the film was made.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Wedding Movie
Review: Another oldie I adore. What a great concept, to do a wedding movie from the father's perspective. Spencer is the head of the household, or so he thinks, who gets steamrolled into giving his most beloved daughter, Kaye (Elizabeth Taylor) a wedding bigger than anything he could have ever even dreamed (or nightmared) of! Spencer narrates the story, starting from a scene of frightening carnage, at his home after his daughter's wedding reception. From his daughter's annoyingly coy announcement of her impending marriage to Buckley Dunston, yup, that's right, Buckley, to the wedding rehersal, Spencer hardly knows which end is up. This movie, although in black and white and made ages ago, still rings true. While buckets upon buckets of movies show the mother daughter relationship, this movie shows the ties that bind a father and daughter, and the difficulty and emotion that ensues when that relationship changes forever. This movie is funny, touching and very sweet. So if you're an old, crusty cynic, this is not your cup of tea!
Rating: 
Summary: Colorized Version
Review: Beware - this version of a classic film is COLORIZED. Those of you who love B&W films should stay away.
Rating:
Summary: The original comedy film about marriage with Tracy & Taylor
Review: Elizabeth Taylor is the most beautiful bride in the history of the movies and Spencer Tracy is the suffering "Father of the Bride" in this 1950 film directed by Vincent Minnelli. Stanley Banks (Tracy) finds his peaceful life is tossed upside down when his daughter Kay (Taylor) announces she is going to marry Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor). In the aftermath of the wedding, Stanley recounts in great detail the many problems a father has to contend with during the preparations for the wedding. But all the headaches are made worthwhile when he opens the door and see Kay in her wedding dress for the first time in a superbly beautiful shot of the radiant young bridge. This is one of those shots that makes you forget the film is not in color. Joan Bennett is first rate as Ellie, the woman caught between her husband and daughter, while Moroni Olson and Billie Burke play Buckley's parents and Leo G. Carroll gets the choice role of Mr. Massoula, the wedding planner. Tracy became very much the father figure for Taylor after this role, which certainly shows in their on-screen chemistry, and she always called him "Pops" until the day he died. The film was based on the novel by Edward Streeter and was quickly followed by a sequel, "Father's Little Dividend." The recent remake with Steve Martin was totally unnecessary, but you have to admire anybody who would take on a role for which Spencer Tracy was nominated for an Oscar. Remind me to watch this film when my daughters start planning their weddings.
Rating:
Summary: The original comedy film about marriage with Tracy & Taylor
Review: Elizabeth Taylor is the most beautiful bride in the history of the movies and Spencer Tracy is the suffering "Father of the Bride" in this 1950 film directed by Vincent Minnelli. Stanley Banks (Tracy) finds his peaceful life is tossed upside down when his daughter Kay (Taylor) announces she is going to marry Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor). In the aftermath of the wedding, Stanley recounts in great detail the many problems a father has to contend with during the preparations for the wedding. But all the headaches are made worthwhile when he opens the door and see Kay in her wedding dress for the first time in a superbly beautiful shot of the radiant young bridge. This is one of those shots that makes you forget the film is not in color. Joan Bennett is first rate as Ellie, the woman caught between her husband and daughter, while Moroni Olson and Billie Burke play Buckley's parents and Leo G. Carroll gets the choice role of Mr. Massoula, the wedding planner. Tracy became very much the father figure for Taylor after this role, which certainly shows in their on-screen chemistry, and she always called him "Pops" until the day he died. The film was based on the novel by Edward Streeter and was quickly followed by a sequel, "Father's Little Dividend." The recent remake with Steve Martin was totally unnecessary, but you have to admire anybody who would take on a role for which Spencer Tracy was nominated for an Oscar. Remind me to watch this film when my daughters start planning their weddings.
Rating:
Summary: Tastefully made film !
Review: Enjoyable picure where you will fid to Tracy in one of his best performances as the suffered father who is conducting all the issues related with your daughter`s wedding . His wife - Joan Bennet - is magnificent . Elizabeth Tayor and Don Taylor is the happy couple .
This is much more than a simple american comedy of the fifties . Fifty years later still keeps its freshness and rapture .
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