Customer Reviews

Love Me Tonight

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Frankly...upon buying this dvd, I had high hopes...but they were all surpassed by the material...I only had seen the young (well not so young, because he arrived to Hollywood in 1929, when he was over forty years old) Maurice Chevalier in Lubitsch's marvelous "The Smiling Lieutenant" (1931) and "The Merry Widow" (1934), both great landmark films & big achievements.... but "Love Me Tonight" is THE "Gem" of "The Crown's Jewels."

This must be the greatest pairing of Chevalier and MacDonald... Having not seen either "The Love Parade" (1929) nor "One Hour With You" (1932), I cannot say it 100% sure...but I'm pretty sure anyway.

I feel that if it wasn't for this musical, there wouldn't be a "Gigi", "My Fair Lady", "The Harvey Girls", "Easter Parade"...or whatever...this one is the grandparent of all movie musicals...either transferred from Broadway or not...it's just perfect. A masterpiece by the great Rouben Mamoulian.

I even must say, hardly enough, that in my innermost self...I feel this even tops other Pre-Code all-time-fave of mine (which is not a musical) from the same year (1932), "Trouble in Paradise", Lubitsch's masterpiece.

I was amazed by the Pre-Code dialogue & situations, the finesse of the screenplay treatment, the witty dialogues, the fantastic numbers by Chevalier, MacDonald, et al: "Isn't it Romantic", "Lover", "Mimi", "I'm an Apache", the innovative opening sequence: "The Song of Paree", "Love Me Tonight"...Really, when I read again on the dvd's package back that Leslie Halliwell said about it: "The most fluently cinematic comedy musical ever made"...the statement is true, absolutely!!! and in its actual 89 minutes version ('cos it underwent several cuts for its re-release) "Love Me Tonight" is still THE LANDMARK MUSICAL OF ALL TIME.

I had never seen this film before, never-ever, only read (a lot) about it...and words are short of praise to this marvel... Chevalier, MacDonald, never have been better (alone or together)....Myrna Loy looks so ravishing, such a "coquette" as the Countess...C. Aubrey Smith at his authoritative best as the Duke....Charlie Ruggles, deliciously "mischevious" as Monsieur le Vicomte (The Viscount)...the three elderly aunts, played flawlessly by Elizabeth Patterson, Blanche Frederici and Ethel Griffies.....and last but not least...the great Charlie Butterworth utterly funny as a Count, pretending Jeanette.

By the way both stars characters bear their same names... they're Maurice (the tailor) and Jeanette (the Princess)....It's a treat!!...I cannot say enough to praise this film.

The transfer is beautiful...the image quality (from 1932) is better than Criterion's transfer of "Trouble in Paradise" (from the same year)...It looks sharp, with much contrast, in glorious black and white.

The Bonuses are real wonders...Chevalier singing "Louise"... Jeanette giving a sensuous, tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Love Me Tonight" (Hollywood on Parade)....The audio commentary is precise, great, by Miles Kreuger...One has to watch the film really twice (with and without the audio commentary)...'cos the latter is absolutely very good.

The Screen Play Excerpts of the Deleted Scenes...are simply wonderful to undertsand the original story as it was intendend to be. And the Production Documents and Censrorship Records, is plain-simply necessary material, to understand not only the reason of the cuts this gem underwent, during the Production Code's Reign, after 1934 (for its 1949 re-release)....but all the trouble that went on during its filming in 1932.

Music Lovers, Early Talkies lovers, Jeanette & Maurice Lovers, Pre-Code fans....do yourself a favour and buy this DVD immediately.

This DVD is worth every dollar it costs...I hope Universal Pictures will continue giving the copyrights the've got on the thirties Paramount movies, to Kino Video, Criterion, et al...'cos there's still too much to be restored and edited on this format (DVD): "The Smiling Lieutenant" (1931), "The Story of Temple Drake" (1933), "Peter Ibbetson" (1935), etc..

Rouben Mamoulian's LOVE ME TONIGHT is the finest impersonation of Ernst Lubitsch in the history of Hollywood. It helped that he borrowed two of Lubitsch's most widely used stars. Jeanette MacDonald had appeared in Lubitsch's MONTE CARLO in 1930 (with the marvelous Jack Buchanan, who is best know for his great role in THE BAND WAGON) and Maurice Chevalier had appeared in 1931's THE SMILING LIEUTENANT, and the appeared together in THE LOVE PARADE of 1929 and ONE HOUR WITH YOU earlier in 1932 (they would appear together again in Lubitsch's superb THE MERRY WIDOW in 1934 in one of the last great comedies before the Code). If Mamoulian doesn't quite match Lubitsch in the latter's unsurpassed magic with the camera, he nonetheless more than equals him in his sense of play, of class conflict, and impish sense of mischief.

But in one regard he completely surpasses Lubitsch: Mamoulian was able to work with songs the likes of which Lubitsch was never able to. The film is filled with great songs by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart. The score is so good that songs that would normally be the finest in a musical, like "Mimi" and "Love Me Tonight" are completely overshadowed by two of the greatest songs that the legendary team wrong: the waltz-like "Lover" (sung by Jeanette MacDonald in a carriage) and the almost epic "Isn't It Romantic?" Rogers was one of the greatest composers the American stage or cinema has seen, but as fine as his music is in these two songs, Hart just might be a tad better. The lyrics are simply astonishing. Take these from "Lover," which are closer to poetry than to mere song lyrics: Lover, when I'm near you/ And I hear you speak my name/ Softly, in my ear you/ Breathe a flame. The lyrics, on the other hand, of "Isn't It Romantic?" are cleverly nonchalant, many of the lines mere vowels as the singers hum rather than sing. Later versions "cleaned up" the lyrics, but in the movie the rough, almost unfinished quality of the lyrics enhances their appeal. It begins in Paris with Maurice Chevalier singing in his shop (with marvelous use of mirrors), and the tune leaving the shop on the lips of a customer, only to be passed onto a cab driver, from him to a fare who is a composer, on from him to a troop of soldiers marching in the countryside, and from them to a gypsy violinist who is overheard by Jeanette MacDonald in her chateau, where the song concludes. It is a breathtaking performance.

There is so much nonchalant fun in this film! For instance, a marvelous conversation between C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Butterworth in a stable, with a horse's head firmly wedged between them. Or the remarkably humorous fox hunt.

This is a must-see film for anyone who loves classic cinema or pre-code musical comedies. It is almost impossible to surpass in terms of cast, music, camera work, or humor. Love it tonight.

Long absent from home video titles, 1932's LOVE ME TONIGHT has finally been released on dvd in all of its glory - and a wonderfully pristine print it is too! There are enough superlatives already published about this film and its creators, director Rouben Mamoulian and Rogers & Hart, that I don't need to think up new ones - Leonard Maltin calls it simply "one of the best musicals ever made" - but it's worth observing that Hollywood never made another musical even remotely like it until the recent CHICAGO. (OK, let's credit 1933's HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM, a notorious flop.)

Even in some of our most beloved musicals - such as SINGIN' IN THE RAIN - let's admit it, the story stops dead in its tracks to perform a musical number. At best, the number is usually redundant of information already provided to the viewer. Rogers and Hart told LOVE ME TONIGHT's story through its musical numbers, a seemingly obvious approach that films have steadfastly ignored all these decades except for CHICAGO where LMT's approach seems to have been rediscovered. Perhaps the quality that distinguishes LMT from later and better-known musicals is its lack of pretension, indeed, its playfulness. Despite the film's imagination and continual inventiveness, it is never impressed with itself (oh, that the "great" MGM musicals of the 1950s had this quality!).

The only problems I found are minor and not the fault of the film itself. There seems to be a slight rumble on the soundtrack when the scene is in silence, most notably in the famous opening sequence of Paris at dawn. I also wondered why some slight speckling was not removed from the opening titles. These two items aside, Kino Video did a great job and provided some great supplemental material including a thoughtful essay by Miles Kreuger. If you have any interest in movie musicals, LMT is "must" viewing!

Kino has done a wonderful job with the DVD presentation of this great film. The transfer is excellent, with only a few speckles, and excellent shadow detail. Blacks look rich and vibrant, and the whites look brilliant. Suprisingly, for a 71 year old movie, there is hardly any grain, and I am watching this film on a 50 inch screen. Even the stock Paris footage looks amazing and clean. There are hardly any jump cuts, except for the cuts instigated by hard-line censor Breen for subsequent reissues. The frames show remarkable stability. In summary, I was extremely surprised. The soundtrack does not quite match the quality of the video. However, all the dialogue is very clear, with an occasional hiss on the mono soundtrack. Let's not forget the age of the film.
The commentary by Miles Kreuger is about a 4 out of 5. He is very interested in the film, and the works of director Mamoulian, and is informative, especially in matters regarding the horrendous cuts inflicted by the post-code censor. He seems to know alot about the cast, especially the supporting cast. However, do we really need to know the birth date and the life story of an actor who has a very minor role, that is, only occupies seconds of screen time. Hopefully, Miles may improve in subsequent audio commentaries.
Congratulations Kino, and thanks for allowing cinephiles to finally view this film at home.

So I'm watching "Dreamgirls" --- well, sort of watching; the screen is blurred by my tears of joy at the mere existence of such a dazzling achievement. And I'm thinking that it's ever so slightly familiar.

It's not the theme, though this is hardly the first film to show how original art is watered down so it can thrill a mass audience.

It's not the music, which starts as strong soul, transits through powerful R&B and ends up as a homogenized vehicle for a star who is, by now, just "passing" as a black woman.

Ah! It's the way the story is told, a quasi-operatic style in which dialogue segues into song --- and instead of talking to one another, characters sing their thoughts back and forth.

And then, because although I have trouble remembering last week, I'm strong on old movies, I got it: "Dreamgirls" is cousin to "Love Me Tonight," a 1932 musical by Rouben Mamoulian.

You may never have heard of this film. Blame that on television, which long ago turned away from late-night broadcasts of black-and-white classics. Had "Love Me Tonight" been on and had you seen the opening sequence, you would have been hooked --- it's that rare combination: great originality and total fun.

We're in Paris. Early morning, as the city awakes. A workman shows up with a pick and starts chipping away at the pavement. Another sweeps. A knife sharpener puts an edge on the first blade of the day. Two cobblers take seats outside their shop and hammer at heels. A woman beats a carpet.

It's pure rhythm --- street sound as melody. And it's just a little too much for young Maurice Chevalier, who shuts his window, finishes dressing and heads downstairs. But hey, he's Maurice Chevalier; as he walks down the street, he sings to his neighbors. And they sing back to him.

Time to get serious: Maurice is a tailor. A good one. And, he thinks, a lucky one --- he has just made 15 suits for Vicomte Gilbert de Vareze, the most fashionable man in Paris. His future is assured.

You know the punch line: The Vicomte is a penniless deadbeat who has stiffed every tradesman on the block. He lives off crumbs from his disapproving uncle, the Duke d'Artelines. So Maurice charges off to the Duke's chateau to extract payment.

On the way, he meets Jeannette MacDonald, and falls instantly in love. Once at the chateau, there is the inevitable confusion about Maurice's identity --- the last thing the Vicomte wants his uncle to know is that a tailor has come to collect a small fortune --- and Maurice gets the chance to try his charm on MacDonald, who it turns out, is a widow.

Not just any widow. A widow who feels she is, at 21, "wasting away." Her doctor, with an eye on her breasts, disagrees. His diagnosis: She's "being wasted."

Throughout, the dialogue is brisk and racy:

Jeanette: What are you doing now?
Maurice: I'm thinking. I'm thinking of you without these clothes.
Jeanette: Open your eyes at once!
Maurice: Oh no, pardon, madam. With different clothes. Smart clothes.

No wonder the censors snipped some 15 minutes from the film.

The music is by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart. It includes such classics as "Isn't It Romantic?" and is, as the opening sequence suggests, integral to the film. But let Mamoulian explain: "I decided to make the movie lyrical, thoroughly stylized: a film in which the whole action of actors, as well as the movement of camera and cutting was rhythmic. Then I got Rodgers and Hart to write the music....We finished the whole score before I began to work on the script. We did the whole thing to a metronome, because we couldn't carry an orchestra round with us."

Mistaken identity. Stars at their zenith. Classic songs. Double entendres galore. Even a happy ending: "Once upon a time there was a princess and a prince charming...who was not a prince but who was charming...and they lived happily ever after."

If you have any weakness for old movies, don't miss "Love Me Tonight."

Another perfect film is now readily available on DVD. This film is widely recognised as one of the best musicals ever. It combines a superb Rodgers and Hart score with the subtle sexy humour of Ernst Lubitsch and the visual flair which Rouben Mamoulian, the director, brought to so many of his films.

Maurice Chevalier plays a tailor who meets princess Jeanette MacDonald when he visits her castle to collect outstanding debts from Charlie Ruggles. Macdonald is a widow who keeps fainting not from "wasting away" as the doctor diagnoses, but "being wasted". Macdonald falls for Chevalier and after a few plot devices which will keep them apart because he is a commoner, they reunite to live happily ever after. If the story sounds like a fairy tale, it is but that does not detract from the enchantment of the piece.

Chevalier plays his usual charming self and Macdonald is sexy and funny in a way she rarely showed with Nelson Eddy. Myrna Loy is ravishing as her nymphomaniac cousin and this comes as a surprise to those who know her as the perfect wife. All of the supporting cast are memorable though Charlie Ruggles steals every scene in which he appears.

The score includes the incomparable "Mimi", "Lover" and "Isn't it Romantic". The commentary by Miles Kreuger is outstanding, avoiding mere biographical details and really giving us insight into the relevance of this film in 1932 and why it still stands up today. There is a lot of information about what was cut from the film when it was reissued, cuts which have been lost for ever at this date. The DVD print is excellent but there is quite a bit of background surface noise at times which can be distracting.

If you haven't seen "Love Me Tonight," or are not familiar with it, I definitely reccomend that you check it out. This is a great example of the brilliance of the collaboration of Richard Rogers (songwriter) and Lorenz Hart (lyricist). Not only is the music witty, biting and intelligent (and has stood the test of time today), full of innuendo and pointed jabs at the hang-ups of society and the class system, but the whole film succeeds as a musical, comedy, love story and social commentary.

Maurice (Maurice Chevalier) is a Parisian tailor dripping with charm, wit and a true "joie de vivre" (joy for life). He is truly content to make suits for his customers, flirt with pretty mademoiselles and muse on his future--ideally with a wife and a pack of children on the way. It is when one of his royal customers (Charles Ruggles) stiffs him on the payment of fifteen suits that he decides to seek redemption and payment for his merchandise. It is on his journey to the chateau of this customer, that he encounter the beautiful Princess Jeanette (Jeanette McDonald), a 22 year old young lady wasting away in her tower, awaiting the arrival of Prince Charming.

This musical combines racy, pre-censorship code humor, hysterical musical numbers comparable to up-tempo comedic operatic arias, and cutting edge camera tricks (slow motion, zoom lense, etc.) that were years ahead of its time. You can tell that the young Maurice Chevalier was getting a kick out of hamming it up for the cameras, as a true, romantic Frenchman, in love with love. I will honestly be surprised if you don't get swept up in his infectious warmth or the irrerepressible charm of this great, underappreciated little masterpiece......

"Once upon a time there was a princess and a prince charming...who was not a prince but who was charming...and they lived happily ever after." These are the final words of one of the most influential of Hollywood musicals. It has a frothy book, an outstanding Rodgers and Hart score and a style that brought a whole new look to the clunky musicals which were being cranked out at the time. The story is told with such lightness and style that Lubitsch, I think, would have been proud to have directed it. A poor Parisian tailor (Maurice Chevalier) is determined to collect on the large bill a downbeat nobleman has run up. He travels to a magnificent estate where he was told he will be paid, but on a road he encounters a beautiful young woman (Jeanette MacDonald). He falls instantly in love but she goes on her way. Arriving at the estate, he is mistaken for a wealthy baron. He's about to tell the truth when he spies the girl...she is a princess! And he decides not to say that he is just a tailor. There are mixups, mistaken encounters, another suitor who is a drip, and a guardian (C. Aubrey Smith) who is formidable. But love will find a way, and it does.

Chevalier is funny, masculine and endearing. And while MacDonald isn't exactly spontaneous, she is at least better than adequate. The rest of the cast is great. C. Aubrey Smith is steadfast, as usual, but he shows a funny side not often seen in his other movies. He also does a very nice job of singing a chorus of "Mimi". There's Myrna Loy on the make, Charles Butterworth as the twit and Charlie Ruggles as the deadbeat. They're all first rate farceurs.

Mamoulian brings much lightness and speed to the movie, as well as a good deal of pre-code naughtiness. When a doctor examines the princess in her negligee he tells her "...now I'm going to examine your heart...both sides." He pronounces her healthy, but notes "with a figure like that, you're not wasting away. You're just wasted."

Mamoulian's not afraid to be unconventional, beginning with starting the movie with a slowly growing chorus of early-morning Paris sounds of cans being emptied, rugs beaten and horses clopping. Rather than assign Rodgers and Hart specific songs to compose, he brought them in early and had them develop the whole musical structure of the movie. This included their first attempts at rhyming dialogue, which works just fine in several of the scenes. Rodgers, Hart and Mamoulian came up with the idea of a song that would be handed off from one character to another, and Rodgers and Hart developed "Isn't It Romantic." Chevalier starts the song, passes it off to a customer buying a suit, who passes it off to a cab driver, where it's picked up by a poet/passenger, who passes it off to a train full of French soldiers, who pass it off to a group of marching soldiers, where it's taken up by a young gypsy boy who plays the melody on a violin, where the song is taken up by other gypsies around a campfire, and it is at last passed along to the princess on her balcony. The sequence goes on for several minutes, the song moves at different tempi and with different words, and is absolutely charming. Here are some of the words: Isn't it romantic?/ Music in the night, a dream that can be heard./ Isn't it romantic?/ Moving shadows write the oldest magic word/ I hear the breezes playing in the trees above/ while all the world is saying you were meant for love./ Isn't it romantic?/ Merely to be young on such a night as this?/ Isn't it romantic?/ Every note that's sung is like a lover's kiss./ Sweet symbols in the moonlight,/ do you mean that I will fall in love, per chance?/ Isn't it romance? And then version two: Isn't it romantic?/ While I sit around my love can scrub the floor/ She'll kiss me every hour or she'll get the sack/ and when I take a shower she can scrub my back./ Isn't it romantic./ On a moonlight night she'll cook me onion soup./ Kiddies are romantic,/ and if we don't fight we soon will have a troupe./ We'll help the population;/ it's a duty that we owe to dear old France.\ Isn't it romance? This hand-off style is also used with "Mimi," and it is just as clever and amusing. Rodgers and Hart also came up with "Lover." Those who remember Peggy Lee's driving, passionate version should get a surprise. With the same lyrics and a clever pun or two, MacDonald sings the song in part to her horse.

If you're interested in how the Hollywood movie developed, if you like great songs, and if you enjoy a frothy, clever story with expert performances, this might be a movie to add to your collection. The DVD picture looks great. There are several extras, including an audio commentary by Miles Kreuger, who knows a lot about American musicals. There also is an informative insert.

My first viewing of this film was a great disappointment. I expected another Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy film, with Chevalier substituting for Eddy. And I emphatically did not like the film. Then I viewed the film a second time, this time with the play-by-play voice-over analysis by Miles Kreuger, which comes as a extra bonus on this DVD. Suddenly I was seeing the film in a completely different light, and absolutely loving this film. This DVD is an absolute gem, and one of the best things about it is the intelligent and articulate insights provided by Miles Kreuger, not confined to this film alone but applying to the cinema world at large in the early 30s. It is as if a film critic from the 1930s had come back to life, as if he had actually been on the sets during the filming (because he's talked to those who were). Kreuger's commentary alone is worth the price of this DVD. After seeing this film for the first time, you must go back and see it again through Miles Kreuger's eyes.

Can't add much to what others have said. The classic Rodgers & Hart songs are great. The stars are great. The endlessly inventive stagings of the songs leave most other movie musicals looking stodgy indeed.

A burst of creativity and genius that didn't just expand the ways music could be used on film -- it exploded them. LOVE ME TONIGHT is terrifically funny and entertaining, and even now, it seems ahead of its time.