Royal Wedding

Royal Wedding (1951) is a Stanley Donen musical comedy with Fred Astaire that you can watch online on iFILM. Tom and Ellen are a brother-and-sister dance act out of New York, booked to perform in London just as the city readies itself for a royal wedding.

The Atlantic crossing catches both of them off guard with romance. Ellen falls for a charming English lord, and Tom, a confirmed bachelor, loses his head over a young dancer. What follows is a light tangle of feelings against a festive London full of crowds, flags and anticipation. The plot is slim on purpose — it exists to set up the numbers.

And the numbers made history. This is the film where Astaire dances up the walls and across the ceiling of a hotel room, shot inside a rotating barrel set with no trickery added later. It marked Donen's debut as a solo director, with songs by Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner. Pure delight for anyone who loves classic Hollywood musicals and wants to see what Astaire could really do. Stream Royal Wedding (1951) online on iFILM.