Rosalie first hit the boards in 1927 in a lavish Flo Ziegfeld production starring Marilyn Miller as the middle European princess who becomes Americanized by love for a West Point cadet. The story had been inspired by two recent news events: Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic (the West Pointer flies to Europe to be with his ladylove) and the New York visit of Queen Marie of Romania. Allegedly Ziegfeld was not all that enthusiastic about the show, only producing it because his mother had been named Rosalie. Much to his surprise, it became one of the hits of the year.
MGM originally acquired the show as a vehicle for Marion Davies, but though she completed a film version, the studio decided not to release it. Sources disagree as to whether any of her version was used in the 1937 rendition that did make it to movie theatres. If any of it did, footage of its blonde star would have been missing, as the title role was taken over by the studio's new dancing sensation, the decidedly brunette Eleanor Powell. But she never got to dance to the original score that combined tunes by Sigmund Romberg and George Gershwin (the latter writing the show's biggest hit, "How Long Has This Been Going On"). MGM scrapped their numbers in favor of a new score by another great Broadway tunesmith, Cole Porter.
Although dancing star Powell seemed a strange match for classical baritone Nelson Eddy (who was usually paired with Jeanette MacDonald in the sort of musicals which had made him a star), Porter came up with a winning combination of hot rhythm numbers for her and more traditional ballads for him. In the latter category was the film's one enduring standard, "In the Still of the Night." Oddly, Eddy didn't want to sing it. He considered the melody too unconventional and didn't think audiences would take to the song's unusually long melodic line. Usually, Porter would have adapted his score to the star's taste, but he felt this song was too good to lose, so he appealed to studio head Louis B. Mayer, who was moved to tears by the number. On his orders, it stayed in the picture.
Mayer also exercised his influence over the film's title number. Porter tried five times to come up with a musical tribute to the leading lady that Mayer would buy, but the mogul found each version too highbrow. Finally, the composer turned out the simplest number he could come up with; some biographers have suggested he deliberately tried to write a bad song. Not only did Mayer love it, but it went on to become a big hit. Porter finally changed his mind about the song when fellow songwriter Irving Berlin advised him, "Listen, kid, never hate a song that has sold a half-million copies."
The critics weren't much more enthusiastic about the film than Porter had been about its title song. Writing in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther called it "one of the most pretentious demonstrations of sheer mass and weight since the last Navy games." Years later, Pauline Kael quipped, "the sets are to make a person of taste weep." But the public loved it. Drawn by the hit songs, the popularity of Powell and Eddy, and a lavish production in the grand style, they made Rosalie one of MGM's top box-office hits of the year.
Producer: William Anthony McGuire
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Screenplay: William Anthony McGuire
Based on the Play by William Anthony McGuire and Guy Bolton
Cinematography: Oliver T. Marsh
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Music: Herbert Stothart
Cast: Nelson Eddy (Dick Thorpe), Eleanor Powell (Rosalie), Ilona Massey (Brenda), Ray Bolger (Bill Delroy), Frank Morgan (King Frederic), Edna May Oliver (Queen), Billy Gilbert (First Officer), Reginald Owen (Chancellor), George Zucco (General Maroff), Virginia Grey (Mary Callahan), William Demarest (Army's Coach), Jerry Colonna (Second Officer), The Albertina Rasch Dancers.
BW-124m.
by Frank Miller
