Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1929-1930

The Contenders:

Wallace Beery: The Big House
Maurice Chevalier: The Big Pond
Ronald Colman: Bulldog Drummond
Ronald Colman: Condemned
George Arliss: Disraeli (winner)
George Arliss: The Green Goddess
Maurice Chevalier: The Love Parade
Lawrence Tibbett: The Rogue Song

Robin Hood and Juliet

Film: The Rogue Song
Format: Internet video on laptop.

Adolysti connected me to the remaining bits of The Rogue Song when I posted the review for Jojo Rabbit, thinking I was mainly done with the giant Oscars list. Alas, I was not, and wanting something like that little additional bit of closure, I figured I would watch what I could of the film. It’s an interesting thing—only about 30 minutes of actual footage remain, but there is a complete soundtrack for the film. So, what does remain has been pieced together with stills and interstitial titles to give us something like a sense of the entire film.

The Rogue Song is very much a musical, and that becomes clear almost at the moment the film starts. The story takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia (roughly 1910). A bandit leader named Yegor (Lawrence Tibbett) chances upon Princess Vera (Catherine Dale Owen) at an in. The two are attracted to each other, but find that there are a number of impediments to their relationship. Vera’s companion (Nance O’Neil) gives Yegor a string of pearls for being amusing, but then accuses him of stealing them when he refuses to romance her.