Synopsis
Viscount Gilbert de Varèze (Ruggles) has not paid Maurice (Chevalier), his Parisian tailor, for his new suits, and Maurice follows him to his château to collect. The viscount introduces Maurice to his family as his friend Baron Courtelin. The viscount's family includes his uncle, Duke d'Artelines (C. Aubrey Smith), Princess Jeanette (MacDonald), Countess Valentine (Loy), three spinster aunts, and Count de Savignac (Butterworth), who is attempting to woo the lovely Jeanette.
Jeanette was married at age sixteen to an elderly nobleman and widowed at age nineteen. Now a nubile age 22, she has been suffering from fainting spells. Her concerned family fears she has a dreadful disease, but her doctor says she's not wasting, just wasted. The fake baron is young and appealing, and, although he is not a nobleman, he can supply the remedy for the princess' aliment, if she will accept him.
Discussion
Love Me Tonight is a great musical comedy; it has brilliant comedy,
beautiful music, and terrific actors. The score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart, including the songs Love Me Tonight,
Isn't it Romantic
and
Mimi,
is outstanding. Maurice Chevalier had a small acting and singing
range, but, as shown in this film, within that range he was marvelous. Jeanette
MacDonald, who displays her figure in lingerie, ball gowns, and riding outfits,
looks beautiful and sings delightfully. Myrna Loy, Charlie Ruggles, and Charles
Butterworth have some funny, and suggestive, lines of dialogue. Loy, especially,
is a lot of fun as a man-crazy countess. When asked if she is interested in
anything besides men, she replies yes, schoolboys.
Rouben Mamoulian directed seventeen films from 1929-57, including Applause (1929), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and Queen Christina (1933), and Broadway plays, notably Oklahoma and Carousel. Love Me Tonight is one of his major achievements.