Love Me or Leave Me

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Overview

One of the gutsiest movie musicals of the 1950s, Love Me or Leave Me is the true story of 1930s torch-singer Ruth Etting, here played by Doris Day. While working in a dime-a-dance joint, Ruth is discovered by Chicago racketeer Martin "The Gimp" Snyder fascinatingly played with nary a redeeming quality by James Cagney. The smitten Snyder exerts pressure on his show-biz connections, and before long Ruth is a star of nightclubs, stage and films. Ruth continues to string Snyder along to get ahead, but she can't help ...
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Overview

One of the gutsiest movie musicals of the 1950s, Love Me or Leave Me is the true story of 1930s torch-singer Ruth Etting, here played by Doris Day. While working in a dime-a-dance joint, Ruth is discovered by Chicago racketeer Martin "The Gimp" Snyder fascinatingly played with nary a redeeming quality by James Cagney. The smitten Snyder exerts pressure on his show-biz connections, and before long Ruth is a star of nightclubs, stage and films. Ruth continues to string Snyder along to get ahead, but she can't help falling in love with musician Johnny Alderman Cameron Mitchell. After sinking his fortune into a nightclub for Ruth's benefit, Snyder is rather understandably put out when he finds her in the arms of Alderman. Snyder shoots the musician but not fatally and is carted away to prison. Upon his release, Snyder finds that Ruth is still in love with Alderman; he is mollified by her act of largesse in keeping her promise to perform in his nightclub at a fraction of her normal salary. No one comes off particularly nobly in Love Me or Leave Me, even though the still-living Ruth Etting, Martin Snyder and Johnny Alderman were offered full script approval. The fact that we are seeing flesh-and-blood opportunists rather than the usual sugary-sweet MGM musical stick figures naturally makes for a more powerful film. In his autobiography, James Cagney had nothing but praise for his co-star Doris Day, and bemoaned the fact that she would soon turn her back on dramatic roles to star in a series of fluffy domestic comedies.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola
An MGM musical remarkably free of sentimentality, Love Me or Leave Me (1955) features top-billed Doris Day as 1920s and 30s blues singer Ruth Etting and James Cagney as her sadistic gangster husband Martin "The Gimp" Snyder. A more bitter than sweet view of Etting's real life rise to fame and her twisted relationship with Snyder, screenwriters Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart and director Charles Vidor present Etting and Snyder as equally ruthless in their professional and personal lives. Even as his adoration of Etting may humanize him, Cagney's Snyder is also psychotically violent; Day matches Cagney's intensity as the tortured yet emotionally cruel Etting. Punctuated by Day's performances of Etting hits like "Shaking the Blues Away," and the new composition "I'll Never Stop Loving You," Love Me or Leave Me became a box office hit, despite fan objections to Day's uncharacteristically licentious onscreen presence. Even though critics agreed that Day could hold her own dramatically opposite Cagney, only Cagney received an Oscar nomination for his fascinating performance as a most unsavory man. Also nominated for several other Oscars including Best Song and Score, Love Me or Leave Me won the Oscar for Fuchs's story.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 9/19/2000
  • UPC: 012569511330
  • Original Release: 1955

    • Rating:

  • Source: TURNER HOME ENT
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Doris Day Ruth Etting
James Cagney Martin "The Gimp" Snyder
Cameron Mitchell Johnny Alderman
Robert Keith Bernard V. Loomis
Tom Tully Frobisher
Harry Bellaver Georgie
Richard Gaines Paul Hunter
Peter Leeds Fred Taylor
Claude Stroud Eddie Fulton
John Harding Greg Trent
John Harding Greg Trent
Dorothy Abbott Dancer
Jay Adler Orry
Genevieve Aumont Woman
Veda Ann Borg Hostess
Chet Brandenburg Chauffeur
Benny Burt Stage manager
Claire Carleton Claire
Robert Carson Mr. Brelston, Radio Station Manager
Jimmy Cross Photographer
John Damler 2nd Reporter
John Day Stage-Hand
James Drury Assistant director
Roy Engel 1st Reporter, Propman
Mauritz Hugo Irate customer
Michael Kostrick Assistant Director
Henry Kulky Bouncer
Robert Malcolm Doorman
Paul McGuire Drapery man
Barry Regan Guard
Otto Reichow Bouncer
Phil Schumacher
Dick Simmons Dance director
Bob Stephenson Waiter
Larri Thomas Chorus girl
Dale Van Sickel Stagehand
Audrey Wilder Jingle Girl
Shirley Wilson Chorus Girl
Technical Credits
Charles Vidor Director
Arthur E. Arling Cinematographer
Nicholas Brodszky Score Composer
Ridgeway Callow Asst. Director
Percy Faith Score Composer
Daniel Fuchs Screenwriter
Cedric Gibbons Production Designer
Isobel Lennart Screenwriter
Urie McCleary Production Designer
Wesley C. Miller Sound/Sound Designer
Jack D. Moore Set Decoration/Design
Warren Newcombe Special Effects
Joe Pasternak Producer
Alex Romero Choreography
Helen Rose Costumes/Costume Designer
George Stoll Score Composer, Musical Direction/Supervision
Edwin B. Willis Set Decoration/Design
Ralph Winters Editor
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 2
( 2 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    Doris Day, but not one of her best

    I always enjoy Doris Day movies, but this one is depressing and sad. I had forgotten the story, but she is treated poorly by a semi-mobster, and she leaves him but with forgiveness.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 18, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews