ROSALIE (MGM, 1937) Warner Archive
Utterly nonsensical to a fault, yet spell-blindingly
spectacular, W.S. Van Dyke's Rosalie (1937) is a movie musical like no
other, however bereft of an original thought, and, desperately in need of one
good story idea to sell its myriad of treasures. Not that the movie suffers
from its hyperbole or cliché, haphazardly poured over mountains and mountains
of playful sexual innuendo. On the contrary, Rosalie is a triumph of
style over substance, staged with such visually arresting and Herculean aplomb,
its glamour easily elevates its not-so-subtle art to a finite precision of
super-kitsch only MGM, in its heyday, could so magnificently put together and
pulled off. Rosalie is the sort of mesmerizing fanfare you would expect
to see in a gaudy fashion parade at the Ziegfeld Follies. The sight of a
vivacious Eleanor Powell, twirling down a staircase of brightly-colored drums,
arranged in a descending semi-circle, leaping with gazelle-like precision
through a tunnel of Saran Wrap hoops, held in place by a small army of
clown-clad courtiers, only to wind up as the Tiffany centerpiece of a veritable
diamond horseshoe of blushing young maidens stretching for seemingly miles and
miles, the palace, flanked by glistening plastic foliage and multi-tiered
fountains; here, is the sort of elephantiasis that, oddly enough, never seems
disgustingly overwrought or out of place. The inimitable Cole Porter wrote 9
songs for Rosalie – including the aforementioned title tune, and,
several other showstoppers. Nelson Eddy warbles the melodic ‘In the Still of
the Night’ one of Porter's most sublime and enduring creations. How curious
for MGM to have poured so much time, money and production values into this
preposterous claptrap, unceremoniously lumped together by writers, William
Anthony McGuire and Guy Bolton.
Adapted from the Broadway smash produced by
impresario, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and to have run 335 performances besides, MGM
was determined to outdo even Ziegfeld’s flair for the flamboyant with this
mammoth transposed stagecraft. Consequently, Rosalie features some of
the most elaborate production numbers ever conceived. In true Ziegfeld style,
the picture’s grand finale, set to the 1889 ballad, ‘Oh Promise Me’ and,
an integrated reprise of the title tune, covered 60-acres of MGM backlot,
employed 2000 dancers, 8 pipe organs and a 60-piece orchestra, accompanying 100
West Point cadets – just the sort of ostentatious glam-bam Flo would have
adored. Less likely would he have appreciated L.B. Mayer’s decision to scrap
the original George and Ira Gershwin, Sigmund Romberg, P.G. Wodehouse songs for
a completely new score by Cole Porter. It was, in fact, L.B. Mayer who
encouraged Porter to write a song similar to ‘Rose Marie’ for Nelson
Eddy to sing in this movie. Rose Marie (1933) had been a huge hit for
Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. To this end, Porter wrote six variations on the
song, ‘Rosalie’ – of which Mayer finally approved his last effort. Eddy
was unsure of the song, however, and Mayer had to coax him to record it. On
stage, the part of the Ruritanian princess had been conceived by winsome
Marilyn Miller. At MGM, the plan was to have Marion Davies in the lead. But
when MGM converted to sound, Davies decided lack of musical ability put a
period to this endeavor. Ironically, the movie version would later cast Eleanor
Powell in her stead. And while Powell certainly could tap the hell out of the
numbers, her singing left much to be desired, necessitating contract player,
Marjorie Lane to dub in her vocals. The studio’s resident couturier, Adrian had
his small, but formidable army of seamstresses working around the clock for
nearly a month to turn out more than 3000 individual costumes for this
production.
Metro’s 'tops in taps' dancer, Eleanor Powell stars as
Rosalie - Princess of the fictitious Balkan province of Romanza. Living
incognito as a student at Vassar, Rosalie is much-admired by her classmates in
all respects, except for her curious disinterest in All-America football star
and West Point cadet, Dick Thorpe (Nelson Eddy – about as brittle as a stick of
kindling). However, like all great love/hate relationships in the movies, this
one too is destined for happier times before the final fade out. Dick's best
friend, Bill DelRoy (Ray Bolger) is something of a chicken-livered wallflower,
despite also being a West Point cadet with prospects of marrying real looker,
Mary Callahan (Virginia Grey). At a party given to celebrate Dick's final
football victory for the academy, Dick is introduced to Rosalie. However,
despite sharing a dance, she is pert, curt and rather snobbishly rude toward
him – erroneously believing Dick is a wolf and real lady's man. Instead, Dick
proves Rosalie wrong by traveling all the way to Vassar for a chance to
serenade her in the dark. In the
meantime, we learn Rosalie is actually Princess Rosalie - heir to the throne of
Romanza. She is recalled to her native land by her father, King Frederick
Romanikov (Frank Morgan, at his bumbling best, and, the only actor to have
played the same part in the Broadway original) for pending nuptials to the
Chancellor's son, Prince Paul (Tom Rutherford). Paul, however, is desperately
in love with Rosalie's best friend, the Countess, Brenda (Ilona Massey).
Infatuated, though unconvinced Dick's intentions are
strictly honorable, Rosalie challenges him to follow her to Romanza on the eve
of their national celebration. Not wanting to upset the mystery, she keeps
hidden from him her royal title, and, also the fact she is already engaged to
someone else. From here, the plot only becomes more convoluted and pointless,
salvaged by MGM's total saturation of uber-glam to anesthetize the mind, while
plying the eye with a glittery assemblage of gorgeously wrought visuals; Cedric
Gibbons’ plush and palatial production design, expertly augmented by Oliver T.
Marsh’s crisp B&W cinematography. Unknowing of his future, Dick arrives in
Romanza after a daring trans-Atlantic flight. Bill, who has taken safe passage
by boat, pleads with Dick to allow him to lie about having flown, thereby
winning the respect of Mary and her stubborn father. A dramatically staged
revolution breaks out, but is almost instantly quashed. Nevertheless, the King
and Queen (Edna May Oliver) depart for America where Rosalie tours West Point
with Dick as her chaperone. Once again, she is haughty and exclusive. Only this
time - having learned of her true identity - Dick reciprocates, giving the
Princess a real taste of her own medicine. The two reconcile and the King
allows his daughter to marry Dick, leaving the Countess and Prince Paul to
pursue their romantic attachment as well.
Rosalie is a magnificently mounted entertainment. Alas, it
fails to catch on and hold our attention except in fits and sparks. There is
genuine chemistry between Eddy and Powell. Much has been written about Nelson
Eddy’s wooden persona – a stick of kindling with a pulse. And, while this
fairly accurately describes his appeal in filmic work opposite Jeanette
MacDonald, with Eleanor Powell at least, Eddy appears slightly more at ease
and, periodically, amiable. Powell, while in rare form as a dancer, is miscast
here. She is too much the fresh and
vivacious young Miss, held back by these hallmarks as a Euro-trash princess in
exile. It doesn’t suit her. How could Dick continue to pine for Rosalie? Her
demeanor toward him is mostly sullen and, occasionally, downright cruel. Apart
from Eddy's vocals, the high-water mark remains the aforementioned tap routine,
set to the title tune, performed on a 60-acre sound stage with 2000 extras in
attendance and 27 cameras rolling. This is a mind-boggling spectacle of epic
proportions. Also impressive is the royal wedding finale. In the final
analysis, Rosalie is a movie that should be revisited for its sheer
scope and majesty. Just don't expect too much in the way of plot.
The Warner Archive’s (WAC) burn-on-demand DVD is
rather softly focused. The B&W image sports contrast that is a tad darker
than anticipated. While close-ups and certain medium shots hold up quite well
under close scrutiny, master shots tend to lose fine detail, and,
intermittently appear blurry, with an amplification of film grain. For a movie
pushing 80 yrs. overall quality here is quite remarkable, with few signs of
age-related artifacts. We do get a bit of edge enhancement – nothing egregious
– and some video-based noise here and there. But on the whole, this is an
admirable effort in standard def that would greatly benefit from an upgrade to
Blu-ray – if ever, it receives the honor. The Dolby Digital 1.0 mono fits the
bill and is adequate for this presentation. The only extra is a theatrical
trailer. Bottom line: for the sheer size of its production numbers, expertly
staged with spell-binding precision, Rosalie is a movie that should be
seen more often and afforded the respect it is due. It’s not a movie you will
treasure forever. However, in the moment, it quite simply cannot fail but to
impress. Oh, what MGM at its zenith could
do with some spangles and beads and about a million extras cavorting in unison.
This Blu-ray is competently mastered. Rosalie, we love yah! Recommended,
but with caveats.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
3
VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5
EXTRAS
0
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