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Good movie but grossly overrated

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This acclaimed musical falls far short, in my estimation, of several other contemporary films in the same genre starring Maurice Chevalier and/or Jeanette MacDonald, such as 'The Smiling Lieutenant', 'Naughty Marietta' and 'The Love Parade'. I found it narratively disjointed and lacking in artistic unity; the action proceeds in fit and starts, and at times the director, Rouben Mamoulian, seems unsure how to construct or energise scenes. Lacking the comic touch of a Lubitsch, he employs many styles of comic staging, which don't always knit together. Finally, while there is a great deal of rhyming dialogue in the film, it has comparatively few big musical numbers. 'Isn't It Romantic' is probably the only genuine hit. This review may sound too negative, but with so much hype around the film, its shortcomings need to be discussed. On the plus side, it is a lavish production, and the film's stars are great talents. (Myrna Loy is a terrific foil to the main love interest, but her part is sadly underdeveloped in the script.) The opening sound sequence, incorporating actual shots of a nearly deserted, early-morning Paris, is a sparkling introduction. Alas, it is probably the best thing in the movie. Some of the dissolve and dual-image photography also delivers memorable images, that suggest a forward-looking creative spirit. At other times, in film-making terms, the production seems old fashioned and tired even for its day (1932).

A mid summer night's dream is what this inventive and thoroughly entertaining movie reminds me of. I love the frolicking and the great acting. I don't know how the director was able to do some of those shots. They seemed years ahead of their time. I was also impressed with the music. The songs were terrific. My favorite was Mimi. The discussion of class and sex was quite modern for a film done in 1932. It just reminds me of the verse,"there is nothing new under the sun". Some of the almost nude scenes were done in taste and the deer chase was politically correct even for this day and age. The straight forward story enticed me into believing the fantasy mixed with reality. I loved this film and would love to buy it on DVD. Nelson Eddy must have wanted to play the part of Maurice. Myna Loy was stunning in this also.

There have been better film directors than Rouben Mamoulian and better stage directors as well. But no one has yet mastered both of those mediums so much so that his services to helm a project was in demand consistently in Broadway and Hollywood. Mamoulian certainly has his share of duds on both coasts, but he has his share of classics as well and none is more classic than Love Me Tonight.Love Me Tonight is the third and best collaboration with leads Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Chevalier is but a poor tailor, the best at his craft who's just completed a big order for a rakish nobleman played by Charlie Ruggles. Ruggles is also a deadbeat who's stiffed half the merchants of Paris and they've appointed Chevalier a committee of one to settle the accounts. Off goes Chevalier to the countryside to get Ruggles to cough up.Ruggles is mooching off his titled uncle C. Aubrey Smith and while nobility has been formally abolished in France, it's still held in regard in class conscious Europe. When Maurice gets to Smith's palatial digs, he also finds another cousin in Jeanette MacDonald and she falls big for him of course. And Ruggles not wanting to seem more of a deadbeat and a moocher than C. Aubrey Smith already thinks he is, introduces Chevalier as another titled fellow.Two other main characters get into this mix. Charles Butterworth who is also a titled person and would like to marry Jeanette. Of course Butterworth isn't her romantic ideal, like he'd be anybody's. And Jeanette has a lady in waiting in Myrna Loy who's also got her eye on Maurice.There are many who consider this the best musical ever made. It certainly was years ahead of its time. In fact Maurice and Jeanette were fortunate to also have Ernst Lubitsch directing their other features because they too were considered way ahead of their time and helped their careers along immensely.One reason for the success of Love Me Tonight is the score written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, probably their best film score. When you've got such classics as Isn't It Romantic, Lover, and Mimi all in the same film, you can't miss.One should also hear Chevalier's RCA recording of Mimi. It was one of the staple songs of his career. The record however has an interlude as Maurice reminisces about all the other girls he's sung about like Louise, Valentina, Mitzi, and his fabulous Love Parade. But no doubt about it, Mimi tops them all. I wish he could have used those lyrics in the film.As for Lover this is a case of a hit song becoming far bigger in revival. Jeanette sings it on screen, but I would safely venture that more people identify the song with Peggy Lee and hit record she made of it in the Fifties. In fact a lot of her contemporaries also started recording it during that decade and Lover had a new burst of popularity then.What amazes me about Rouben Mamoulian is that here was a man who directed such things as Oklahoma, Carousel, Lost In The Stars and Porgy and Bess on stage and then could go to the screen and do classics like Love Me Tonight, Blood and Sand, The Mark Of Zorro, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This man had a complete sense of the cinema, if you find any staged awkwardness in any of his films, I'm not aware of it. The staging of Isn't It Romantic where Maurice and all his neighbors and friends join in and then switching to Jeanette expressing her longing for real romance is perfect. As is the hunting scene which is something that could never be contemplated doing on stage. And Maurice saving the stag probably got him a lifetime appreciation award from PETA.Love Me Tonight after almost 80 years still holds up well and it's a great opportunity for young people today to see and appreciate the lost art of the film musical.

Worth seeing alone for having C Aubrey Smith sing "Mimi" (which he does charmingly), this is a great great movie, full of innovation, humour and some memorable songs (Mimi and Is It Romantic in particular).  The obvious career move for Rouben Mamoulian after directing "Dr Jeckyl"? - I don't think so but maybe Mamoulian may have gotten stale if he had directed something similar. He is not stale here, with his touches enhancing and not detracting from the impact of the movie. Certainly it is slightly flawed and dated in parts as some have commented but there is genius and magic in it that make for an enchanting movie. This is something I desire in movies but only rarely get. This is the best commendation that I can give - and nothing more I need to say.