Rose-Marie (1928)

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Movie
Original title Rose-Marie
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1928
length 70 minutes
Rod
Director Lucien Hubbard
script Lucien Hubbard
production Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Otto Harbach , Oscar Hammerstein II
camera John Arnold
cut Carl person
occupation

Rose-Marie is an American silent film from 1928 based on the operetta of the same name by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II . The main role is played by Joan Crawford .

action

Rose-Marie lives as an independent young woman in a Canadian settlement in the middle of the wilderness. She loves Jim Kenyon, a trapper falsely accused of murdering a Northwest Mounties sergeant. To save Jim, Rose-Marie agrees to marry Étienne Duray, a seedy Frenchman. Jim saves Rose-Marie and Étienne when their canoe crashes into a rapids. Suddenly Sergeant Malone stands in the door, who is not dead at all. Some dramatic events later, Jim and Rose-Marie find happiness.

background

Joan Crawford had been with MGM since 1925 and quickly rose to become a popular actress. However, she had not yet found a fixed type of role for herself and so she alternated between main and supporting roles in a wide variety of genres. After a few appearances as Leading Lady alongside John Gilbert in Twelve Miles Out and Four Walls , Lon Chaney in The Unknown and William Haines , Crawford was already a household name in Hollywood in mid-1928 , if not a star. The studio had confidence in Crawford's pull at the box office and gave her the prestigious lead role of Rose-Marie in the film adaptation of the operetta of the same name , which had seen a total of 557 performances on Broadway in 1925 . The songs Indian Love Call and Rose-Marie, I love You in particular had become hits. Since the outstanding financial and artistic success of the silent film adaptation of The Merry Widow from 1925 with John Gilbert and Mae Murray , directed by Erich von Stroheim , it has almost developed into a genre of its own. In the following years, numerous other operettas were made into films, including The Student Prince , which was distributed in 1927 with Ramón Novarro and Norma Shearer under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch .

At the same time as the distribution of Rose-Marie , the sound film began its triumphant advance and the genre of the operetta would only become popular again in the USA with the success of Tolle Marietta in 1935. The two stars of the film, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy , shot a sound film version of Rose-Marie in 1936 . The fabric was brought to screen again in 1954 with Ann Blyth and Howard Keel .

Joan Crawford was realistic about her role:

"[U] surprisingly well without the music and I felt uncomfortable as a French Canadian, but the critics didn't notice."

Theatrical release

With a manufacturing cost of $ 494,000 and numerous field shots in Canada, it was an above-average production by MGM standards. He grossed a respectable amount of $ 679,000 in the US, an indication of the growing pull of Joan Crawford at the box office. With foreign revenues of US $ 293,000 and a cumulative total result of US $ 972,000, Rose-Marie became one of the actress' most financially successful films to date. In the end, the high production costs were responsible for the rather modest profit of 165,000 US dollars.

Reviews

Contemporary critics praised Joan Crawford and predicted a great future for her.

JG found in the St. Paul Pioneer Press :

“Joan Crawford, one of the most admired young actresses, stars. It is the first time that more is required of her than noble poses. "

Photoplay found benevolently:

“Exciting fights and daring escapes. An excellent cast with Joan Crawford as the charming Rose-Marie […]. It's all a bit complicated, but there is a lot of tension. "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [S] urprisingly good without the music, and I felt uneasy as a French Canadian, but the critics did not notice.
  2. ^ Joan Crawford, one of the most admired of the new leading women, has the title role. This is about the first time that she has been permitted to be anything but statuesque and patrician.
  3. ^ Exciting fights and daring escapes. An excellent cast with Joan Crawford a charming Rose-Marie […] It's a little complicated but offers suspense.