Rosalie

Take a major studio studio (MGM) celebrated for its musicals. Take a top director (Woody Van Dyke) known for his breezy direction of films like THE THIN MAN, SAN FRANCISCO and NAUGHTY MARIETTA, among many others. Take a handsome singing star (Nelson Eddy) who was the studio's biggest matinee idol at the time, getting more fan mail than Clark Gable. Take a charming young tap-dancing star (Eleanor Powell). Take a score by Cole Porter written especially for the picture, including `In the Still of the Night.' Add some popular supporting actors like Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, and Edna May Oliver, and, for those few who find a professional sneezer amusing, Billy Gilbert.

Take all these elements, spend a small fortune on sets and costumes, and turn out a picture which is among the worst ever made. It's inexplicable. The full-throated Eddy has been turned into a crooner, playing the world's oldest (36) West Point Cadet. Powell's dancing is sprightly but the big centerpiece number, danced on a series of huge drums, can only be called bizarre, Poor Frank Morgan is forced to do most of his performing with a ventriloquist's dummy. There are one or two cute scenes---Powell and Eddy obviously like each other---but mainly this picture is simply awful. What a waste.

Fans of Eleanor Powell will wonder how she detoured into this Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy overblown costume piece -- and in the role of Jeanette MacDonald no less! Whereas delicate Jeanette would have floated through this pageant with an air of fluttering dignity, pants-wearing Ellie delivers too much punch for a princess. She barks most of her lines and unfortunately comes off as a bitch. A more delicate actress would have softened the barrage of "womanly" insults laid on Nelson Eddy and we would know this meant she was smitten. But with the confidant and athletic Powell delivering the insults you really start to wonder if wooden Eddy is a masochist or just extremely submissive. It's an electric energy that cost Powell her spotlight, and didn't fit with MGM's idea of what a feminine leading lady should be.

Those who are fascinated by Ellie's unusual (at least on film) gender-play will be thrilled to see her "go all the way" and dress as a man to sneak into a military academy where she leads the cadets in a marching drill in front of a phallic war memorial. While Powell is hardly mannish (and here with Jeanette's wardrobe and make-up budget she never looked prettier) the production plays with her "masculinity" and dresses her in all extremes of buttoned-downed marching band jackets and crisp uniforms, interspersed with overly feminine gowns with frou-frou puffy sleeves and Jeanette's corkscrew curls. It's an inconsistent and mostly unsuccessful gender dichotomy -- especially when compared to her smart wardrobe play and winning charisma in the Broadway Melody films.

Her tap numbers are too few and too short -- a Pieroette "ballet" on giant drums is an weird jumble of inconsistent imagery, and a brief scene with Ray Bolger makes you wish they'd shared a competitive dance of lightning legwork rather than the time-wasting dialog in the script. Other supporting players are also underused: as the Queen Edna May Oliver appears briefly in a tiered nightgown that exaggerates her Olive Oil frame, and Frank Morgan does his best to keep the banter rolling as a befuddled monarch with a ventriloquist dummy, but there isn't enough comedy here to entertain. A sudden accidental revolution in the tiny Balkan monarchy has potential, but is dropped just as quickly. Even the production numbers are too short, following the pattern of the other MacDonald/Eddy films where actual choreography and musical style are ignored for lots and lots of extras arranged in expensive costumes and plenty of operetta bombast from Eddy.

Other than seeing Eleanor Powell in one of her few starring roles this is a forgettable film that shows no one to advantage, except possibly MGM's costume department. I can see how this was originally a vehicle for Marion Davies because the sets are jaw-droppingly huge.

I'm not much of a fan of Eleanor Powell even though she's a marvelous tap dancer. She always struck me as a cold fish - and there's very little chemistry between her and Nelson Eddy (who is in fine voice) so the romance between them seems totally artificial. So is the plot, which involves her being an incognito princess of a small European country, falling in love with football player Eddy, who follows her to her country when she leaves the States to marry a prince. If it weren't for the score by Cole Porter, it would have been a total bust for me. Although the film is vaguely based on the 1928 show of the same name, MGM head Louis B. Mayer opted to have Porter write a completely new score, supplanting the Sigmond Romberg-George Gershwin score of the original. The music is the best part of the movie, with the hauntingly beautiful "In the Still of the Night" a standout. There is some enjoyable comedy provided by Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger and Billy Gilbert, all of whom I enjoyed more than the leads. A bit long at 123 minutes, but worth a look mostly for the music.

Cole Porter reportedly hated the title song, but Louis B. Mayer loved it, and he was the man with the money, so it stayed. With its opulent sets and numerous extras, this was one of the most expensive films made up to that time, but it was also a huge hit.

Rosalie marked Nelson Eddy's first starring film without Jeanette MacDonald. That being the case MGM certainly didn't want Mr. Eddy to wander too far afield. If Nelson couldn't swap high notes with his co-star Eleanor Powell than at least all the kittenish banter that also characterized the Eddy-MacDonald movies was certainly left in tact.

MGM obviously bought this property after looking at the success Warner Brothers was having with Dick Powell in Flirtation Walk and Shipmates Forever. Powell was in his mid 30s when he did those roles as a cadet and midshipman respectively. Nelson Eddy was also in his 30s, in fact three years older than Dick Powell. But he looks like a man in his 30s and doesn't quite come off believably as a cadet.

That being said, movie audiences came to hear Nelson Eddy sing and MGM which scrapped the original score which was done by both Sigmund Romberg and George Gershwin, got Cole Porter to write a new one. And it's a good one. The title song Rosalie became a big hit, recorded by a number of artists and the classic In the Still of the Night is from this film. Oddly enough, probably because Nelson Eddy was so identified with operetta, these two Cole Porter songs never became identified with him per se.

Nelson also got the infinitely more talented Eleanor Powell as a co-star where Powell had Ruby Keeler for both his movies. MGM went whole hog on glamour with her numbers, probably the most spectacular she ever did on screen. She's also far more believable as a princess than Eddy as a cadet.

Supporting Eddy as his best friend and fellow cadet was Ray Bolger who has one dance number near a crate of fireworks which he accidentally sets off and sets off an revolution. Movies never knew quite what to do with Bolger. He certainly didn't have the look of a hero and most of his film roles were comedic supporting parts. On Broadway he was a big star and was the lead in such great hits as On Your Toes, By Jupiter, Charley's Aunt and The All American, only Charley's Aunt of which he did on screen.

Of course no one can talk about the supporting cast without mentioning two of the great players in studio era Hollywood. Frank Morgan and Edna May Oliver played off each other beautifully as Eleanor Powell's parents, the King and Queen of Romanza. Horsefaced faced Edna May Oliver played so many harridans in her career she practically took a patent out on those parts. That was one formidable lady on screen.

Complementing her completely was Frank Morgan's also copyrighted picture of befuddlement. Having read enough history to know that a whole lot of monarchs WERE as confused and befuddled as Morgan, lends a ring of authenticity to his role. He appeared almost exclusively for MGM in his career and was never bad in anything he did.

Rosalie was a prime example of the delightful nonsense that Hollywood used to do so well.

A film with the likes of Frank Morgan in support, a wonderful tap dancer such as Eleanor Powell and Nelson Eddy who possessed perhaps the most beautiful baritone voice on film does promise a fair bit. Sadly this promise is not exactly lived up to and it is one of those films that is difficult to rate. There are some definite good things. It is a very sumptuous film in the costumes and sets and it's beautifully shot. The music features a pleasant score from Cole Porter and the song In the Still of the Night is a catchy and beautiful song, while the choreography dazzles in energy(very like how Ilona Massey dazzles in her beauty)- especially in the title number- providing the film's best moments. Eddy sings divinely and Powell's tap dancing is equally a wonder, in support Frank Morgan is amusingly bumbling and Edna May Oliver is her usual solid self. Ray Bolger is however wasted and not funny at all, agreed that stupid is more like it, and Billy Gilbert's shtick here comes across as crass. While Eddy is on top form vocally, he is stiff and looks miserable, not showing much chemistry with Powell excepting some cute moments. The script is lacking in wit, sometimes soppy, sometimes crass and veers on bizarre. And while the story has great song and dance numbers and nice likable moments in the first half, it is mostly dull, predictable and the second half(not helped by an overly-sappy and underdeveloped romance) just doesn't engage. All in all, a mixture of good and bad, not easy to rate. 5/10 Bethany Cox