Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A four star delight starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charlie Ruggles, Charles Butterworth, Myrna Loy, and C. Aubrey Smith. Added to the National Film Registry in 1990. "Isn't It Romantic" is #73 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time.Chevalier is a tailor owed money by aristocrat Ruggles, so he follows Ruggles' order of 15 suits to his château. There, the princess (MacDonald) is being courted by an uninspiring Count (Butterworth), put up to it by the Duke (Smith), who is hoping to find an adequate husband for her. The Duke keeps reign on the others because he controls the money, which he won't give to Ruggles or the Countess (Loy). When Chevalier shows up, he charms everyone and is pursued openly by Loy. Of course, there are opportunities for him to sing, and (double) of course, he will win the princess in the end.Though the film "feels" like one of Chevalier's pairings with director Ernst Lubitsch, this one was directed by Rouben Mamoulian.

That is not to knock The Love Parade, One Hour With You and The Merry Widow(Merry Widow is an extremely close second) because they are all excellent too. But while it may lack the Lubitsch touch or be as ground-breaking as The Love Parade(though Love Me Tonight is still influential when it comes to musicals), Love Me Tonight just struck me as being tinsy bit better, the quality between the four films though is very close though. It is elegantly shot with some very clever camera work in Sonofagun is Nothing But a Tailor and with an Expressionistic touch in places and has very sumptuous set and costume design. Rodgers and Hart's score and songs are just sublime, some of their best work, Isn't It Romantic? is irresistibly beautiful and inventively choreographed. The script is often hilarious and filled with sophisticated charm and witty rhymes with some of the dialogue refreshingly ahead of its time, particularly noteworthy is Myrna Loy's pre-censorship response to "could you go for a doctor?". The story is immensely charming, warm-hearted and never with a dull moment, doing very cleverly to avoid becoming stage-bound or contrived with a story that in different hands could easily have been. The choreography is done with much poise and invention and while no Lubitsch(one of the primary reasons why The Love Parade really broke ground, and he had a style of his own) the direction still has great technical skill and plenty of class with some clever touches. Maurice Chevalier has great comic timing, is very natural on screen and has unsurpassed joie-de-vivre and Jeanette MacDonald proves to be a perfect partner for him in a beguilingly acted and sung performance. The supporting roles are very well-taken, special mention going to the uproarious turn of Myrna Loy, and no it's not just for that pre-censorship response or her delivery of it. Overall, really wonderful and the best of the already incredibly high-standard Chevalier and MacDonald outings. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I have watched this movie in part several times, but caught it tonight on TCM or from my DVR of a recent showing. It is a special one, and was interested in checking out these magnificent sets created for it. They were wonderful.Liked Chevalier in this particularly. I agree with the reviewer who finds Jeannette McDonald's singing a bit of a trial. I don't care for most opera type singing. Get ready for some corn here: Was reminded of something Andy Griffith said about opera singing (from a comic recording), "Some people say opera is just hollerin', and it is; but it's high class hollerin'." It comes across that way to me. That quote may offend the cinematic detail oriented enthusiasts of this film - sorry. However, I have enjoyed a few old operettas, thinking of "Sweet Kitty Bellairs" from 1930 featuring Claudia Dell and Walter Pidgeon. Ms. Dell was easier on the ears than Ms. McDonald. Pidgeon's singing was pleasing, and I found the piece entertaining. In watching C. Aubrey Smith in this, I thought for the umpteenth time whether he was born an old man. He is always ancient in every movie I have ever seen with him. Actually, his Hollywood films were done in his elderly years. Finally looked him up and found he was born in 1863. Wow. He did London stage, Broadway and came to Hollywood much later. He died in California at age 85.This is a good film and has interest for its genre. It is probably my favorite Chevalier. It was odd seeing Charles Ruggles in this. They were talking about Myrna Loy during the intro to the movie, saying this film may have begun her being used in something other than the Oriental evil women or vamp types. Only a few people were making the decisions on casting back then in the studio system, and thankfully, they finally broke her out of that old mold and began to find out how engaging she was as a wife and later as a comedienne.Good film.

066: Love Me Tonight (1932) - released 8/17/06; viewed 6/17/06.DOUG: We put this movie on our agenda because of its song, "Isn't it Romantic?" which made the AFI's Top 100 Songs list. I'm rather glad we did, since it's the first real musical on the odyssey. It's also an excellent look at the great romancin' French gentleman actor Maurice Chevalier. It's the first time we've seen Chevalier for real (we caught a glimpse of his picture in the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business). In researching Chevalier and the Marx Brothers, I found that none of the brothers is tall enough to pass himself off as Chevalier. We have here a film about the old class boundary: Young heiress Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald) suffers from fainting spells and overprotective relatives, and needs a husband (hey, it's a 30's romance, go with it) her own age, but her Dad keeps trying to set her up with these rich old geezers. Fortunately, along comes Maurice, a tailor who is mistaken for a baron and falls in love with Jeanette. I love, LOVE the scene with Maurice and Jeanette under the tree, when they're telling each other they love each other. There's a lot of odd whimsy in the movie; What's with the scene where Jeanette's aunts are making that witch's brew to cure her fainting spells? Myrna Loy pops up (two years before The Thin Man), and she's quite a pleasure, but we don't see nearly enough of her. Whenever I need to remember what a French accent sounds like, I can just think of Chevalier's voice. If you'd like to have an idea of who Maurice Chevalier was, you might as well start with Love Me Tonight. KEVIN: Five years after the "birth" of sound film and Hollywood has finally established a mastery of music in film. I looooooooooooooooved this movie. I give it 4 out of 5, only because it's not quite memorable enough to garner that fifth star. We have another case of mistaken identity as Maurice Chevalier plays a tailor who poses as a Baron. The first thing I noticed about Chevalier is that he has the best French accent ever. I can't wait to see more of him in Lubitsch's The Merry Widow. Chevalier was 43 at the time, but he doesn't look a day over 35. I enjoyed the randomness of the musical scenes, like in a scene straight out of MacBeth where Jeanette's aunts make a remedy for their niece's fainting spells. My favorite song was "Mimi" the way it's so sweet sounding, yet so very naughty. Director Rouben Mamoulian does some more cool stuff here that seems more at home in a musical than in Jekyll & Hyde. He uses close ups, superimposed images and other cool tricks to advance the emotion of the love story. He also makes every musical scene different. Such as the reprise of "Love Me Tonight" when we just see Maurice and Jeanette sleeping while the song plays and their voices profess their love for each other. Myrna Loy is a pleasure, except for the fact that she doesn't do anything! And for the record, the Marx brothers don't look like Maurice Chevalier.Last film: Movie Crazy (1932). Next film: Blonde Venus (1932).