Rosita (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Rosita |
| Original title | Rosita |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1923 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ernst Lubitsch |
| script |
Edward Knoblock Hanns Kräly based on the play Don Cesar von Bazan by Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe Dumanoir |
| production | Mary Pickford |
| music | Louis F. Gottschalk |
| camera | Charles Rosher |
| occupation | |
| |
Rosita is an American silent film from 1923. Mary Pickford plays the title role of a street singer , directed by Ernst Lubitsch .
action
Seville in bygone times. Rosita is a street singer who accompanies herself on the guitar. The lively Spaniard does not stop with her mocking songs before the king, who then wants to get to know her in order to check the accuracy of the rumors. On the one hand he is fascinated by her, on the other hand he cannot let her behavior towards him get away if he wants to maintain his authority. And so his guards arrest Rosita and throw her into dungeon. At the same moment the nobleman Don Diego de Bazan crosses her path and sees the hardship that happens to the beautiful woman through the king's garden. He tries to defend them knightly in a degendual. For the captain's standing up for them, he too ends up in prison. Diego is sentenced to death without Rosita knowing about it.
The king, however, who has his eye on Rosita, does everything to make the passionate singer and guitar player docile. He wants her as his concubine and therefore puts Rosita in a golden cage in the form of a luxurious, stately country villa. Rosita's mother only wants the best for her daughter and insists that if Rosita becomes the king's mistress, she will at least get social respect. And so the monarch decides that the unwilling woman should be married to a masked nobleman. At least Rosita should be a lover of reputable origin and a presentable title. He has already picked out a candidate for this farce.
The king chooses Don Diego, who has been sentenced to death, in the firm belief that he is killing two birds with one stone: Rosita is "ennobled" by marriage and immediately afterwards made a widow again, so that he has free rein with her. Don Diego agrees to the macabre agreement, as in return the king grants him his request to be "honored" shot like a soldier instead of being hung, as originally planned. Diego and Rosita meet again in the church. She is veiled and he is blindfolded into the house of God. After the grotesque ceremony, Rosita wants to see who she has just married. She tears off her veil and Diego the mask. Both are completely overwhelmed and hug each other. Then Diego is led back to his cell by his guards, while Rosita immediately rushes to the king to ask for mercy for Diego. But the king shows himself unyielding in his anger at the man who has become more and more of a competitor for Rosita's favor.
When Don Diego is to be fusilated, it is the queen who cheats her unfaithful husband. She arranged for the bullets to be exchanged for blank cartridges. Shots are fired in the prison yard and Don Diego is believed to be "hit" on the ground. As agreed, he plays his own death. His "corpse" is brought back to the villa and laid out. Right next door, the lustful king tries to "comfort" Rosita, who is torn with grief, in his very own way with a cozy tête-à-tête. Full of hatred for the man who has supposedly stolen her loved one, Rosita seizes the king's dagger and tries to stab him. Then Diego, believed dead, jumps up from his candelabra-framed stretcher, whereupon the terrified Rosita immediately abandons her murder plan. Don Diego smugly thanks the King for marrying Rosita with the words "Thank you for your kindness". He nods graciously to him with a tortured smile. Rosita, too, thanks the monarch profusely, believing that he never wanted to have Diego shot, who then leaves the hall both annoyed and hasty because of so much unwanted affection. Outside the villa, the queen is already waiting in the carriage and makes it clear to her husband that she has pulled the strings in the affair in order to elegantly get rid of Rosita as an annoying competitor.
Production notes
The film was shot in the first half of 1923. On December 12, 1922, Lubitsch traveled to the USA for a film project with Mary Pickford. After various projects (" Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall", "Faust ") broke up, the collaboration resulted in an implementation of the opera Don Cesar von Bazan (by Jules Massenet , 1872). The premiere of Rosita was on September 3, 1923. It is currently not known when the film will be released in Germany. In Austria you could see the strip under the title Rosita, the street singer from 1925.
The film grossed between $ 900,000 and $ 1 million in the US, depending on the source, making it a commercial success. The reviews were also very sympathetic to the film.
George Walsh was the younger brother of veteran director Raoul Walsh , who is said to have been involved as co-director of Rosita .
The story template came from Lubitsch's Berlin scriptwriter Norbert Falk . The numerous film structures were designed and implemented by William Cameron Menzies and Svend Gade . The later comedy director Mitchell Leisen designed the extensive costumes.
Reviews
Paimann's film lists summed up: "Thanks to the accusations it has made, the subject has a strong impact and is surpassed by, albeit often almost exaggerated, humorous highlights. The presentation is very good, as is the presentation and photos."
In Filmarchiv Austria it says: “Lubitsch staged the spectacle with musical precision, the title heroine is only part of the rhythmic arrangements - this again, much to Pickford's displeasure. She later unjustifiably described the film as "the worst of my career", as a "punishment for trying to grow up on screen". She coined the phrase that Lubitsch is more interested in the doors than in the actors. "
"In any case, Pickford as Rosita, the fiery Spanish dancer who turns the king against her with a song of mockery, is quite a miscast."
Web links
- Rosita in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 53.
- ^ Rosita, the street singer in Paimann's film lists
- ↑ Rosita on filmmuseum.at
