Doris Day was at the peak of her popularity when she signed on at MGM after a productive career at Warner Brothers to star with one of the screen's legendary tough guys to do a biopic of one of the twenties' leading nightclub singers. Gangster film legend James Cagney personally recommended Doris Day to star with him in "Love Me or Leave Me," indicating once more that great talent can spot the authentic article in others.
The 1955 release centered around the stormy life of twenties' singing sensation Ruth Etting, who worked her way from "dime a dance" parlors in Chicago to starring in productions of Flo Ziegfeld on Broadway. The picture operates on two levels, one exhibiting Day's brilliant talents as a singer and the other on an increasingly intensifying triangle situation involving Cagney and the man the singer really loves, played by Cameron Mitchell.
While it is obvious that Day as Etting never romantically loved the man who used his clout as a Chicago gangster to help move her up the ladder to stardom initially in Chicago and then New York, with Hollywood constituting the last stop, she felt such an overriding obligation that the star married the Windy City mobster Moe "The Gimp" Snyder. The nickname referred to the limp accompanying the mobster's walk.
An element of tension surfaces when Etting begins working with accompanist Johnny Alderman, played by Cameron Mitchell. While Snyder pays Alderman handsomely to fine tune the brilliant talents of the woman he discovered and loves, he is shrewd enough to realize that Etting holds romantic feelings for him and that this feeling is mutual.
In between tense moments regarding her personal life, which prompted her to take to drink, the singer wowed audiences with her talents. Day has never looked more gorgeous or sounded better as she sings a constellation of great hits from the Tin Pan Alley era of American song, including the film's title number, "Love Me or Leave Me" along with "Ten Cents a Dance" and the magnificent torch song, "I'll Never Stop Loving You," which provides additional significance since it registers the feelings of Etting and Alderman for each other.
Snyder's raging jealousy reaches its peak when his wife is in Hollywood working in films with Alderman as her accompanist and the mobster is in the process of opening a Hollywood nightclub. The film comes to its rousing thematic conclusion at that point.
All three principals of the story, Etting, Snyder and Alderman were alive when MGM was shooting the film and each was provided with script approval. By then Etting was living with husband Alderman in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they lived out their lives after the singer's divorce from mobster Snyder.
Doris Day: Greatest Pop Vocalist, Great Actress & Person !
In the annals of pop music, musical films and outstanding entertainment careers few can match that of Doris Day, either in longevity or quality. Her naturally superb vocal talents were honed at a very early age (17) singing with top territorial big bands and ultimately with the great Les Brown Band of Renown with whom she had her first hit record, "Sentimental Journey", in 1945. That experience helped her develop the power, depth, phrasing and lyrical vocal style that made her the finest pop vocalist of all time. Nowhere is that talent more evident than in this Academy Award nominated film on the life of songstress Ruth Etting. Music wise the songs are incomparable as are the orchestrations and Doris' renditions. One need only to listen to the emotion and purity of "Never Look Back", "It All Depends On You" and "I'll Never Stop Loving You" with just piano accompaniment to hear how she had no rivals then, and especially now, in the vocal arena.
The film takes some liberties with facts and characterizations as all bio films do but who cares? The acting is first rate with Jimmy Cagney as the controlling minor league thug, Marty Snyder, Cameron Michell as her real love and musical director, Johnny, and veteran character actor, Robert Keith, as the faithful supporting booking agent. It is said that Cagney, who was nominated for his third Oscar as Snyder, had no qualms about getting second billing to the much younger Day.
As film bios go, this one is hard to beat. Outstnding talent, a great script, incredible music and outstanding musical performances puts "Love Me Or Leave Me" at the top of all music biographies. I first viewed this film in 1955 as a very young and impressionable kid. It has not lost a thing over time, especially when weighed against the tripe and fluff that eminates from Hollywood now. I recently got the soundtrack CD and it is outstanding in sound quality. Miss Day recently turned 81 and is still beautiful and active in Carmel California. This performance and her equally great 1951 performance in "Young Man With A Horn" remain my favorite Doris Day films.
No Tacky Virgin in This One!
I'd seen clips of Doris' more "known" movies and never thought I'd be purchasing a Doris Day flick. Then, I saw Doris' interpretation of "Shakin' the Blues Away" on "That's Entertainment III." Amazing. Had to buy the DVD "Love Me or Leave Me."
The film showcases an awesome vocal performer and surprisingly good acting on the part of Ms. Day. It made me feel that most of the other films of her career were a waste of her obvious talent. Let's put it this way--at many points of the film, she convinced me to be more sympathetic to her gangster husband than her. She was that convincing. James Cagney turns in a blistering performance with great subtlety. His obsession and misguided love for Ruth Etting (Ms. Day) are convincingly portrayed.
The DVD is in gorgeous Dolby Surround that will blow you away if you have a good system. The print is clear and clean--dripping in saturated Eastmancolor. Add this one to your collection of treasured DVDs and turn a friend on to Doris in a role suitable to her talent--if you can part with it!
C'mon along and join Doris Day and a top supporting cast in a high-stepping musical feast - the infectious LULLABY OF BROADWAY!
Melinda Howard (Doris Day) a young up-and-coming musical star, has just arrived back in New York, totally unaware that her mother Jessica (Gladys George), once the biggest star on Broadway, is now singing in a dingy tavern. The mansion which Jessica used to own has now been taken over by a rich brewery magnate and his wife (S.Z. Sakall and Florence Bates).
Old-time vaudevilians Lefty and Gloria (Billy DeWolfe and Anne Triola), now the butler and maid of the house, take Melinda under their wing and uphold the ruse that Jessica is just 'out of town'...
Complications arise when Melinda finds herself on the cusp of Broadway... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Doris Day - Gene Nelson Director(s): David Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 26 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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BILLY ROSE'S JUMBO makes it's long-awaited DVD release. The movie was one of the last hig musical hurrah's from MGM, and it was also Doris Day's last movie musical role. She shines as Kitty Wonder, the bareback-riding queen of the Wonder Circus.
Based around the classic Rodgers and Hart musical (with a new storyline devised by Sidney Sheldon). Pop Wonder (Jimmy Durante, who also headlined the original 30s' Hippodrome production) owns the magical Wonder Circus, famous for it's star attraction, Jumbo the elephant. His daughter Kitty, and on-again off-again squeeze Lulu (Martha Raye) complete his family. When the mysterious Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd) arrives to become the new tightrope aerialist, Kitty instantly falls in love with him, but Sam hides the secret that he is... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Doris Day - Jimmy Durante Director(s): Charles Walters DVD Release Date: Released the 26 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Clark Gable's bluff masculinity is a big part of the story and appeal of Teacher's Pet, to such a degree that his age (near 60) doesn't seem like such a problem as he romances perky Doris Day. Gable is an old-school newspaperman who scoffs at the idea of journalism being taught in night school; hard knocks and shoe leather are his preferred textbooks. Naturally, Doris teaches journalism in night school. Gable masquerades as an inexperienced student in order to prove her wrong, which brings forth some fairly labored complications, presented in pedestrian style by director George Seaton. The film is too long for its own good, but as an illustration of movie-star value, it's a convincer--Gable and Day are completely, effortlessly within their established personas. Gig Young adds pep... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clark Gable - Doris Day Director(s): George Seaton DVD Release Date: Released the 19 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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