The Rogue Song

The Rogue Song is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic and musical film that tells the story of a Russian bandit who falls in love with a princess, but takes his revenge on her when her brother rapes and kills his sister. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production was directed by Lionel Barrymore and released in two versions, with and without sound. Hal Roach wrote and directed the Laurel and Hardy sequences and was not credited. The film stars Metropolitan Opera singer Lawrence Tibbett—who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance—and Catherine Dale Owen. Laurel and Hardy were third-billed; their sequences were filmed at the last minute and interspersed throughout the film in an attempt to boost its potential box-office appeal. This film, MGM's first all-talking Technicolor film, is partially lost as there are no known complete prints of this film. Fragments do exist. Plot The story takes place in the Russian Empire in the year 1910. Yegor (Lawrence Tibbett), a dashing (as well as singing) bandit leader meets Princess Vera (Catherine Dale Owen) at a mountain inn. They fall in love, but the relationship is shattered when Yegor kills Vera's brother, Prince Serge, for raping his sister, Nadja, and driving her to suicide. Yegor kidnaps Vera, forcing her to live a life of lowly servitude among the bandits. Vera manages to outwit Yegor, who is captured by soldiers and flogged. Vera begs Yegor's forgiveness. Although still in love with each other, they realize they cannot be together. Cast Lawrence Tibbett as Yegor Catherine Dale Owen as Princess Vera Nance O'Neil as Princess Alexandra Judith Vosselli as Tatiana Ullrich Haupt as Prince Serge Elsa Alsen as Yegor's mother Florence Lake as Nadja Lionel Belmore as Ossman Wallace MacDonald as Hassan Kate Price as Petrovna H.A. Morgan as Frolov Burr McIntosh as Count Peter James Bradbury Jr. as Azamat Stan Laurel as Ali-Bek Oliver Hardy as Murza-Bek