1954 Motion Picture
Learn more about the 1954 Motion Picture of Rose-Marie at the Official Rodgers & Hammerstein website. Explore the history, awards, media and more.
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Rodgers & Hammerstein
Starring Ann Blyth and Howard Keel, the third MGM film adaptation of Rose Marie (again, styled without the hyphen) was released on April 1, 1954. Bert Lahr, Fernando Lamas and Marjorie Main were among the supporting cast. Only three songs from the original stage production were included in the movie: “The Mounties,” “Indian Love Call” and “Rose Marie.” Busby Berkeley’s big dance number was completely reworked from the original “Totem Tom-Tom.” Rudolf Friml and Paul Francis Webster contributed four additional songs, and one song – “The Mountie That Never Got His Man” – was written by the team of George Stoll and Herbert Baker.

Filmed in the Canadian Rockies, this Rose Marie was the first movie musical released in the new widescreen CinemaScope format. Though the score was changed significantly, the story adhered fairly closely to the original stage production.

The critical and commercial response was not favorable. Variety called the picture “sweet and occasionally sad, but with little substance,” and Time magazine said it “manages to combine almost all the worst features of the preceding productions with a few especially thought up for the occasion.”