Oh... Rosalinda!!

Oh... Rosalinda!!
theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Written byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Produced byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
StarringMichael Redgrave
Mel Ferrer
Anthony Quayle
Ludmilla Tchérina
Anton Walbrook
Dennis Price
Anneliese Rothenberger
CinematographyChristopher Challis
Edited byReginald Mills
Music byJohann Strauss (music)
Dennis Arundell (lyrics)
Distributed byAssociated British–Pathé
Release date
  • 18 November 1955 (1955-11-18)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£276,328[1][2] or £255,445[3]
Box office£95,833[4]

Oh... Rosalinda!! is a 1955 British musical comedy film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film stars Michael Redgrave, Mel Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Ludmilla Tchérina and Anton Walbrook and features Anneliese Rothenberger and Dennis Price.

The film is based on the 1874 operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Johann Strauss, but updated to take place in post-war Vienna as occupied by the four Allied powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the USSR. The music, played by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under conductor Alois Melichar,[5] has new lyrics by Dennis Arundell, and professional singers dubbed for some of the actors. The choreography is by Alfred Rodrigues, and the production was designed by Hein Heckroth.

Oh... Rosalinda!! is a light-hearted Technicolor romp that makes full use of the new CinemaScope process, and is not just a film of a staged production but a filmic operetta.

As the film closes in the early hours at the party at the hotel Falke points the message to the representatives of the four powers, while thanking them for their presence: "even the dearest friend loses his attraction if he overstays.... so if you don't mind, go home, please go home"; at which the waltz "Brüderlein, Brüderlein und Schwesterlein"/"Brothers, brothers and sisters" ('Be my friend') starts up.[6]

  1. ^ Kevin Macdonald (1994). Emeric Pressburger: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter. Faber and Faber. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-571-16853-8.
  2. ^ Charles Drazin (2014) Film Finances: The First Years, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34:1, 2-22, DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2014.878999 p 13
  3. ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 359
  4. ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000
  5. ^ TCM Music
  6. ^ Webber, Christopher. Opera on DVD and blu-ray : Oh … Rosalinda!!, after Johann Strauss. Opera, March 2020, Vol.71 No.3, p392-393.