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.

I saw this as I like Nelson Eddy. And I liked Rose-Marie. The story is creaky(and perhaps a tad schmaltzy),the film is perhaps a little too long and the pace sometimes pedestrian. However, the production values still look lovely and hold up quite well, and the music is wonderful with the incidental music stirring and the songs joyous. The script has some nice touches, a vast majority of times are beautifully staged and the film as a whole is well directed.

And then we have Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Both look and sound wonderful, they exude great chemistry together and both give believable performances.

All in all, lovely. 7/10 Bethany Cox

For the first quarter of this deliciously silly but romantic operetta, Jeanette Macdonald is a shrewish diva who needs taming desperately. Tough Mountie Nelson Eddy is just the one to do it, suddenly aware that she's the sister of the Mountie murderer that he's searching for. Even then, he leads her along slowly, and pretty soon, their own Indian Love Song will be calling them.

This comes from a style of musical that people either love OE despise, and surprisingly, there is a cult following for the team that dominated musicals for the remainder of the 1930's, if not as down to earth as the two other big musical teams, Fred and Ginger, and Dick and Ruby.

The outdoor setting is beautifully filmed, with plenty of comedy and innuendo to balance the few remaining songs from Rudolf Friml's 1924 popular Broadway era. Eddy is commanding singing the "Mountie" song and humorously serenades Jeanette with the light hearted title song. For song and dance, there's a fabulous "Tom Tom" number that may be offensive to some today.

Along with Nelson and Jeanette is a young James Stewart in a small role as MacDonald's brother. Una O'Connor, Reginald Iwen, Herman Bing and Jimmy Conlin with Allan Jones in a minor singing role. This may strike some people as corn, but Indian corn is an all American favorite past time.