Rose Marie *** (1954, Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Fernando Lamas, Bert Lahr, Marjorie Main) – Classic Movie Review 11,865

Director Mervyn LeRoy’s 1954 MGM musical Rose-Marie is the third movie version of the great 1924 Oscar Hammerstein II-Otto A Harbach operetta, this time filmed in CinemaScope and Eastmancolor. It stars Ann Blyth, Howard Keel and Fernando Lamas.

French-Canadian backwoods gal (Ann Blyth) falls in love with Mountie captain Mike Malone (Howard Keel) in the Canadian wilderness but is also drawn to trapper James Duval (Fernando Lamas). Once again, ‘Indian Love Call’ is the musical highlight, the romance is well handled, and the lead players are attractive.

The 1954 Rose-Marie is not bad, with some thrilling musical moments. But it is spoiled by a lot of missed chances: only one production number (the Indian totem dance celebration), little for comic Bert Lahr to do, MGM’s cheap-looking studio-based production (though it is partly filmed in the Canadian Rockies), and a sense of old material reheated beyond its sell-by date.

However, the three stars are charming, with Blyth and Keel on good vocal form, and Lahr and Marjorie Main are funny when they get the chance, especially when Lahr sings ‘The Mountie Who Never Got His Man’. The Busby Berkeley-choreographed Indian totem dance takes the place of the original number ‘Totem Tom Tom’. It is Berkeley’s last hurrah.

It is the third version filmed by MGM following a 1928 silent movie, considered to be a lost film, with Joan Crawford as Rose-Marie, and the best-known version, the 1936 Rose-Marie with Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy.

Unlike the 1936 film, its story follows the original libretto closely, though it is altered by the idea of Rose Marie’s tomboy-to-lady conversion.

It is MGM’s first US produced film in the new CinemaScope, following the British-shot Knights of the Round Table, and the first movie musical to be released in this format. It is one of a mid-1950s revival of large-budget operetta films. But, after much success, MGM were now finding musicals costly, and none too profitable. The film cost $2,984,000 and earned $5,277,000, somehow resulting in a loss of $284,000.

Just three numbers survive from the original musical: ‘Rose Marie’, ‘Indian Love Call’ and ‘The Mounties’. Five new songs are written: ‘The Right Place For A Girl’, ‘Free To Be Free, ‘The Mountie Who Never Got His Man’, ‘I Have the Love’ and ‘Love and Kisses’. The last was deleted from the release print though it is included on the DVD version.

The cast are Ann Blyth as Rose Marie Lemaitre, Howard Keel as Captain Mike Malone, Fernando Lamas as James Severn Duval, Bert Lahr as Barney McCorkle, Marjorie Main as Lady Jane Dunstock, Joan Taylor as Wanda, Ray Collins as Inspector Appleby, Chief Yowlachie as Black Eagle, Lumsden Hare as The Judge, Gordon Richards as Attorney, James Logan, Billy Dix, Al Ferguson, Sheb Wooley, Dabbs Greer, John Pickard, Mickey Simpson, Robert Anderson, Robert Bray, Bruce Carruthers, John Damler, Abel Fernandez, Frank Hagney, Pepi Lenzi, Thurl Ravenscroft, Marshall Reed, Carl Saxe, Guy Teague, Bud Wolfe, and Sally Yarnell.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,865

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