Love Me Tonight [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

This musical has everything: it's melodic, comic, heartwarming, and is undeniably very creative.

The opening 'Song of Paree', which is set to the sounds of Paris awakening, sets the tone for the whole piece, and Rouben Mamoulian's clever direction is evident in the sequence built around the song 'Isn't it Romantic', where the melody is passed from Maurice Chevalier, to a cab driver, a composer, a group of soldiers, a gypsy violinist, and finally ends up being heard by Jeanette MacDonald on her balcony. The use of Chevalier's shadow in 'I'm an Apache', and MacDonald's 'Lover' where she sings the final line of every verse to her horse, are also delightful.

Chevalier and McDonald prove to be charming leads, and are well-supported by Myrna Loy, C.Aubrey Smith, and Charles Butterworth (an excellent comic turn as the old Count).

But the real honours in this go to Mamoulian and the writers for giving us a musical that integrates the songs (some of the best of Rodgers and Hart) within the heart of the movie.

A musical that deserves to be better known.

"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.

I can't really add very much to what the other two reviewers have said about Love Me Tonight. It is one of the best musicals ever made, very witty, excellently filmed and scored, and remarkable for its use of sound for both dramatic and comic effect.

It is interesting to read the various censorship notes, included on the disk and the objections voiced about certain parts of the film at the time of its release. Words, passages, song lyrics, all came under fire, and its interesting to imagine what the film would have looked and sounded like in the various cities where cuts were heaviest. thank goodness most of it was restored in this print, apart from, sadly, the doctor's song, the scene about the Virgin Springs - 'I didnt know there were any in this area!' and the scene in which Loy sings 'Mimi'.

It's a brilliant film. A must for fans of early musicals or just musical films in general. Its place in history is secure and well-deserved.