Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Father of the Bride Blu-ray Movie Review

Those Were the Days

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 10, 2016

According to theatrical tradition, comedies end with a marriage, and Vincente Minnelli's Father of the Bride ("FotB") is no exception. The novelty of Minnelli's film, adapted from a bestselling novel by Edward Streeter, is that it's told from the perspective of a bystander to the main event, while the happy couple are relegated to supporting roles. That didn't stop MGM from spotlighting the bride in its publicity campaign, which received a boost from the heavily publicized marriage of Elizabeth Taylor just a few days before FotB's release presented her fictional nuptials onscreen. Taylor's marriage to Conrad Hilton, Jr. (her first of eight) lasted less than year, but FotB was more successful. It became one of 1950's top-grossing films, was nominated for three Oscars and prompted both a sequel, Father's Little Dividend, and a 1991 remake (starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton). In 2000, the film placed at 83 on the AFI's list of the top one hundred American comedies.

Taylor's glamor may have fueled the ad campaign, but the credit for FotB's endurance goes to Spencer Tracy and his canny portrayal of the titular father for whom the wedding is as much an elegy as a celebration. Within Minnelli's unobtrusively elegant staging, Tracy always manages to convey his character's sad recognition that this wedding marks the passage of time and a recognition of his own mortality. Audiences may have flocked to FotB because of Taylor's glamor, but they stayed for Tracy's bittersweet charm.

"I always used to think that marriages were a simple affair", says Stanley T. Banks (Tracy) as FotB opens, in the beleaguered tone of a sadder but wiser man. "Boy meets girl. Fall in love. They get married. Have babies. Eventually the babies grow up and meet other babies." As Stanley wearily surveys the after-party wreckage of the elaborate reception he has just finished hosting, he recounts for the audience how it all came to be.

A successful attorney, Stanley was accustomed to returning after the working day to the cozy suburban home he shares with wife Ellie (Joan Bennett), sons Ben and Tommy (Tom Irish and Russ Tamblyn), and daughter Kay (Taylor), who is the eldest child. Stanley's illusion of being head of the household is shattered one day, when Kay announces that she is marrying Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor), a young man whose face hasn't stuck in Stanley's memory from the parade of potential beaus cruising past the Banks household. From the moment the family learns of Kay's engagement, Stanley finds himself repeatedly pushed aside—by Ellie, the bride's mother, who wants to give Kay the elaborate wedding she never had; by Kay herself, whose eye (alternately dreamy and teary) is fixed firmly on her future; by the minister performing the ceremony (Paul Harvey); and by assorted supporting personnel, including the fastidious wedding planner, Mr. Massoula (Leo G. Carroll, bringing a touch of English snobbery to a role that would be hilariously reinvented by Martin Short for the 1991 remake). As Stanley quickly learns, his role is to pay for everything and leave the rest to others. Even at the event himself, his part is limited to walking Kay down the aisle, saying two words on cue, then stepping back for good.

As Stanley is repeatedly reminded of his now-reduced role in his daughter's life, Minnelli stages intimate domestic scenes that would become much-imitated templates for the classic TV family comedies of the Fifties: gentle disagreements between husband and wife, tender but emotionally fraught encounters between father and daughter, sarcastic comments from the sons circulating around the fringes of the wedding maelstrom and, of course, the obligatory awkward first encounter with the future in-laws (Moroni Olsen and Billie Burke). But FotB's best scenes are those where Minnelli orchestrates crowd choreography so elaborate that even a static frame seems to vibrate with activity. An early example is the engagement party, where Stanley becomes trapped in his own kitchen mixing drinks for an endless parade of guests (and never even gets to make his speech). On the morning of the wedding, the house is invaded by Mr. Missoula's army of minions, colliding and arguing with the movers clearing the house of furniture so that it can accommodate the enormous guest list. Then there's the reception itself, which Minnelli covers in a fluid, unbroken overhead shot surveying the entirety of the Banks property, all of it overrun by partygoers. The external chaos mirrors Stanley's inner state, which doesn't begin to settle until everyone has gone and he's sitting exhausted in the aftermath, at which point the film returns to its beginning.

FotB wasn't a period piece when it was made, but it has become one in the intervening years. The idyllic suburban oasis temporarily disrupted by Kay's wedding no longer exists (if indeed it ever did). But the context still feels true, because the distinctive mixture of pride and sadness that accompanies letting one's children go hasn't changed. Even at his most ridiculous moments, Stanley conveys those emotions with the simple directness that made Spencer Tracy an acting legend.

Father of the Bride Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Father of the Bride was shot by the eccentric (and sometimes controversial) cinematographer John Alton (An American in Paris), who abruptly dropped out of the film industry ten years later (after shooting Elmer Gantry) to relax and travel the world. (He resurfaced in 1993 to attend the premiere of the cinematography documentary, Visions of Light.) The film's original nitrate negative was one of the victims of the 1978 fire at the George Eastman House that claimed some 500 MGM properties. All home video versions have been taken from a "safety" fine-grain master positive created by MGM in the Sixties. Due to the film's success, the negative had already deteriorated from being used for release prints when the fine-grain master was made. In the half century since that time, the fine-grain master has been repeatedly used for prints and transfers, thereby suffering further deterioration.

Prior HD presentations of Father of the Bride have originated from a 1080i transfer created in 2002. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, the Warner Archive Collection has newly scanned the fine-grain master at 2K, followed by extensive cleanup. Special challenges were presented by director Minnelli's frequent use of optical dissolves, which cause variations in density, grain and detail that would have been less evident on release prints, especially after several weeks in use, but can become a distraction on hi-def video unless careful attention is paid in scanning and digital restoration.

Given the challenges of the source material, WAC's results are astonishing. The detail is good enough to reveal fine points of the party refuse strewn throughout the Banks home in the opening shot, to pick out individual faces in crowded scenes, and to resolve the many tiny lines criss-crossing Buckley Dunstan's Glen plaid overcoat. Blacks are solid, whites are bright without blooming, and shades of gray are well-delineated. The grain pattern is finely rendered, and although one can certainly spot the somewhat lesser quality of the opticals during fade-ins and fade-outs, you have to be looking for it, because the digital colorists have deftly massaged the transitions. WAC has authored FotB at its usual high bitrate, 34.92 Mbps, with a first-rate encode.

Father of the Bride Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The original audio elements for FotB also fell victim to the 1978 vault fire, and the Blu-ray's mono track, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, has been taken from the optical track of the safety master. Digitally cleaned up and tweaked, the track is free of pops, clicks or hiss, and the dialogue is clear and intelligible, even in scenes where characters overlap each other, such as the multiple speakers ordering drinks from Stanley at the engagement party. Sound effects are kept to the bare minimum necessary to tell the story. The understated score is by Adolph Deutch (The Maltese Falcon).

Father of the Bride Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras have been ported over from Warner's 2006 DVD release of Father of the Bride. The film's trailer has been remastered in 1080p. Note that the two newsreel excerpts come from the Hearst archives at UCLA and, as with many of the Hearst Newsreels from that area, the audio has not survived.

• Wedding Bells for Star Elizabeth Taylor (480i; 1.37:1; 1:24): A short newsreel taken at Taylor's wedding to Conrad Hilton, Jr. (Video, but no audio.)



• President Truman Meets the Father of the Bride (480i; 1.37:1; 1:12): The cast meet, greet and pose for pictures. (Video, but no audio.)



• Trailer (1080p; 1.37:1; ): "Ladies and gentlemen, we should like to present to you: the Bride . . . the Mother of the Bride . . . and Last, and Least, the Father of the Bride."

Father of the Bride Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

According to the TCM Archives, Spencer Tracy almost didn't make FotB. Jack Benny wanted the role, and MGM production chief Dore Shary made Minnelli give Benny a screen test. It's too bad the footage didn't survive, because it would make a fascinating study in contrasts. No doubt Benny could have milked the script for every laugh, but the tale's emotional undertow was beyond his range. The film needed Tracy. Highly recommended.