Love Me or Leave Me

[Jas1]

Great pics, thanks for posting.

[Ralph]

Great pics, thanks for posting.

Who's the dark-haired woman with Doris? She looks familiar. Kitty Kallen?

[BabeWilliams]

HUGE-MUNGUS question... did Doris Day really have a beauty mark??? I thought that they just colored one on there for the movie. And did anyone notice that there really weren't any other girls in this picture besides Doris Day??? But anyway I LOVED the movie... but seriously, who voted and said the picture was poor???

[miss maxwell]

HUGE-MUNGUS question... did Doris Day really have a beauty mark???
I thought that they just colored one on there for the movie.

Positive - it can be spotted in many early pics of Doris' (and perhaps in
latter pics too, haven't noticed) - it sure was toned in the movie though.

I love this film, I've only watched it once in its whole but often play bits
and pieces, anything I have time for - my GOD, that was a strong
slap that James Cagney gave her. Ouch.

[webmaster]

This is probably my favourite DD film.

Re: the slap, you probably know, but Doris said in her book she had no idea he was going to actually slap her hard and her shock reaction was genuine.
There was a lot of trust between them and she said she understood why he did it.
The other thing was they filmed a very difficult rape scene and she was disapointed that it was cut from the film.

[BabeWilliams]

It's not like I enjoy seeing women get raped or anything... but I wish they wouldn't have cut it from the movie...

I wouldn't have ever known that James had raped her unless I read it somewhere
.... does anyone know if they have that footage anywhere or something... they can't just cut something that BIG out of the movie
...and expect the fans to know that he raped her and that's why they're married

[René]

I wrote to MGM years ago before the release of "Love Me or Leave Me" on laserdisc and was told that the studio did not keep the footage as described in Doris Day's autobiography.
Nice to see that pic of her in that dress a few posts back. In the film we only see it on Doris briefly while Marty beats up Fred backstage. Remember? She's absolutely stunning in this film.

[webmaster]

I got the impression from Doris' book that it had been a very difficult scene
(you know how she used to 'live' her dramatic scenes as with the breakdown on Midnight Lace over the lift scene)
and that she and James Cagney hade done a good piece of work on it
so they were disapointed when it had been cut from the final film.
As to why, you can only speculate, perhaps they thought it was too strong
and wouldn't have been passed for family viewing?
It's probably lost in a vault somewhere.

[BabeWilliams]

well, we should all go to one of these vaults and pick it out ourselves... Maybe one day one of us can be famous... and demand all Doris Days films be out on dvd.... with like totally awesome extras...

Does anyone know if Starlift and The Winning Team are out to buy anywhere

[rt]

The Winning Team is available in a Ronald Reagan boxset that also includs Storm Warning (I bought it from amazon.com). I got Starlift off ebay. It's in the public domain now.

RT

[John M]

Starlift isn't in the public domain (none of Doris' films are). It's simply available in bootleg form. There were many bootlegs of Storm Warning on eBay until the official release came out. Rumor from very reliable sources is that Starlift is coming from Warner Bros. within the next 12-15 months, along with Doris' remaining Warners and MGM films (although not necessarily all together.)

[rt]

Sorry, I was misinformed. My copy of STARLIFT is on a poor quality DVD. I'm waiting for the remaining films to be out on DVD. The VHS versions do not compare at all.
RT

[BabeWilliams]

ok, thanks for the information!!!

[puck]

[dayniac]

Puck -- I've never seen that last picture ---- thanks !!

[miss maxwell]

"Take it easy now James, these are just promotional stills we're doing"

[puck]

Great picture Miss Maxwell, thank you for sharing. did you saw the other one, the close-up.

[miss maxwell]

I didn't, Puck, great close up -- one of my favorite scenes! Thumbnails, beautiful thing, aren't they.

[puck]

Miss Maxwell how about this one, I self do love this photo.

[Theodomus]

I found a - as I think - very interesting version of Ruth Etting singing "Ten Cents A Dance". It is very different from DDs version, but I like it.

You can listen to it here:

http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/ ... ckId=48812

(You gotta sign up for free and then you can listen to it online or download it. I described the concept here: Klick

[Johnny]

Love Me Or Leave Me really illustrates the magic of Doris Day. her voice, her charisma, her rapport with her other actors and the audience that lifts this film from ordinary to extraordinary. When she is surrounded by the talent of James Cagney, she is even better. I think the movie going public cast their votes with their dollars to put her in the number one spot and keep her there. Ms Day deserves to be acknowledged by the film industry for her outstanding work that still is respected to this day.It is also a tribute to her that any person of any age can see one of her films and feel good about viewing it.

[webmaster]

Very well said, Johnny. Thank you for that.

[lab]

I think this is DD's best film, but it was not a huge hit since the public at the time could not take Doris in a "gritty" reality film. Since Marty wanted her to have all hits, I am sure he went with her tried and true formula from then on, which was her and our loss.

[Heathcliff]

According to the coffee table book on MGM that I have, "Love Me or Leave Me" was a very big hit.

[Daisy June]

That should have definitely been a Oscar winner for Doris.
She was fabulous.

Carol

[mikeydv]

Check the movies statistics...LMOLM was a BIG BOX OFFICE HIT, and the recording was the #1 album for the year (and stayed on the Best Seller Lists for like 5 months straight, most of the time in #1 position!!!)

I used to subscribe to VARIETY and BILLBOARD magazines(just to keep track of my girl), and I have pages and pages and pages of statistics on how well both movie and soundtrack did. Trust me, the figures are tremendous! Doris and MGM were both very happy to have each other!!!

By far, my fave Doris movie. I loved EVERYTHING about it, and especially the songs.
"It All Depends On You" was never sung better by anyone anywhere, and "I'll Never Stop Loving You" should be on every bride's Wedding Day Hit Parade of songs!!!

[Daisy June]

I agree with everything you said, it is my favorite movie in showing how well she did as a dramatic actor.

Just superior and I loved the songs (all of them)

Carol

[Haymarketaddict]

I've watched it again the other day - really very good movie even though I must admit I'm not really a big fan of all the songs. I LOVE how she sings "it all depends on you" but the rest of the music just isn't my cup of tea. I'm trying really hard to get into that kind of music *right Marion?? * but as of yet I'm not there. So the music isn't for me *but* I think her performance is truly great and I wonder why Cagney got a AA-nomination for it and Doris didn't - she was very good - and so was he.
I enjoy that movie but I don't think it'll be one of my top-favorites - I voted it good

[Jas1]

The sound track was by far Doris' best in films and her rendition of these jazzy songs is top notch - NO ONE sings Love Me..; Mean to Me; Ten Cents a dance; You made me Love you' etc like Miss Day!

[Haymarketaddict]

The sound track was by far Doris' best in films and her rendition of these jazzy songs is top notch - NO ONE sings Love Me..; Mean to Me; Ten Cents a dance; You made me Love you' etc like Miss Day!

Yeah - you might certainly be right on this one - but those "jazzy songs" are simply not my usual "taste" in music. I'm not saying she isn't great in performing them ... far from it - its just not for me ... kinda .. hmm.. hard to describe. Anyway - but as I said I'm definitely trying to GET there