Rating: 
Summary: One of Jane Powell's finest musicals
Review: ROYAL WEDDING gives Jane Powell one of her most glittering showcases. The film features several great songs and a charming backstage-type story.Jane Powell and Fred Astaire play a brother-sister dance act who are invited to perform in London during the festivities of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. The rest of the film is a frothy, tunesome delight that is totally charming. Powell gets to wrap her crystalline chops around the song "Too Late Now" (arguably the score's highlight), while Fred Astaire performs his memorable dance that roams the walls and ceiling of his hotel-room. Sarah Churchill (the daughter of Prime Minister Winston Churchill), plays Astaire's prim love interest, while Peter Lawford plays suitor to Jane Powell. The film also features Keenan Wynn playing twins in a highly-amusing performance. The songs include "Every Night at Seven" and "I Left My Hat in Haiti".
Rating: 
Summary: love the movie, hate the transfer
Review: Royal Wedding is a minor Astaire movie, not even up to Easter Parade, but his dancing was (as always) just amazing. The scene where he dances with a coat-rack is one of my favorites from anyplace (and is clearly an inspiration for Mel Gibson's dance in "What Women Want" -- Mr. Astaire does it incomparably better...). Jane Powell is too chirpy, but they have a very good number together ("How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?"), and she can sing and dance. Sarah Churchill (as the love-interest), on the other hand, is really wooden, and the entire subplot with her family is dull. The real problem is the transfer to DVD. I think that took a worn-out tape from a rental store, left in the trunk of a car for a month, and then made the transfer. It looks terrible. It only cost a few bucks, so I expected it to be poor, but I'd love for some reputable people to release it -- I'd buy it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware this "bootleg" DVD
Review: ROYAL WEDDING isn't on DVD yet. That's because the OWNER of the film, Warner Bros. hasn't released it yet.
But several other companies have, under the "guise" of public domain. The original copyright on the film was not renewed properly with the Library of Congress, so the film is perceived to be public domain, although the music is very much copyrighted and every distributor of this movie is participating in copyright infringement by selling these "bootlegs".
The companies make the money, because they're selling OTHER people's property.
The people who ultimately suffer are YOU, THE CONSUMER, unknowingly buying products of inferior (worse than professional VHS) quality, thinking you're getting the real thing, because it's a DVD.
Save your money. Wait until Warner Bros. gives us the real thing
thing...
And by the way, the movie gets 4 stars, it's the cheapo bootleg DVD that gets 1 star!
Rating: 
Summary: Comparison of two releases
Review: The 2001 digitally remastered GoodTimes DVD if far superior in both picture and sound than this 2002 Alpha Video DVD. -- Roy
Rating:
Summary: Good movie. Lousy transfer.
Review: The other reviewers knew what they were talking about. This DVD may well be a contestant for worst video transfer of all times. I've seen VHS tapes that look better than this production. The tragedy in all of this is centered in the fact that the movie itself contains some truly classic Astaire dance routines. Let's hope that somewhere down the line this movie will get the kind of DVD incarnation it deserves.
Rating: 
Summary: Good songs, dancing but a boring story
Review: The story is boring and slow moving.
The best scenes are where Fred Astaire appears
to dance on the walls and ceiling of a room and
the "Too Late Now" and "I Left My Hat In Haiti"
numbers.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, [not pleased with DVD quality]
Review: There are two classic Fred Astaire performances in this movie: the dance with the hat rack and his dance on the walls and ceiling. These alone are worth the price of admission. The story is a bit weak and seems mainly an excuse to send the crew to England for the royal wedding of Mountbatten. Still it's very enjoyable. ...The color consistency [of the DVD version] varies from scene to scene and even within a scene. The picture is never sharp and often displays serious compression artifacts. Goodtimes, the publisher of this mess, includes the disclaimer that the DVD was made "using the best available sources". Best available means some low-quality VHS tape they had sitting in the closet since they had to access to the master film. The audio is also horrible - noisy and jumbled. ...if you want to enjoy this movie, buy the VHS tape - it's far better...
Rating:
Summary: Astaire and Powell are Great!
Review: This DVD was great fun to watch! The story line is a little weak but the dance numbers are great! The picture and sound quality of this version is very good (not restored but still good). For the price you can't go wrong! If you like musicals, buy this one!
Rating:
Summary: A memorable film
Review: This film doesn't have many memorable songs, but it certainly has its moments. The highlight of this film is when Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling and walls of his room. The quality of the film is not that bad. The movie has a Easter Parade feeling about it. It is not the best film Astaire ever made, but it is well worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: definitely worth buying
Review: This is a delightful movie with some wonderful dancing and music. I really didn't find the quality of the picture to be that bad. It is not prime DVD quality, but it is certainly good enough. In fact after reading some of the reviews before ordering it I thought the quality was much better than I expected. Besides, I'd far rather listen to great music on records than mediocre music on CD's. The same applies here. Fred Astaire's masterful dancing far outweighs the picture quality which again isn't really that bad. I think for the price this DVD is a real bargain. Don't pass it up.
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