Rosita

Rosita / Rosita. US (c) 1923 Mary Pickford Company. D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Edward Knoblock - treatment by Norbert Falk, Hanns Kräly - based on the play Don César de Bazan (1844) by Philippe Francois Pinel Dumanoir and Adolphe Philippe Dennery. DP: Charles Rosher. AD: William Cameron Menzies, Svend Gade. COST: Mitchell Leisen. Starring: Mary Pickford (Rosita), Holbrook Blinn (the King), Irene Rich (the Queen), George Walsh (Don Diego). Originally 2682 m /20 fps/ 117 min. Surviving Russian print 2242 m /2o fps/ 98 min. A Digibeta presentation of the film with Russian intertitles, e-subtitles AA, Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 19 Feb 2008. I have seen this film maybe six times, and this was not the worst presentation, although in Digibeta. This magnificent production (cinematography by Rosher, art direction by Menzies, costumes by Leisen) would deserve the best possible restoration one day, based on all surviving material. No masterpiece, but a fascinating turning-point for both Pickford and Lubitsch. Pickford wanting to break out of her woman-as-girl formula, and Lubitsch making his big entrance in Hollywood. This is a continuation to the Dubarry-Boleyn-Pharaon cycle of Lubitsch, and his last such spectacle. It looks great, and in the Sevilla Carneval Lubitsch shows his talent in mounting lively crowd scenes (interesting to see the similarities here to his previous films). There are also the nice small touches such as the close-up of the imprisoned Rosita's hand touching secretly Diego's and the Queen's small pocket mirror turned into a spyglass. It is interesting to compare Mary Pickford with Pola Negri as Carmen and Bergkatze; Mary is good, but Pola would have been better. Mary is at her best in the end, after the fake execution of Don Diego, as she shocks the king with her intensity. Adult scenes include the lovers' night in prison and Rosita's attempted assassination of the King. Holbrook Blinn is no Jannings as the King, but Irene Rich is very good with her telling looks as the Queen.