Rosita (1923)

 Ernst Lubitsch's "Rosita"

By 1923, Mary Pickford had become an international sensation. She had spent a decade being America's Sweetheart, playing in starring roles across film screens everywhere. On top of this, she had become a very powerful producer in Hollywood, producing and financing films such as DW Griffith's "Broken Blossoms," Alfred E. Green's "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and Allan Dwan's "Robin Hood." However, Pickford wanted to produce a film that would update her image, and free her from the perception of the 'ingenue.' Pickford believed that a new image required a fresh, new director. To find him, she looked towards Europe. 

Ernst Lubitsch had reached a high point of his career in Germany. He was a director who could garnish both critical accliam and commerical success. After the trials of World War I, Germany had an explosion of cinematic ventures, allowing directors to experiment and create true auteuristic pieces of film. Lubitsch had become successful creating films of farcical nature, as well incredibly lavish historical epics. With films like "The Doll," "Madame DuBarry," and "The Loves of Pharaoh," Lubitsch had conquered epic feats of commercial viability. However, due to the increasing levels of Weimar's economic volatility, Lubitsch sought Hollywood's deep pockets. In October of 1922, Mary Pickford contacted Lubitsch to entice him to come and direct her in a new Hollywood movie. Lubitsch accepted.

Together Pickford and Lubitsch decided on recreating the opera "Don Cesar de Bazan" and retitled it "Rosita." The story centers on the king of Spain, who, disgusted with the levels of deprevaity his city has sunken to, decides to visit the town carnival. There, he witnesses a street singer named Rosita being praised for her musical renditions of royal mockery. After soldiers arrest her for publicly insulting the king, an army captain named Don Diego tries to defend her. After he gets arrested, they fall in love in their prison cell. At the request of the king, Rosita is taken to him, while Diego is to be hung. Diego writes a letter to the king asking him to shot instead, as is the fate of a military captain. Meanwhile, Rosita, as she the only source of income for her family, attempts to milk her admiration by the king. She asks the king to provide her a royal husband. The king feels that he can kill two birds with one stone by having Rosita marry Diego. After the marriage, Rosita will have a royal title, and Diego will have the execution he deserves. However, the king's wife undermines him by saving Diego from his tragic fate, allowing him and Rosita to continue with their marriage. 

Lubitsch was a director fascinated by class and privilege. With his films, he uses the properness of royal or high class characters and undermines that properness with the absurdities of life situations. The king in "Rosita" is accostomed to living in lavish bebauchery, eating lush fruits, engaging in sexual promiscuity, having portraits painted of himself, and other varied indulgences. Yet, he is insulted by the lower-class peasants engaging in street debauchery of their own, having carnivals, engaging in sexual perversion, chanting mockeries of the royal class, and delving into other sinful activities. Lubitsch displays both classes as being the same - the only difference between them is the visual spaces they inhabit, as well as their attire. In the scenes involving the lower classes, Lubitch constructs an unkept infrastructure, with streets of noticable dirtiness and decay. He adds to this unruly environment by having it infused with hundred of chaotically moving extras. When we see the environment of the lower classes, it is both unkept and chaotic. On the flipside, he positions the king and the other aristocratic characters in lavish palace rooms, opulent in nature. The visual space these characters inhabit often seem enormous in size, scaling high in the frame, making the king and others appear very small. The incongruence of the visual spaces mixed with the behavior of the characters allows Lubitsch to undermine his high born characters. This direction of visual space aids in Rosita's journey from poverty to luxury. 

The reports about Lubitsch and Pickford's relationship on set are completely varied. Some claim that the two got on amicably. Because of this enjoyable relationship, the two had planned on doing three more films together, which eventually fell through. Other film historians cliam the two did not get along at all, believing that Pickford's producing inputs often annoyed Lubitsch, as he wanted to stay true to his directiorial vision. Despite the conflicting reports, the two were able to craft a highly successful film. Upon its release in 1923, the film made almost $1 million. Not only this, many film critics praised Pickford's revamped performance, a few of them stating that she had further cemented herself as a capable actress mastering the art of the silent performance. With "Rosita," Pickford was able to transcend her commercial stardom into something much more artisticly viable, while Lubitsch's career skyrocketed, allowing the success of the film to further allow him more Hollywood big-budget films.