BRIGADOON (1954)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*

FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*

CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*


BRIGADOON is one of those musicals that's more memorable for its concept than for its execution. Though I've enjoyed the peerless dancing of both Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse elsewhere, here their interactions lack the sort of sublimated sexual heat that exemplifies the best romantic movie-choreography. I've never seen the musical on stage, but I have the impression that the very concept that makes the story memorable is the one that tamps down the potential eroticism. Lerner and Loewe's idea of Brigadoon-- a Scottish village that exists apart from the chaotic world, but crosses path with modernity once every hundred years-- depends on the idea that this small town is so peaceful and quaint that the people there don't need the rest of the world. To be sure, the scripters draw attention to a salient problem with an isolated village-- namely, not everyone has access to a mate-- but the viewer is expected to be swept up in the fantasy and to view the inclusion of Kelly's character as a symbolic solution.

Tommy (Kelly) and Jeff (Van Johnson) stumble across the village while hunting grouse in the wilds of Scotland. Back in the U.S. Tommy is engaged to a woman named Joan, but the fact that he's continually postponed the wedding suggests he's less than content with his choice. Tommy is the earnest seeker after something to believe in, while Jeff is skeptical of all intangibles. Once the two wander into Brigadoon, they slowly realize that the natives have been alive for a few centuries, though every day they live is equivalent to one hundred years in the real world. Lerner's script presumably owes something to Celtic legends of the underworld, where time passes more slowly than in the living world. Yet, Lerner eschews any reference to faerie, and instead has his "exposition character," schoolmaster Lundie, spin a confusing tale. It seems that at some point the village was menaced by certain "witches," and though Lundie denies that the witches had any real supernatural power, Brigadoon's minister thought they would doom the peaceful hamlet. So he prayed for Brigadoon's preservation, and Heaven answered by putting the town in its own "pocket universe."

The crucial drama depends on the romantic interaction of Tommy and local girl Fiona (Charisse). As with the dance-numbers, the acting between Kelly and Charisse is okay, but for me, not good enough to rate with the best in cinema's genre of musical romance. Jeff, predictably, furnishes most of the humor when he's pursued by one of the man-hungry Scottish lasses. Rather more unexpectedly, he's also a source of pathos. One of the local men, distraught when he loses his beloved to a rival, tries to leave Brigadoon, which act will bring the timeless peace to an end. Jeff, out hunting grouse, accidentally shoots the fleeing man. Though he's blameless in the man's death, he infects Tommy with his guilt, so that Tommy feels obligated to return to the normal world and to the fiancee he doesn't love.

If you can't guess how the movie ends from here, you may not have seen too many romantic musicals. I'm aware that some musical fans prize the score highly, but I didn't like any of the songs as much as those from such Lerner and Loewe collaborations as CAMELOT and MY FAIR LADY.