Love Me or Leave Me is a fun music-romance-drama featuring two wonderful performances from the elegant Doris Day set against the rough-and-tumble James Cagney in one of his many gangster roles and for this one, received an Oscar nomination.
Love Me or Leave Me
(1955)
Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Music
Warner Archive | NR – 122 min. – $21.99 | September 13, 2016
Date Published: 09/24/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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PLOT SYNOPSIS
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Roaring ’20 songstress Ruth Etting (DORIS DAY had everything — the looks, the wiles, the smokey jazz voice, the it. She also had Chicago racketeer Martin “The Gimp” Snyder (JAMES CAGNEY), who, even as he propelled her career, afflicted her. Laced with Doris Day’s vibrant performance of songs from the era, this 1955 Academy Award® winner (Writing, Motion Picture Story) is based on the tough-minded tale of Etting’s life with the man who boosted her career with strong-arm tactics and smothered her in an obsessive grip she escaped at great peril. As Snyder, Cagney earned of the film’s six Oscar nominations. Day’s Etting was a career-best dramatic performance, bringing acclaim from critics and protest letters from fans unprepared for the departure from her traditionally sunny roles. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.75/5 |
| The disc includes 3 Vintage Shorts: A Modern Cinderella (17:24; HD), Roseland (12:11; HD) and A Salute to the Theaters (17:09; HD), the first two featuring Ruth Etting. The Theatrical Trailer (4:52; HD) is also included. |
VIDEO – 4.75/5 |
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Warner, through their MOD Archive Collection line, releases Love Me or Leave Me onto Blu-ray presented in its original 2.55 widescreen aspect ratio and a nice looking 1080p high-definition transfer. A Cinescope release, the movie has brilliant and vibrant colors throughout that pops off the small screen while detail is relatively sharp and satisfactorily defined. There were no noticeable instances of aliasing, artifacts, banding or other flaws. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The movie comes with a robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 track and for such an older film (60+ years now), it really brings this music-drama to life. Dialogue levels sound crisp and clear which is great but where the track excels is the musical sequences where each and every channel gets great usage and even the dialogue-driven scenes, ambient noises would flow out of the rear speakers. |
OVERALL – 3.75/5 |
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Overall, Love Me or Leave Me is a fun music-romance-drama featuring two wonderful performances from the elegant Doris Day set against the rough-and-tumble James Cagney in one of his many gangster roles and for this one, received an Oscar nomination. This Blu-ray released through Warner’s Archive Collection offers excellent video and audio transfers and although the features aren’t noteworthy, at least it’s better than nothing. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.