The Rogue Song
| The Rogue Song | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Lionel Barrymore |
| Produced by | Irving Thalberg |
| Written by |
John Colton Frances Marion |
| Starring |
Lawrence Tibbett Catherine Dale Owen |
| Music by |
Herbert Stothart Franz Lehár Clifford Grey |
| Cinematography |
Percy Hilburn Charles Edgar Schoenbaum (Technicolor) |
| Edited by | Margaret Booth |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates | May 10, 1930 |
Running time | 104 minutes (11 min remained fragments) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Rogue Song is a 1930 romantic musical film which tells the story of a Russian bandit who falls in love with a princess, but takes his revenge on her when her brother rapes and kills his sister. It was directed by Lionel Barrymore and Hal Roach (uncredited) and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film stars Lawrence Tibbett who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. Laurel and Hardy have small roles, which were filmed at the last minute and interspersed throughout the film in an attempt to boost the film's box office appeal. The Rogue Song is now considered a lost film, although a number of fragments have survived.
Plot
The story takes place in Russia in the year 1910. Yegor (Lawrence Tibbett), a dashing (as well as singing) bandit leader meets Princess Vera (Catherine Dale Owen) at a mountain inn. They fall in love, but the relationship is shattered when Yegor kills Vera's brother, Prince Serge, for raping his sister, Nadja, and driving her to suicide. Yegor kidnaps Vera, forcing her to live a life of lowly servitude among the bandits. Vera manages to outwit Yegor, who is captured by soldiers and flogged. Vera begs Yegor's forgiveness. Although still in love with each other, they realize they cannot be together, at least for the time being.
Cast
- Lawrence Tibbett
- Stan Laurel
- Oliver Hardy
- Catherine Dale Owen
- Nance O'Neil
- Judith Vosselli
- Ullrich Haupt
- Elsa Alsen
- Florence Lake
Songs
- "The Rogue Song" (Sung by Lawrence Tibbett)
- "The Narrative" (Sung by Lawrence Tibbett)
- "Love Comes Like A Bird On The Wing" (Sung by Lawrence Tibbett)
- "The White Dove" (Sung by Lawrence Tibbett)
- "Swan Ballet" (Played by Studio Orchestra)
- "Once In The Georgian Hills" (Sung by Lawrence Tibbett)
- "When I'm Looking At You" (Sung by Lawrence Tibbett)
Laurel and Hardy
There were ten comic episodes throughout the film in which Laurel and Hardy appeared. One of these has survived on film. In this scene, there is a storm and a tent is blown away revealing Stan and Oliver. They try to sleep without any cover. A bear enters a cave. Stan and Oliver decide to seek shelter in the cave and, because it is so dark, they can't see the bear. Oliver thinks Stan is wearing a fur coat. The bear begins to growl. Stan and Oliver flee.
Another segment, in which Laurel swallows a bee, has also survived on the trailer to the film, which has survived almost intact.
Production
The film is MGM's first All-Talking, All-Color (Technicolor) production. It was also the screen debut of Lawrence Tibbett, who was a world renowned star of the Metropolitan Opera. The film is notable today as Laurel and Hardy's first appearance in color, although at the time of release they were only minor players in the film.
The movie was adapted by John Colton and Frances Marion from the operetta Gypsy Love by Robert Bodansky and A. M. Willner.
Lost film status
- Despite extensive searches, no complete print of the movie has been found. One reel features a ballet sequence by Albertina Rasch and survives intact at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Another surviving reel features Lawrence Tibbett singing to Catherine Dale Owen survives at the Czech Film Archive in Prague. In addition, a short fragment exists which features Lawrence Tibbett and Catherine Dale Owen as they are caught in a storm. This fragment also features a short comic segment with Laurel & Hardy hide in a cave in which a bear has taken shelter. An almost complete print of the original trailer also survives at UCLA -- the first sixty seconds are lost, due to deterioration, but the sound survives complete as it was recorded on Vitaphone disks, rather than MGM's usual usage of Movietone. In the trailer, Lawrence Tibbett sings White Dove to Catherine Dale Owen. A short segment featuring the comics Laurel & Hardy is also seen in which Laurel has apparently swallowed a bee. In addition to these film fragments, the complete soundtrack survives because it was re-recorded on Vitaphone disks for theaters that did not have optical sound systems. Prints made in the early two-color Technicolor processes proved especially unstable due to the color dyes used, compounded by the instability of the nitrate film used for the negatives and prints. Digital restoration processes have been employed to transfer many early Technicolor films to more stable "safety" stock.
- The Lawrence Tibbett Estate held a color copy of the entire Rogue Song for many years after his death. Tibbett liked the film and showed it frequently to his friends. The late Allan Jones was a regular visitor and friend and reportedly gained possession of the print, which his son Jack Jones unfortunately had to junk because of nitrate film decomposition.
- MGM held the negative of reel 4 until the early 1967. It is believed that the entire film was stored in their Vault No. 7 but was destroyed in the fire that occurred there.
- A recent discovery in the former East Germany has provided evidence that a German two-color print of the film was copied, dubbed into Russian, and sent to the Soviet Union.
- Lawrence Tibbett recorded some of the songs from the film in studio recordings released by RCA Victor on 78-rpm "Red Seal" discs.
See also
- List of United States comedy films
- Laurel and Hardy films
- List of lost films
- List of incomplete or partially lost films
- List of early color feature films