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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
LOVE ME TONIGHT
DVD Features: Commentary by: Miles Kreuger. Censorship Records. Production Documents.
Maurice Chevalier sings "Louise". Jeanette MacDonald sings "Love Me Tonight". Screenplay Excerpts of Deleted Scenes. Photo/Promotional Gallery. Original Theatrical Trailer.
DVD Extras: The informative commentary by Miles Kreuger, founder and president of
the Institute of the American Musical Inc., offers background information from
everyone from Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart to Armenian-born director Rouben
Mamoulian. Kreuger justly sings the praises of the hilarious supporting cast, most
of whom were Broadway veterans. Interesting tidbit: writer Waldemar Young was
a descendent of Mormon pioneer Brigham Young. The censorship records reveal
lists of suggested and/or required cuts to prevent the risqué humor turning into the
suggestive. One of the concerns of the Hays Office was the possibility of the film
offending French Royalists (the film has light references to Bastille Day). Alas,
among the cuts were the lyrics, “A Woman needs something like that” and a shot
of Loy in a negligee. KT
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This 1932 landmark musical is a must for musical comedy fans. In their third
pairing, Maurice Chevalier plays a suave tailor masquerading as a nobleman, who
wins the love of a princess, the patrician Jeanette MacDonald. The light-as-air
script is filled with double entendres, and the direction is as sophisticated as
anything by Ernst Lubitsch. Myrna Loy, in her first aristocratic role, offers a sharp
comedic turn as a woman on the prowl. In a departure in its day, the musical score
- featuring the standard, “Isn’t It Romantic” - is integrated into the text. And its
fluid cinematography breaks free from the static camera work of earlier
musicals.