page_title: The Rogue Song
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: The Rogue Song / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Lionel Barrymore directing the 1930 film The Rogue Song Caption reads as follows: Clarence Hewitt shows us this picture of Lionel Barrymore directing Rogue Song. Lawrence Tibbett is seen standing in the doorway, and behind the camera is Percy Hilburn.
context_page_description: The Rogue Song is a 1930 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.
context_section_description: The film is MGM's first all-talking, all-color (Technicolor) production. It was also the screen debut of Lawrence Tibbett, a world-renowned star of the Metropolitan Opera. The film is notable today as Laurel and Hardy's first and only appearance in a color feature film (all of their feature films before and after were shot in black-and-white; their only other professionally shot color film was the wartime short The Tree in a Test Tube), although they were only minor players in the film.
  The film was adapted by John Colton and Frances Marion from the operetta Gipsy Love by Robert Bodanzky and A. M. Willner.
  Production was supervised by Paul Bern, and the anticipated 30-day shooting schedule began on August 29, 1929. The studio executives' response to the daily "rushes" was that the film was not working well and needed help.  MGM borrowed Laurel and Hardy from Hal Roach, and after negotiations between Roach and Thalberg, Roach agreed to write and direct their scenes. The final film has eight scenes with the comedy duo. Principal photography ended on October 11.
caption: Lionel Barrymore directing The Rogue Song
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