MGM really went all out when they put together this adaption of the 1920's Broadway musical, even bringing in a new composer for new songs (Cole Porter) and an odd teaming with Eleanor Powell and Nelson Eddy to basically out-do what Warner Brothers had done with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in "Flirtation Walk" and "Shipmates Forever". Since the great W.S. Van Dyke had just scored with the movie version of "The Great Ziegfeld", why not have him top that with one of the largest dance sets and collection of extras, and that is just what you get in "Rosalie".
Eleanor Powell is Rosalie, a European princess incognito who is an exchange student at an American college. Nelson Eddy is a naval cadet who falls in love with her and later finds out her true identity when he visits her country for a Mardi Gras type fiesta. Ventriloquist king Frank Morgan and his imperious wife Edna May Oliver have different ideals of how to run the country (and their daughter), and thanks to the domineering Oliver, Powell is engaged to a member of the nobility (Tom Rutherford) who doesn't love her. Ilona Massey, Powell's companion, is the one he is in love with. This leads to the possibility of the king losing his throne, especially when Powell declares her love for Eddy.
While the story is undoubtedly one of the silliest of operetta plot lines, you can't help but adore this movie because it is so campy. There's the lavish title song which takes place on a drummed set so huge with thousands of extras (their faces pretty much blurred out because there are so many), Eddy's rendering of the Porter standard "In the Still of the Night", and a tap dancing sequence with Powell in naval cadet drag being anything but masculine in her attempts to fool the other cadets she's doing a precision march with. Ray Bolger also gets to dance a bit, and even shares a few scenes with his future "The Wizard of Oz" co-star Frank Morgan. Billy Gilbert has an amusing small role as a sneezing inn keeper.
So forget about the silly story, overlook the lengthy run, and simply delight in the lavish photography, gorgeous sets, and delightful songs. "Rosalie" may not have overtaken "The Great Ziegfeld" as one of MGM's best musicals, but it certainly ranks as one that you won't soon forget.
Eleanor Powell is Rosalie, a European princess incognito who is an exchange student at an American college. Nelson Eddy is a naval cadet who falls in love with her and later finds out her true identity when he visits her country for a Mardi Gras type fiesta. Ventriloquist king Frank Morgan and his imperious wife Edna May Oliver have different ideals of how to run the country (and their daughter), and thanks to the domineering Oliver, Powell is engaged to a member of the nobility (Tom Rutherford) who doesn't love her. Ilona Massey, Powell's companion, is the one he is in love with. This leads to the possibility of the king losing his throne, especially when Powell declares her love for Eddy.
While the story is undoubtedly one of the silliest of operetta plot lines, you can't help but adore this movie because it is so campy. There's the lavish title song which takes place on a drummed set so huge with thousands of extras (their faces pretty much blurred out because there are so many), Eddy's rendering of the Porter standard "In the Still of the Night", and a tap dancing sequence with Powell in naval cadet drag being anything but masculine in her attempts to fool the other cadets she's doing a precision march with. Ray Bolger also gets to dance a bit, and even shares a few scenes with his future "The Wizard of Oz" co-star Frank Morgan. Billy Gilbert has an amusing small role as a sneezing inn keeper.
So forget about the silly story, overlook the lengthy run, and simply delight in the lavish photography, gorgeous sets, and delightful songs. "Rosalie" may not have overtaken "The Great Ziegfeld" as one of MGM's best musicals, but it certainly ranks as one that you won't soon forget.