Love Me Tonight Blu-ray - Maurice Chevalier

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

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

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 13th, 1932

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Comparison:

Kino Video - Region 0- NTSC vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		Coming to the UK on Blu-ray by Indicator in December 2023: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:28:36	1:28:49.240
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.6 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 28,756,220,240 bytes Feature: 27,828,006,912 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.91 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1554 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1554 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	None	English, 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	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 28,756,220,240 bytes Feature: 27,828,006,912 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.91 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by Film Historian Miles Kreuger (Founder and President of the Institute of the American Musical) • Maurice Chevalier sings "Louise" (2:06) • Jeanette MacDonald sings "Love Me tonight" (from the Paramount newsreel series HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE) (2:18) • Screenplay Excerpts of Deleted Scenes (0:40) • Production Documents and Censorship Records (0:29 / 0:24) • Theatrical Trailer (1:46) Blu-ray Release Date: September 29th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (September 2020): Kino have transferred Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 4K Master". We see a little more information on the right and the bottom edges - but less on the top. The 1080P is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and easily advances on Kino's own interlaced (see bottom large capture) SD transfer from 17-years ago. This looks marvelously textured with rich layered contrast. It's a remarkable upgrade.

NOTE: We have added 38 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio and score by John Leipold (Murder in the Zoo, Christmas in July, The Devil is a Woman, The Flying Deuces, Duck Soup) plus we have the many performed musical numbers; That's the Song of Paree, Isn't It Romantic?, Lover (L'Amour est un Rêve), Mimi, Blanche Friderici, Deer Hunt, The Poor Apache, Love me Tonight (Un Soir d'Amour), and The Son of a Gun Is Nothing But a Tailor. It is still an early's 30's production suffering from the limitations of the time it as made - but this is also quite an upgrade over DVD in terms of audio. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray have duplicated their own 2003 DVD supplements with the educational audio commentary by Miles Kreuger (Founder and President of the Institute of the American Musical), Maurice Chevalier singing "Louise" and Jeanette MacDonald singing "Love Me tonight" (from the Paramount newsreel series HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE), the brief text screenplay excerpts of deleted scenes and production documents and censorship records plus a theatrical trailer.

One of the most re-watchable 'con' films - and it has an adventurous psychological edginess. Love Me Tonight has Rouben Mamoulian's measure dialogue and curious subtext. It's a film I am very happy to own on Blu-ray. An easy recommendation!

The film remains an early musical masterpiece and is a must-own... a real gem of cinema with modest pre-code innuendo. It such a joy to have it in the vastly improved, 4k-restored, superiority of Blu-ray. Very thankful that Kino have re-released this title in 1080P. It's a joyful film experience - one of the greatest musicals of its time. Very strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze

ON THE DVD (November 2003): The DVD image shows a fair amount of wear and tear mostly in the form of speckles and light scratches. It has occasional pleasing clarity but is not transferred from HD and has 'combing' in horizontals pans (see last image).

The audio shows the age of the film (and lack of restoration) - optional subtitles would have been appreciated. The package has 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 nirvana - 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!

Kino - Region 0 - NTSC

Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray