Review of Love Me Tonight (1932) by Mark F — 27 May 2007

This is one of my all-time favorite movies, and one of the best movie musicals of all time. The heightened emotional state that musicals create paradoxically gives the film more emotional reality than it would have otherwise.

The chemistry between Chevalier and MacDonald practically smolders off the screen. The songs are uniformly high quality and inventive. For example, "Isn't It Romantic" starts out as Chevalier's comic paean to his someday sweetheart, gets picked up by his customer who happens to be a songwriter, who then passes it to a taxicab driver.

Eventually it gets to the entire French army, then bands of roving Gypsies, who are heard by MacDonald, who then sings her own wistfully romantic version. I can't think of a single musical sequence before or after in all of the history movie musicals that comes close to matching the brilliance and uniqueness of this number.

It alone is worth renting the movie, but certainly not the only laudable part of the film. I can't praise this movie highly enough. It's a must-see.