Rouben Mamoulian's - Love Me Tonight - DVD Maurice Chevalier Jeanette MacDonald Rouben Mamoulian's - Love Me Tonight

Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
USA 1932

Love it forever. Along with Swing Time and perhaps one of Busby Berkeley's best, this film stands as the greatest musical of the 1930s and one of the finest ever. Although the film seems very much in a Lubitsch vein, Rouben Mamoulian directed it, and he is perhaps most responsible for its stunning appeal. His earliest period in film (1929-34) was certainly his greatest and in this film he displays such audacity in playing with sound and image that it's no wonder he frightened everyone in Hollywood.

The tale of a romance between Princess Jeanette (MacDonald) and Maurice the tailor (Chevalier), Love Me Tonight is effervescent frippery to be sure, but it's so inventive as to be downright eerie. The slow-motion retreat from the lovers' cottage still astounds and Jeanette's final ride on horseback to stop a train is dramatically quite striking. One is not likely to forget the dark shadows of Chevalier's "I'm an Apache" number or the cutting and framing of both the title duet and the witty "The Son of a Gun Is Nothing But a Tailor". Jeanette's three worrisome aunts could almost be comic variants of the witches in MACBETH and, at one point, they sound like a kennel in an uproar. The film mocks those very conventions the genre employs, from the famous traveling rendition of "Isn't It Romantic?" to the sudden thud of a ladder which ends Jeanette's balcony reverie. out of

Excerpt from TV Guide located HERE.

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Theatrical Release: August 13th, 1932

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DVD Review: Kino Video - Region 0- NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:29:36
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.6 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Commentary track with Miles Kreuger • Hollywood on Parade Excerpts X 2 (Maurice Chevalier Sings "Louise" and Jeanette MacDonald Sings "Love Me Tonight". ) • Theatrical trailer • Screenplay Excerpts of Deleted Scenes • Censorship Notes • Production Documents • Gallery of Production Images DVD Release Date: November 25th, 2003 Keep Case Chapters: 18

Comments:

The DVD image shows a fair amount of wear and tear mostly in the form of speckles and light scratches. It has occasional strong clarity but is not transferred from HD and has 'combing' in horizontals pans (see last image). It has faux-grain in the form of digital noise that is fairly even and contrast is surprisingly quite strong with good black levels and better than acceptable grey-tones. Overall - not a Criterion level of image, but possibly better than most of Kino's standard output.

The audio shows the age of the film (and lack of restoration) - optional subtitles would have been appreciated. The package has had some real though with a host of extras - commentary, 2 song numbers and some old production material that many will find quite interesting. Kreuger shares quite a bit of knowledge about Mamoulian and the making of the film - not a bad commentary at all.

The film is a true masterpiece from the pioneer days 'sound films' and it is admirable of Kino to attempt to honor it with one of their best packages. The film is a must-own... a real gem of cinema and one DVD that may likely go out-of-print and sell exorbitantly at auctions. We strongly recommend that you get this while you can!

Gary W. Tooze

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