rec.arts.movies.past-films

Jim Beaver wrote:
> LOVE ME TONIGHT. Mamoulien really kicked this one in the pants -- in a good
> way. Very impressive production. Neither Chevalier nor MacDonald sends me,
> in particular, but they're certainly charming, and the rest of the movie is
> pretty exciting, cinematically, especially for 1932. The DVD print from
> Kino is excellent, I think.

I watched this film for the first time earlier this summer and was
delighted with it. First off and quite importantly, the score is by
Rogers and Hart, therefore guaranteeing witty and sophisticated songs.
The best ones are "Isn't It Romantic?" and "Mimi". The former is first
sung by Chevalier in his Paris taxi and then progressively across the
French landscape and by gypsies and soldiers until we reach MacDonald on
the balcony of the château. The latter became Chevalier's signature
tune, of course, and enjoys a very witty production in which the song is
echoed by the various and rather eccentric denizens of the château.

And then there's a great cast of character actors: C. Aubrey Smith,
looking younger than I am used to seeing him but still as stern and
dignified as ever, Charles Ruggles as the ne'er-do-well but fuzzy-headed
vicomte who sets the story in motion by stiffing his tailor, Myrna Loy
in her bad-girl days as the countess with one thing on her mind, the
trio of aunties, including Elizabeth Patterson, as the three
witches/fairy godmothers of the château, Charles Butterworth as an
aristocrat too tongue-tied to court Princess Jeanette, and so forth.

Wonderful production values and great photography cap the other virtues
of this great early musical.

--
Frank in Seattle
____

Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
"Millennium hand and shrimp."