Father of the Bride (1950)

This film feels like one of the more subtle comedies of the 1950's. There's nothing outrageously funny about it, yet somehow it manages to gain our sympathy and even some of our laughs. Spencer Tracy gives a sturdy performance -- perhaps even more sturdy than usual -- as the father preparing to marry off his only daughter played by a young Elizabeth Taylor (not long before her first actual marriage). I've often felt that Hollywood films about the middle-class have always been made as voyeurs looking in, rather than being a natural part of that world. In other words, it's Hollywood's view of what a middle-class wedding might be like, rather than what a middle-class wedding is like. The scenes that stick out are when Tracy calmly tries to convince Taylor to accept $1,500 from him to run off and elope, as well as the boldly unusual dream sequence which looks like it belongs in one of Bunuel's silent, surrealist films rather than a 50's comedy of manners. Vincente Minelli directs like the old pro he is.