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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