The cannon of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy films have created a cult following over the years, and that fan base is well deserved. Of their movies, only one, "Rose Marie", was remade, although it is quite different from their version, which was a remake as well. All three versions take place in the Canadian Rockies and focus the love a rugged Mountie has for the titled character. In this version, Rose Marie (the lovely Ann Blyth) is a tomboy who is "Free to Be Free" until Mountie Howard Keel has her introduced to hotel proprietor Marjorie Main with (get this!) the purpose of turning her into a lady. Keel falls in love with the transformed Blyth, but she only loves trapper Fernando Lamas who is wanted for murder.
Unlike MacDonald and Eddy's version, it is not Rose Marie and the Mountie who sing the famous "Indian Love Call"; Lamas's trapper gets that honor, and it is one of the most beautiful duets on screen. (The same year, Jane Powell and Vic Damone did a beautiful duet of "Will You Remember?" from "Maytime" in the Sigmund Romberg bio pic "Deep in My Heart", making three Eddy/MacDonald duets recreated on screen that year, the other being "Deep in My Heart's" "Lover Come Back to Me" from "New Moon"). Keel gets to sing the rousing "Here Come the Mounties", but unfortunately doesn't share a duet with Blyth. That would be saved for Jane Powell and the similar backwoods setting of the same year's masterpiece "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers".
If the thought of Main as a Canadian Henry Higgins doesn't make you laugh, then pair her "Ma Kettle" with "Cowardly Lion" Bert Lahr as an aging Mountie fighting off her advances. A cut song between the two ("Love and Kisses") was on MGM's soundtrack album and later was part of the original "That's Entertainment Part III" additional footage tape of numbers not used for that documentaries theatrical release. Lahr's "The Mountie Who Never Got His Man" (written for the movie) did make it into the released print, and as a nod to his "Wizard of Oz" fans, Lahr utilized some of the same comic grimaces and even some sounds that resemble his lion's roar.
An opulent Indian dance ("Tom Tom Totem") was staged by Busby Berkley, and if you can get past the obvious backdrop, you will enjoy it. The fact that movie studios were still making operettas in the mid 1950's is pretty amazing in itself, and the result for "Rose Marie" is one of delightful adult romance.
Unlike MacDonald and Eddy's version, it is not Rose Marie and the Mountie who sing the famous "Indian Love Call"; Lamas's trapper gets that honor, and it is one of the most beautiful duets on screen. (The same year, Jane Powell and Vic Damone did a beautiful duet of "Will You Remember?" from "Maytime" in the Sigmund Romberg bio pic "Deep in My Heart", making three Eddy/MacDonald duets recreated on screen that year, the other being "Deep in My Heart's" "Lover Come Back to Me" from "New Moon"). Keel gets to sing the rousing "Here Come the Mounties", but unfortunately doesn't share a duet with Blyth. That would be saved for Jane Powell and the similar backwoods setting of the same year's masterpiece "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers".
If the thought of Main as a Canadian Henry Higgins doesn't make you laugh, then pair her "Ma Kettle" with "Cowardly Lion" Bert Lahr as an aging Mountie fighting off her advances. A cut song between the two ("Love and Kisses") was on MGM's soundtrack album and later was part of the original "That's Entertainment Part III" additional footage tape of numbers not used for that documentaries theatrical release. Lahr's "The Mountie Who Never Got His Man" (written for the movie) did make it into the released print, and as a nod to his "Wizard of Oz" fans, Lahr utilized some of the same comic grimaces and even some sounds that resemble his lion's roar.
An opulent Indian dance ("Tom Tom Totem") was staged by Busby Berkley, and if you can get past the obvious backdrop, you will enjoy it. The fact that movie studios were still making operettas in the mid 1950's is pretty amazing in itself, and the result for "Rose Marie" is one of delightful adult romance.