Love Me Tonight (1932)

Director:

Rouben Mamoulian

Writers:

Paul Armont (play)
Samuel Hoffenstein (writer)

Release Date:

17 August 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy

Tagline:

Warm Love! Hilarious fun! Sweet music! Hot lyrics!

Plot:

A Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat, only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.

Plot Keywords:

Tailor | Forest | Unrequited Love | Carriage | Nobility

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Maurice Chevalier	...	Maurice Courtelin a.k.a Baron Courtelin
Jeanette MacDonald	...	Princess Jeanette
Charles Ruggles	...	Viscount Gilbert de Varèze (as Charlie Ruggles)
Charles Butterworth	...	Count de Savignac
Myrna Loy	...	Countess Valentine
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Duke d'Artelines
Elizabeth Patterson	...	First Aunt
Ethel Griffies	...	Second Aunt
Blanche Friderici	...	Third Aunt (as Blanche Frederici)
Joseph Cawthorn	...	Dr. Armand de Fontinac (as Joseph Cawthorne)
Robert Greig	...	Major Domo Flammand
Bert Roach	...	Emile

Runtime:

104 min | 96 min (re-release) | USA:88 min (Turner Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Among scenes and dialogue commonly deleted by local censors were references to the "virgin spring"; the scene of the Princess's examination by the physician; and Maurice taking measurements of the princess. In 1937, letters from Joseph I. Breen of the AMPP to Paramount indicate that Breen advised against the re-issue of the film because he felt that the severe editing required to pass the censors would ruin the film. In a 1949 letter, Breen approved a re-release with the following deletions: Any reference to "virgin springs"; the song "A Woman Needs Something Like That"; and the scene of Myrna Loy in a "transparent nightgown." According to a memo in the file, the four-reel re-release was unsuccessful

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Camera shadow on a curtain as it pulls out of a window, as Jeanette sleeps (a little after the "I fell flat on my flute" sequence).

Quotes:

Vicomte Gilbert de Vareze: He's been chasing me.
Maurice Courtelin: Who?
Vicomte Gilbert de Vareze: The lady's husband. He came home unexpectedly.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Love Me Tonight

Wonderful, and far ahead of its time

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.