LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME
(1955)With Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith, Tom Tully
Directed by Charles Vidor
Reviewed by JL
Doris Day and James Cagney star in a
powerful
musical drama about 1920s torch singer Ruth Etting and her tumultuous
relationship with her sadistic husband-manager Martin "The Gimp"
Snyder. Cagney's fiery, Oscar-nominated performance is a
terrifying wonder. Though Marty Snyder is a man who lives with
uncontrollable demons and rages 24/7, Cagney makes a distinction
between Snyder's everyday obstreperousness and the raging anguish that
results from his unrequited love for Etting, who is as emotionally
cruel to him as he is physically abusive to her. But the real
revelation of the film is Day, who in this film and in Hitchcock's THE
MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956) proves herself a dramatic actress of great
depth. (Cagney himself was enormously impressed with Day and
insisted she be given top billing, against the studio's wishes.)
It's something of a shame that Day is best remembered today for the
fluffy bedroom farces that demanded so little from such a narrow range
of her talent. She is overdue for reappraisal as both the
greatest female popular singer of all time, as well as a dramatic and
comedic actress of extraodinary range. 
½ -
JL
http://thestuffyougottawatch.com
Copyright © 2008 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee