Rose Marie (1954 film)

Rose Marie is a 1954 American musical western film adaptation of the 1924 operetta of the same name, the third to be filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, following a 1928 silent movie and the best-known of the three, the 1936 Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy version. It is directed by Mervyn LeRoy and stars Ann Blyth, Howard Keel and Fernando Lamas. This version is filmed in the Canadian Rockies in CinemaScope. It was MGM's first US produced film in the new widescreen medium (having been preceded by the British-made Knights of the Round Table), and the first movie musical of any studio to be released in this format. It was part of a revival of large-budget operetta films produced in the mid-1950s.

The story adheres closely to that of the original libretto, unlike the 1936 version. It is somewhat altered by a tomboy-to-lady conversion for the title character.

Plot
Rose Marie Lemaitre, an orphan living in the Canadian wilderness, falls in love with her guardian, Mike Malone, an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The feeling is mutual But, when she leaves to learn proper etiquette, she meets a trapper named James Duval, who also falls for her.

Cast

 * Ann Blyth as Rose Marie Lemaitre
 * Howard Keel as Captain Mike Malone
 * Fernando Lamas as James Severn Duval
 * Bert Lahr as Barney McCorkle
 * Marjorie Main as Lady Jane Dunstock
 * Joan Taylor as Wanda
 * Ray Collins as Inspector Appleby
 * Chief Yowlachie as Black Eagle

Soundtrack
Only three numbers are retained from the original musical: "Rose Marie", "Indian Love Call", and "The Mounties". Five new songs were written for the film: "The Right Place For A Girl", "Free To Be Free", "The Mountie Who Never Got His Man", "I Have The Love", and "Love And Kisses". The latter was filmed, but deleted from the release print (it is included on the DVD version of the film). An Indian totem dance with choreography by Busby Berkeley (his last) takes the place of the original number "Totem Tom Tom". This new number does not make use of that song's music or lyric, despite a claim otherwise on the DVD cover.

Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $2,835,000 in the US and Canada and $2,442,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $284,000.