CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

kitablett There were three movie versions of "Rose-Marie", a late twenties silent version with Joan Crawford, with, of course, just the story and a 1954 version which was the first musical in Cinemascope, but this is definitely the best and most famous version and Jeanette and Nelson's second film together. The music is just out of this world as is the singing again of this duo. Their famous duet "Indian Love Call" is actually sung four times during the course the film. People have often maligned their movies as corn, but as far as I'm concerned, bring it on. It's always been one of my favourite movies of theirs and is the first in a contemporary setting (although many insist that "Sweethearts" was).Jeanette's acting is perfect and, although Nelson may appear wooden, it's actually a good underplayed performance which was rare at the time and their comedy is very well done. The scene at the camp fire, for instance, gives them a chance at some great repartee. They just seem made for each other both musically and romantically. Interesting to note what a big star Jeanette was at the time at MGM as this movie and "San Francisco" accounted for half the box office profits for 1936, when MGM was releasing a movie every week, and that's really saying something.Next to Fred and Ginger, Jeanette and Nelson were definitely the best musical duo in the history of cinema. Someone said that Jeanette has a voice like an angel and I couldn't agree more and, along with Nelson's rich baritone voice, they just are just beyond belief when they sing. Great story line too for those not interested in the music. Allan Jones appears with Jeanette in the opera scenes at the beginning and end of the film (and in 1937 co-starred with her in "The Firefly"), James Stewart, in a very early role, plays the part of Jeanette's brother very well and even David Niven (billed as "Nivens"in the credits)appears as a playboy at the beginning of the movie in a brief walk-on, long before becoming a star. For all those, though, who love musicals of any kind, this is a must.

theowinthrop It is rightfully considered kitch now, but it is effective kitch because of its two stars (two-and-a-half actually - more later), and the singing and background.ROSE-MARIE is set in modern times (unlike MAYTIME and NAUGHTY MARIETTA and BITTERSWEET). Of the major successes of MacDonald and Eddy only SWEETHEARTS was set in modern times like this. MacDonald is a leading opera singer who is quite a prima donna type (she is arguing with leading man Allan Jones over priority in a duet they are singing at one point), but she has a secret. Her brother is a criminal in the hands of the police. She tries to help by giving a personal visit to Canada's Premier (Alan Mowbray) but before she can ask she is told her brother has escaped his jailers and killed one of them. She immediately flees and heads north to try to find and help him.The film follows MacDonald's adventures into the hinterland, aided and abandoned by a "half-breed" type (George Regas), and even singing for food and money to get to her brother. But she eventually she runs into the Mountie sent to track the brother down: Eddy. As they are in a canoe together the sound track swells and we hear the number from this film that is on par with "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life" and "Maytime" in their cinematic songbook: "Indian Love Call". Eddy is not a stiff actor. He is plainly enjoying his easy relations with his co-star (the rumor that he and MacDonald disliked each other is a lie, they became close friends), and has a piece of dialog where he admits that he uses one of his songs to romance all his girlfriends (it only failed to work with one named Maude, but then nothing worked with Maude he admits to a shocked MacDonald).In the end it becomes a race between Nelson and Jeanette to reach the fugitive, and the result divides them...but will it be a permanent division?ROSE-MARIE has several odd points in it. A bit player as a stage door johnny type is young David Niven. The Prime Minister played by Mowbray may have been based (considering Mowbray's appearance) not so much on William MacKenzie King but his predecessor Richard Bennett, who certainly looked more like Mowbray (and was more likely to attend operas). But the most interesting cast change is the fugitive. It is Jimmy Stewart. Stewart (in 1936) frequently played atypical roles - not like his Jefferson Smiths, George Baileys, or MacCauley Conners. In AFTER THE THIN MAN he would play a character who is far from a really calm type. Here he plays a ne'er-do-well who has committed a murder. Even after MacDonald finds him Stewart's weak character tries to shrug off the mess of trouble he has gotten into. It is possibly the oddest character he ever played in a film.

C.K. Dexter Haven Nelson Eddy falling off the barrel is the only moment of this operatic calamity worth noting. Granted, Eddy is much easier on the ears than the shrill Ms. Macdonald, who quite literally, if you're not an absolute lover of her voice, can cause your ear drums to turn on your brain like pieces of broken glass.One of the most painful of MGM musicals. If there's a story here you'll probably find it at the bottom of Lake TeePee. I'm a Canadian and this depiction of Mounties and Indian culture is wince inducing with or without the singing. I could have tolerated the singing and the lack of story, and the Hollywood cheesiness of it all, if there was at least some wit or screwball comedy along the way, but apart from Eddy's pratfall off the barrel this is just a big barrel of noise.

bkoganbing There have been three versions of Rose Marie done for the screen, a silent 1927 version and on in 1954 as well as this one. And not one of them had the same plot and not one of them repeated the same plot as the original stage version in 1923. Not that it matters because this version with Jeanette and Nelson sets the standard.One thing I did object to is that a whole lot of the Rudolf Friml- Otto Harbach-Oscar Hammerstein II score was jettisoned. Some very nice songs were left out. Only The Mountie Song, Rose Marie, and Indian Love Call were retained. Totem Tom Tom which is done as a dance number actually has words. Because Jeanette is an opera singer in this one, arias from Tosca and Romeo and Juliet were included. And Friml and MGM house composer Herbert Stothart wrote a couple of other melodies with Gus Kahn doing lyrics. Nice, but not the real score.In this version Jeanette is an opera singer who receives word in Montreal that her younger brother is a fugitive after killing a man. She goes to him, but on the way gets sidetracked by Mountie Nelson Eddy. He just happens to be the guy they've assigned to get the brother. I don't think I have to give any more of the plot away.Jeanette and Nelson are in good voice and MGM splurged a little by going on location and not using any back lot sets to show the Canadian wilderness. I'm willing to bet that Rose Marie may have been the most expensive of their eight films to produce.Three future stars got exposure in Rose Marie. Allan Jones who Jeanette would co-star with the following year in The Firefly sung the opera numbers with her. David Niven has a brief role as a stage door Johnny ready to declare his undying love for the diva. And James Stewart plays her fugitive younger brother.Of course Jimmy Stewart was able to do this before he became typecast as all American good guy Jimmy Stewart. Three years later MGM could never have cast him this way. But his performance was definitely a big break for bigger and better roles.Because of this film Nelson Eddy got his trademark. After he left films and concert singing and did nightclubs towards the end of his life, Nelson would always make a grand entrance replete in white tie, tuxedo, and a Mountie hat. Nelson Eddy was one of the kindest and most generous of performers in giving of himself to his public, but he least of all took his movie career image seriously. In fact he always maintained he was a singer first and film was just a medium to give his singing career more visibility.But if you want to hear some golden voices doing some classic songs like they don't write any more than I can't recommend Rose Marie strongly enough.