(Contains one small spoiler.) After purchasing the tape of this film, all I can say is the sooner it goes to DVD, the better. LMOLM is a scintillating musical bio, rich in production value from costumes to set pieces and beautiful stereophonic sound. And, of course, its two stars are electric together- perhaps even more so because they are so mismatched. Doris Day (playing wonderfully against type) stars as 1920's chanteuse Ruth Etting (who needs discovery badly); James Cagney is gangster Marty Snyder who comes to her professional rescue, and the amazing thing is that had the film ended on just this oil-and-water partnership alone, it would've been sensational. They are both schemers; the difference is, Day's Etting is more subtle about her climb to stardom, getting all the help she can from Cagney while slipping quietly under his brutish radar. But when it's time for her to sing- whether it's just with a rehearsal piano or the Ziegfeld Follies- she delivers the goods in some of the most heartbreaking torch songs ever delivered on film. (Listen to her renditions of "It All Depends on You," "Never Look Back," or "Ten Cents A Dance.") Their parry-and-thrust relationship reaches a horrible, brutal peak in a scene which Day wrote in her 1975 autobiography was actually shot as a full-blown rape, but drastically edited down by release time. The film realistically shows warts on both of the leads, and illustrates that, in spite of their better interests, they both need each other. Cagney was great, but Day was phenomenal, and should've been nominated for an Oscar right alongside her co-star. Oh well, 'que sera...,' whoops, wrong movie. You gotta see this one!
Review of Love Me or Leave Me
