DVD

Love Me or Leave Me
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. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Doris Day as Ruth Etting James Cagney as Martin "The Gimp" Snyder Cameron Mitchell as Johnny Alderman Robert Keith as Bernard V. Loomis Tom Tully as Frobisher Harry Bellaver as Georgie Richard Gaines as Paul Hunter Peter Leeds as Fred Taylor Claude Stroud as Eddie Fulton John Harding as Greg Trent

Crew Alex Romero - Choreography Helen Rose - Costume Designer Ridgeway Callow - First Assistant Director Charles Vidor - Director Ralph Winters - Editor Nicholas Brodszky - Composer (Music Score) George Stoll - Composer (Music Score) Percy Faith - Composer (Music Score) George Stoll - Musical Direction/Supervision Cedric Gibbons - Production Designer Urie McCleary - Production Designer Arthur E. Arling - Cinematographer Joe Pasternak - Producer Jack D. Moore - Set Designer Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer Warren Newcombe - Special Effects Wesley C. Miller - Sound/Sound Designer Isobel Lennart - Screenwriter Daniel Fuchs - Screenwriter

Love Me or Leave Me
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. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
 

Charles Vidor: Directors Guild of America, Best Director (nominated) Daniel Fuchs: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Story (winner) George Stoll: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Musical Score (nominated) Isobel Lennart: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Screenplay (nominated) James Cagney: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Actor (nominated) Nicholas Brodszky: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Song (nominated) Percy Faith: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Musical Score (nominated) Sammy Cahn: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Song (nominated) Wesley C. Miller: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Sound (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD5.0: Dolby Digital w/ 5 full-range channels. Includes 3 for the front speakers & 2 surround channels for the rear speakers DD1: Dolby Digital Mono DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel Additional Features: cc Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.0 3 Vintage Shorts, the First Two with Ruth Etting: A Modern Cinderella - Roseland - A Salute to the Theatres Theatrical trailer Languages: English & Français Subtitles: English, Français & Español DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1: Cinemascope MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 122 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Credits [2:03] 2. Giving a Girl a Break [6:25] 3. Belonging to the Gimp [4:00] 4. No Miami for Her [3:02] 5. It All Depends on You [5:07] 6. Quite a Performer [5:09] 7. Don't Lie to Yourself [2:20] 8. You Made Me Love You [2:38] 9. Stay on the Right Side, Sister [1:08] 10. Stuck on Her [5:13] 11. Everybody Loves My Baby [3:54] 12. Plans for Her [2:51] 13. Nothing's Changed [2:53] 14. Sam, the Old Accordion Man [3:29] 15. From the Same Place [2:25] 16. No Shoving [3:06] 17. Shakin' the Blues Away [4:07] 18. No Way to Play [5:18] 19. Newlywed's Not Complaining [1:43] 20. Road Tour; Ten Cents a Dance [4:21] 21. Headed for Hollywood [4:31] 22. What Makes You Tick [4:11] 23. I'll Never Stop Loving You [1:28] 24. Not Like a Stranger [4:30] 25. Never Look Back [3:33] 26. Who's Boss [5:06] 27. Get Along Without Me [4:16] 28. Once it's Finished [5:00] 29. Two Bullets for Johnny [3:27] 30. No Part of You [4:00] 31. Contractual Obligation [4:24] 32. Love Me or Leave Me [3:36] 33. Cast List [1:53]