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Greetings! This is an update to my previous (2019 version), I have added several more photos and updated the image quality on others. I also cleaned up the titles and made some other improvements due to further research. The previous version is saved at this link for reference: This is a reconstruction attempt of the mostly lost feature “The Rogue Song“ (1930) using stills, audio, and all known existing footage. Some of this footage is quite choppy and stills and frame grabs have been use to fill in missing pieces. A few liberties have been taken due to the lack of available visuals in some scenes. The last known complete print of this film apparently was destroyed in a 1965 MGM vault fire along with many other highly flammable nitrate films stored there. The entire soundtrack survived due to it existing on Vitaphone disks separate from the picture elements. Presumably, Tibbett's personal print survived into the 1960s after his death but deteriorated to the point that it had to be junked. One can hope for more footage to be found. Lost films continue to turn up in unlikely places. The surviving pieces were found in a New Hampshire bookstore and in a Czech archive, among other places. While I have utilized the stills I could gain access to (130 or so), up to 400 exist which include costume tests and sets. Also, approximately 20 snipped film frames survive. These all exist in U.S. museums. Rogue Song has been released overseas under a host of different names, so please be on the lookout for these (presumably missing) titles as well: Banditenlied (Austria) Zigeunerliebe (Austria) Amor de Zíngaro (Brazil) Amore gitano (Italy) La canción de la estepa (Spain) Le chant du bandit (France) Mustalaisrakkautta (Finland) Zigeunerliefde (Holland) Das Lied Der Banditen (Germany?) A canção do bandido (Portugal) Pieśń skazańca (Poland) Il canto del bandito (Italy) Zigøjner-kærlighed (Denmark) Zigenarkärlek (Sweden) La Cancion del Vagabundo (Argentina) Песня мошенника (Russia?) La chanson de Rogue Haydut Şarkısı (Turkey) Piesn skazanca (Poland) 悪漢の唄 (Japan) O eros ton tsiganon (Greece) Perhaps a copy under one these titles is resting in an archive, personal collection, or your attic. Shot in two-color technicolor, The film stars Metropolitan opera star Lawrence Tibbett and actress Catherine Dale Owen. Laurel and Hardy entered late into the production to lighten the tone of the film a bit. Their scenes are scattered throughout and are the most difficult to recreate as their scenes weren't scripted and the team relied heavily on pantomime (especially the bee scene). While their material in the film is a bit subpar, it would be nice to see the boys in color. It is also interesting to seeing a young Florence Lake in one of her earliest film appearances as Yegor's sister. She would go on to appear as Edgar Kennedy's wife in many of his “Average man“ short subjects of the 1930s and 1940s and continue to make film and TV appearances well into the 1970s. Also please check out my animation of the other lost Laurel and Hardy film “Hats Off“ at this link: Thank you!
