374 Love Me Tonight

[MichaelB]

LOVE ME TONIGHT
(Rouben Mamoulian, 1932)
Release date: 11 December 2023
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)

Pre-order here

From director Rouben Mamoulian (The Song of Songs), Love Me Tonight features four-time screen couple Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald (The Love Parade, The Merry Widow) teaming up once more for a much-loved musical comedy.

When the debt owed to Parisian tailor Maurice (Chevalier) becomes too great, he decides to travel to the aristocratic home of his non-paying customer. There, he falls for Princess Jeanette (MacDonald), who rejects his advances due to his low social standing. However, she changes her tune when she is led to believe he is a royal, travelling incognito.

With songs by the legendary Rodgers and Hart, including the immortal ‘Isn’t It Romantic?’, and a supporting cast featuring Charles Ruggles (Honor Among Lovers) and Myrna Loy (The Thin Man), Love Me Tonight is one of the screen’s greatest musicals.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• 2019 restoration from a 4K scan
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with writers and critics Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme (2023)
• Geoff Andrew on ‘Love Me Tonight’ (2023): in-depth discussion of Rouben Mamoulian’s classic musical by the writer and critic
• Hollywood on Parade excerpts (1932): Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald perform musical numbers from the film for the newsreel series
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive with a new essay by Phil Concannon, archival interviews and articles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK

All extras subject to change

#PHILE374B
BBFC cert: PG
REGION B
EAN: 5060697923735

[felipe]

Wow, nice release. Not a big fan of the film, but definitely glad to see it getting a nice blu-ray edition. Wish Criterion would do something similar with their Lubitsch musicals.

[Rayon Vert]

Is there a chance Indicator would do those?

[MichaelB]

Final specs:

[Matt]

I received my copy today. Marvelous disc with, at last, a good transfer of the film. To paraphrase our old friend Nick Wrigley, it pisses all over the Kino Blu-ray from a great height. I look forward to diving into the supplements and booklet soon.

[Matt]

Apropos of a discussion in the Desire thread, I have not yet done a 1:1 comparison of the Indicator and Kino releases, but I might do so shortly for those who would like a more objective comparison.

[Matt]

Apropos of a discussion in the Desire thread, I have made some quick VLC screen captures (not identical frames, no additional processing or correction) of both the Kino (top) and Indicator (bottom) discs:
















What these don't show you is that the image has been stabilized on the Indicator and not on the Kino. To me, that's more important than differences of framing, but in that case the Indicator still bests the Kino.

In my opinion, the Kino BD looked overall worse than the Kino DVD, but the Indicator seems like the best option of all given the image, the booklet, and the supplements. Each BD has an exclusive commentary, so I will keep both, but I know which one I will be watching from now on.

[Peacock]

Thanks for the info and comparison Matt. The Kino is quite heavily cropped here, particularly at the top. You can see the Indicator loses a bit at the bottom but in this comparison I definitely agree that Indicator wins (slightly more detail as well) so I’ll be double dipping.

[hearthesilence]

Apropos of a discussion in the Desire thread, I have made some quick VLC screen captures (not identical frames, no additional processing or correction) of both the Kino (top) and Indicator (bottom) discs...

What these don't show you is that the image has been stabilized on the Indicator and not on the Kino. To me, that's more important than differences of framing, but in that case the Indicator still bests the Kino.

In my opinion, the Kino BD looked overall worse than the Kino DVD, but the Indicator seems like the best option of all given the image, the booklet, and the supplements. Each BD has an exclusive commentary, so I will keep both, but I know which one I will be watching from now on.

Much appreciated Matt. I also prefer the texture on the Indicator caps - the grain looks better there.

[dadaistnun]

I’ve only ever seen this via the Kino dvd and spaced on the fact that they released it on BR. Glad I did — thanks, Matt, for posting these.

[Matt]

Much appreciated Matt. I also prefer the texture on the Indicator caps - the grain looks better there.

The grain looks good in motion, too. I think what Kino might have softened the overall image to "manage" or smooth the grain. Indicator's wider contrast range might also make the grain slightly more apparent.