1h 44min | Musical, Adventure, Comedy | 3 March 1954 | Color, WS
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Stars: Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Fernando Lamas, Bert Lahr, Marjorie Main.
Busby Berkeley ... stager: musical numbers
I don't remember the plot for the '36 version with J.MacDonald & N.Eddy, but this plot is unfamiliar. They share songs from Rudolf Friml, but all character names are different, even Rose Marie's last names.
We get a pretty nifty native-style dance in ch23 (of 36).
Lots of singing by AB, HK, FL and at least 1 from BL. Also on this WAC disc: a deleted scene with BL & MM singing.
Soundtrack lists 9 songs: 3 by HK, 1 AB solo, 2 AB/FL duets, 1 by BL, 1 group sing, 1 dance number (ch23). The Indian Love Call is common to both films, and is well done here, especially when AB tries to reach FL when he's being hunted.
Per IMDb, 2 locations were used: Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada & Mammoth Lakes, California, USA, and that was nice, but most of the film looks shot in studio.
The story: FL is a French (Canadian) fur trapper trying to buy some land from the local tribe so he can mine for gold. He's a shady character, on the Mountie radar. AB falls for him even though HK falls for her. FL also has an Indian girl longing for him, but the tribal chief objects. The chief ends up dead by FL's knife, and the chase is on.
I don't really care about the characters. HK gets to be noble at the end. Meh.
MGM, dir. LeRoy; 6
