Warner Home Video Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of ``Seven Brides for Seven Brothers''

Business Wire, August 30, 2004

BURBANK, Calif. -- Warner Home Video:

-- Nominated for Four Academy Awards(R) Including Best Picture! Winner for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture

-- Two-Disc Special Edition DVD with Fully Remastered Picture and Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound Available October 12

Get ready for one of the liveliest, leaping-est, sassiest and happiest musicals ever, as Warner Home Video presents the 50th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition DVD release of the classic "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" on October 12.

Directed by Stanley Donen ("Singin' in the Rain"), and starring Jane Powell ("Royal Wedding," "Hit the Deck") and Howard Keel ("Annie Get Your Gun," "Kiss Me Kate"), "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" was nominated for four Academy(R) Awards and won for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. This Western musical is distinguished by a soaring score by Saul Chaplin ("Kiss Me Kate," "West Side Story") and Gene de Paul ("Alice in Wonderland") with lyrics by Johnny Mercer ("Moon River"), and brilliant, acrobatic dancing scenes choreographed by Michael Kidd ("Band Wagon," "Guys and Dolls").

Presented for the first time on DVD in new anamorphic 16x9 format transfer, enhanced for widescreen and with new Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio, the "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" Two-Disc Special Edition DVD has extras to please every mountain man or woman, including the newly remastered original CinemaScope (2.55:1) version as well as the rarely-seen alternate widescreen (1.75:1) version, director Stanley Donen's commentary, a newly updated cast & crew documentary, vintage featurettes and premiere newsreel, and a Donen musicals trailer gallery, all for a $26.99 SRP.

Of interest to press and consumers alike is that two versions of the film exist, one in CinemaScope and the other in traditional widescreen, due to the fact that in 1953, Cinemascope was brand new. MGM was concerned that if it was a fad they would have an unusable film in the long-run, so for protection they shot the film twice. Two different takes of each shot with different staging was filmed which reflect the different frame size of traditional widescreen (which is less wide and more rectangular) and CinemaScope. By the time the film was released, CinemaScope had proven a huge success and the alternate version has rarely been seen making this its home video premiere.

In "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," Adam (Howard Keel), the eldest of seven brothers, goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly (Jane Powell) to marry him that same day. After they return to his backwoods home she discovers he has six brothers -- all living in his cabin. Milly sets out to reform the uncouth siblings, who are anxious to get wives of their own. Then, after reading about the Roman capture of the Sabine women, Adam develops an inspired solution to his brothers' loneliness...kidnap the women they want from the surrounding villages!

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" DVD extra content features include:

Disc One:

    --  Audio Commentary by Stanley Donen

    --  "MGM Jubilee Overture" (1954 MGM "30th Anniversary" Theatrical
        Short Subject shot in CinemaScope and Technicolor, featuring
        the M-G-M Symphony Orchestra, led by Johnny Green, playing a
        medley of eleven well-known songs used in some of the studio's
        best-known musicals. Presented in a new 16x9 2.55 anamorphic
        transfer with 5.1 digital audio)

    --  Stanley Donen Trailer Gallery

        --  "On the Town" 1949, "Royal Wedding" 1951, "Singin' in the
            Rain" 1952, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" 1954, "It's
            Always Fair Weather" 1955, "The Pajama Game" 1957, "Damn
            Yankees!" 1958

    Disc Two:

    --  "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" Rarely-seen 1.77:1 alternate
        Widescreen Version

    --  Updated and revised cast and crew documentary "Sobbin' Women:
        The Making of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," hosted by
        Howard Keel and featuring new interviews with Jane Powell and
        Jacques D'Amboise

    --  Radio City Music Hall Premiere - July 22, 1954

    --  "MGM's 30th Anniversary" (1954 MGM Newsreel)

With operations in 89 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

For more information on this and other titles distributed by Warner Home Video, visit www.whvdirect.com.

Artwork is downloadable at www.WHVDirect.com or by request.