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 film stars Metropolitan Opera singer Lawrence Tibbett—who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance—and Catherine Dale Owen.
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.
The film was adapted by John Colton and Frances Marion from the operetta Gipsy Love, book by Robert Bodanzky and A. M. Willner, music by Franz Lehár.
[2] Although Laurel and Hardy were minor players in the film, opera star Lawrence Tibbett was virtually unknown in much of the United States.
A two and a half minute fragment that had been cut out of the film by a local projectionist was found in a bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1981, it featured a comic segment with Laurel and Hardy hiding in a cave in which a bear has taken shelter.
[2] Another 500 foot piece, about 10 minutes long, which showed a ballet sequence by Albertina Rasch was found in Maine in 1998 and was restored by UCLA.
The film's trailer, which includes Laurel and Hardy, is extant except for the first 60 seconds, which were lost due to decomposition; the remainder was transferred to safety stock by UCLA.
The estate of Lawrence Tibbett held a color copy of the entire Rogue Song for many years after his death.