Love Me Tonight

Looking for the fees owed him by an eccentric nobleman, a Parisian tailor arrives at the country château of a lovely, lonely princess.

Blending wonderful music, witty words and first-rate performances, director Rouben Mamoulian created in LOVE ME TONIGHT a superlative concoction which will delight any discriminating aficionado of early movie musicals. With remarkable naturalism & refinement, Mamoulian weaves the songs into the fabric of the film, managing to highlight the best of them with great gusto, while still displaying some delicate touches of his own. The opening sequence of an awakening Paris and the gradual orchestration of sounds, followed immediately by the integration of the first song into a quick walk along a busy street, is a case in point. The viewer knows instantly that the director is in charge and has everything well in hand--which leads to one's wondering what kind of a Land of Oz Paramount Studios must have been in the early 1930's with both Mamoulian and Ernest Lubitsch working on the lot...

Maurice Chevalier exudes Gallic joie de vivre as the honest tailor whose extraordinary charm & talent beguiles a bevy of blue bloods. Effortlessly dominating his every scene, he exhibits the over-sized personality which put him into the rarefied stratum of the top performers (Baker, Coward, Robeson) of his generation. Lovely Jeanette MacDonald once again is the perfect romantic partner for Chevalier. A fine actress as well as an excellent singer, she throws herself into the film's farcical atmosphere and lends her celebrated voice to the musical proceedings.

Jeanette's château is populated by a gaggle of expert character performers: stern old Sir C. Aubrey Smith as the ducal head of the house; gently daffy Charlie Ruggles as an improvident vicomte; elegant Myrna Loy as a young amorous countess; and Elizabeth Patterson, Ethel Griffies & Blanche Frederici as the Aunties--slyly depicted as either a trio of benevolent witches or a pack of excited puppies. Soft-spoken Charles Butterworth plays the timid count who wishes to marry Miss MacDonald. Joseph Cawthorn is the no-nonsense family doctor. Rotund Robert Greig portrays the château's imposing major-domo.

Movie mavens will recognize sour-faced Clarence Wilson as a shirtmaker; Ethel Wales as a temperamental dressmaker; and Edgar Norton as a valet--all uncredited.

Except for the sadly vulgar--albeit tongue-in-cheek--apache tune, the rest of Rodgers & Hart's music is very entertaining, especially the two most famous numbers: 'Isn't It Romantic' (begun in Paris by Chevalier, and traveling by taxi, train, marching soldiers and gypsies it eventually reaches MacDonald on her balcony) and 'Mimi,' sung first by Maurice to Jeanette, but eventually echoed, hilariously, by many of the inhabitants of the château).

Sumptuous production values and costumes by Edith Head add greatly to the film's overall quality.

There are so many elements regarding LOVE ME TONIGHT that crossed to create one of the great musicals of American film. It probably was the best score for a Hollywood film done by Rodgers and Hart, including "Isn't It Romantic", "Mimi", and "Lover", as well as "The Sonofagun is Nothing But a Tailor" (only their scores for HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM and THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT are as interesting, but the former only produced one standard, and the latter produced none). From their first arrival in motion pictures Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart experimented with singing that replaced dialog. Here it finally got it's opportunity to show what it could do. That's due to them having a master director (who would turn out to be more of a stage and musical director than a film one - though his films remain more than interesting), Rouben Mamoulian. Always willing to experiment in his film (in DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE, having the camera take the point of view of Fredric March for part of the film; using color to show suggestions of the threat of military violence in BECKY SHARP) Mamoulian was willing to go along with his musical pair in the extended songs like "How are you?" and "Isn't It Romantic". The latter beginning in Chevalier's tailor shop eventually involves people passing the melody from the street to a musician in a taxicab to a marching brigade of troops to gypsies to Jeanette at her palace. The cast was perfect, with Chevalier and MacDonald joined by their former ONE HOUR WITH YOU co-star Charlie Ruggles, as well as Myrna Loy, Charles Butterworth (who has some funny lines for a change), and C. Aubrey Smith. It is rare for everything in a musical to fit together so well.

Chevalier is a tailor who made the mistake of making a complete wardrobe for Ruggles a supposedly wealthy aristocrat. Ruggles owes him a lot (as well as all the other people who made parts of the clothing for Ruggles - at Chevalier's recommendation). So they send him after Ruggles, who has gone to his rich uncle's home in the country. This is C. Aubrey Smith, a reactionary old Duke. He is also the protector of Princess Jeanette, now a widow (don't feel bad for her, as Dr. Joseph Cawthorn finds out). Also staying with the Duke is Count Charles Butterworth, a scholarly aristocrat (and just as hesitant and bumbling in his delivery of dialog here as in other films, but here his comments are funny). Finally there is Smith's niece, Myrna Loy, who never saw a pair of men's pants that she did not care to open.

Chevalier's appearance is an embarrassment to Ruggles, who may be disinherited by Smith over his debts. So he keeps Chevalier from admitting that he is a tailor, and finally suggests that Chevalier is a king traveling incognito. As Chevalier and MacDonald slowly fall in love, the suspicion that he is a monarch makes him possibly a perfect match for the widowed Princess. Chevalier also enlivens the dull château with his songs (including an "Apache" number, as well as "Mimi" which everyone ends up singing - including C. Aubrey Smith!). But what would happen if the truth comes out? That is what leads to the conclusion of the film.

Many of the early surviving films of the 1930s are cut from what they originally were like. And the film that was cut is usually lost forever. In the case of LOVE ME TONIGHT, the loss is truly sad because of the quality of the film that survives. But at least we do have that surviving footage to marvel at and enjoy.

This is an enchanting film, one of the best musicals of the decade. Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald are incredibly appealing in a rich-girl-poor-boy musical romance. It's one of those rare films where the girl runs away from the palace to follow her true love and you *don't* think "wait a minute, you'll never survive out there", no, you want them to be together. The score is enchanting (the big hits being "Isn't it Romantic" and "Lover"), Chevalier is devastatingly attractive, and MacDonald is vulnerably appealing and completely without the annoying primness that marred her later films.

It's also a remarkably well made film for 1932, when most films were just getting used to sound and suffered from a horrible stiffness on the part of the actors and the camera. You'd think this movie was made ten years later, it's lively and sparkling, and directed with a smoothness and originality that's still amazing.

LOVE ME TONIGHT (Paramount, 1932) directed by Rouben Mamoulian, marks the third teaming of Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, following THE LOVE PARADE (1929) and ONE HOUR WITH YOU (1932), as well as their best collaboration of four musicals together, in fact, the privilege of being one of the best musicals ever made in the 1930s.

The story focuses on a French tailor named Maurice (Maurice Chevalier) who is swindled out of his fee by the Vicomte DeVarez (Charles Ruggles). He soon sets out for the castle of the Vicomte's uncle, The Duke (C. Aubrey Smith) to collect the fee. While there, at the advice of the Vicomte, who promises to pay him within a few days, to remain at the castle under the guise of a royal Baron. Maurice, who had earlier encountered Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald), a beautiful but lonely princess, immediately falls in love with her, in spite of her resistance. Things start to look bright for Maurice and Jeanette until it is discovered that Maurice is not nothing but a tailor.

The supporting cast consists of Myrna Loy (on loan from MGM) as Countess Valentine; Charles Butterworth as Count DeSavignac, the deadpan character who loves Jeanette as well as his flute; Elizabeth Patterson, Ethel Griffies and Blanche Frederici as the maiden aunts; Robert Greig as Flamond; with Clarence Wilson and Gordon Westcott, among others. The biggest surprise is Myrna Loy, better known for her sophistication rather than her Oriental vamps from her early years, playing an offbeat character as a man-chasing gal who goes for anything in pants, something to the liking of Lillian Roth, who had demonstrated a similar chore in THE LOVE PARADE. Loy even gets some of the film's most witty lines. In a scene where Jeanette becomes ill, and a doctor is needed, her cousin (Ruggles) asks her, "Could you go for a doctor?" She replies, "Certainly, bring him right in."

With the music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, songs include "The Song of Paree," "How Are You?" (both sung by Maurice Chevalier); "Isn't It Romantic?" (sung by Chevalier, Bert Roach, Rolfe Sedan, Tyler Brooke, cast members and Jeanette MacDonald); "Lover" (sung by MacDonald); "Mimi" (sung by Chevalier); "A Woman Needs Something Like That" (recited by MacDonald and Joseph Cawthorne); "Mimi" (reprise, sung by C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Ruggles, Elizabeth Patterson, Ethel Griffies, Blanche Frederici and Charles Butterworth. Myrna Loy's suggestive version to the song wearing a transparent negligee has been deleted from reissue prints); "I'm an Apache" (sung by Chevalier); "Love Me Tonight" (sung by MacDonald); "The Son-of-a-Gun is Nothing But a Tailor" (sung by cast); and "Love Me Tonight" (sung by Chevalier and MacDonald).

Of the many songs, all are first-rate, but the title tune did not become as memorable as "Isn't It Romantic?" which should have been the film's title since it more fits the mood to the story than "Love Me Tonight." But whatever title, some might shy away from it believing this to be an unbearable sugary love story, but on the contrary, is more than that. It's a love story with a first-rate script, risqué dialog and wonderful tunes that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Others might avoid LOVE ME TONIGHT because of its age. Certainly it's old, but in spite of that, it not only gives the impression of being ahead of its time, but that European film-making style to it, ranging from people riding their horses in slow motion photography, lovers communicating in song through their thoughts in split screen, as well as superimposing on MacDonald's face as she must make a big decision while at the same time Chevalier is awaiting for his train with each other's voice singing the title tune in the soundtrack. Up to this time, nothing this original has ever been used for a musical. The wit and wisdom of Ernst Lubitsch might have made LOVE ME TONIGHT a witty love affair, but Mamoulien combines his musical romance with advance technology and style, which is why LOVE ME TONIGHT continues to find a new appreciative audience decades after its initial release. With lines such as, "Once upon a time there was a princess and a prince charming, who was not a prince, but who WAS charming," LOVE ME TONIGHT is a musical fairy tale indeed, something not found in storybooks for children but more on the adult level.

Aside from late night viewing on commercial television from the 1960s to mid 1980s (depending on whatever state this was shown), LOVE ME TONIGHT enjoyed frequent revivals on American Movie Classics cable channel from 1990 to 1996, and resurfaced again on Turner Classic Movies where it premiered July 29, 2004. Thanks to KINO Video, LOVE ME TONIGHT is also available on video cassette and DVD. Originally released at about 100 minutes, prints in circulation today run at 90 minutes. But even the shorter version doesn't take away the impact, simplicity and joy of watching LOVE ME TONIGHT. Sit back, relax and enjoy this one. (****)

No, really -- I defy anyone to name a movie musical more exuberant, more creative, more romantic, melodic, hilarious, or escapist; not even "Singin' in the Rain" equals it. From opening shot (a rhythmic ballet-mechanique of Paris coming to life at dawn) to fade-out (a happy-ending finale that also parodies Eisenstein), it's bursting with ingenious ideas.

The pre-Code screenplay, rife with double entendres and social satire, is a princess-and-commoner love story written to the strengths of its two stars: Chevalier, never more charming, and MacDonald, never a subtler comedienne. With one foot in fantasy and the other in reality, it manages to sustain an otherworldly feeling even while grounded in the modern-day Paris of klaxons, tradesmen, and class consciousness. The supporting cast is phenomenal, with Myrna Loy as a man-hungry countess, C. Aubrey Smith doing his old-codger thing, Charles Butterworth priceless as a mild-mannered nobleman ("I fell flat on my flute!"), and Blanche Frederici, Ethel Griffies, and Elizabeth Patterson as a benign version of the Macbeth witches' trio.

All are wonderful, but the real muscle belongs to the director and the songwriters. Mamoulian's camera has a rhythm of its own and many tricks up its lens: note the fox-hunt sequence suddenly going into slow-motion; the Expressionist shadowplay in Chevalier's "Poor Apache" specialty; the sudden cuts in the "Sonofagun is Nothing But a Tailor" production number. As for the Rodgers and Hart score, it's simply the best they ever wrote for a film -- maybe the best anybody wrote for a film. The songs are unforgettable in themselves -- "Isn't It Romantic?", "Mimi," "Lover," etc. -- but, and here is where genius enters, they're superbly integrated and magnificently thought out. Note the famous "Isn't It Romantic" sequences, the camera roaming effortlessly through countless verses from tailor shop to taxi to field to gypsy camp to castle, finally linking the two leads subliminally, though their characters have never met. "A musical," Mamoulian once said, "must float." This sequence may float higher than any other in any musical.

Best of all, you can sense the unbridled enthusiasm the authors must have had for this project: Rodgers and Hart seem positively giddy with the possibilities of cinema, eager to defy time, place, and reason as was never possible for them onstage. What a pity that this magnificent movie isn't available on video, so that future generations can't easily rediscover its brilliance.