It was a pleasure to write about 1955’s Love Me or Leave Me – and the two towering performances by Doris Day and James Cagney – for Film Comment.
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I’m sorry to inform you that the link ain’t working.
This forced me to find the story on my own, but it was worth the strain.
Best to you.
Don’t be sorry to inform me! I’m grateful!! Link is fixed now.
Glad you liked! I so admire the film!
Wonderful essay, Sheila! I think I have discussed my love of Doris Day on your blog before, and you are so right-she truly is a triple threat, and absolutely undervalued as an actress. I couldn’t agree more about the Lifetime Achievement Award-it makes me so crazy she hasn’t received this honor.
It has been a while since I saw this film, but I do remember being blown away by Cagney-the vulnerability beneath the bravado.
This is a tough film for me to watch, it is so raw.
Maureen – yes, we have shared our love of Doris Day! It’s saddening to me that it seems she’s not remembered right. Like, she was just some blonde singer in the prudish 60s who made silly comedies with Rock Hudson. I don’t know, she hasn’t really gotten her due. Not that she needed to show dramatic chops – doing light charming comedies is NOT EASY – and she made it look effortless! But still: this woman could ACT. There was nothing she couldn’t do.
I love the early scene in Love Me or Leave Me where she’s been hired as a dancer – even though she keeps saying she’s not a dancer – and we see her suffering through some showgirl number, always a beat behind the other dancers. It’s adorable and awkward – and Doris Day actually COULD dance – but she makes me believe she couldn’t!
Cagney blows me away here too. It’s one of his greatest performances I think. Unsparingly honest.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Thanks Sheila! You are right that this film does not get enough love (and no amount will ever be too much). Every time I mention to someone that Doris Day might have been the most talented performer in the history of Hollywood (what couldn’t she do?)…I do not get an argument. Lovely essay.
It’s really unfortunate – she had SUCH a significant career and was such a HUGE star. I think people who have the wrong idea about her would be truly shocked if they watched Love Me or Leave Me. It’s a very painful experience, this movie. And I think some people might be disappointed in the ending – her opening “his” nightclub – but I think the way they did it was just fine. It was Ruth’s “goodbye” to him on HER terms, not his. Now they would be “even.”
I didn’t really get into this in the piece – but part of the issue as presented in the film was that Ruth DID owe him. She didn’t owe him her LIFE, she didn’t owe him SEX – but he DID help her become a star. This was how she got trapped. And he knew it, and he used it. Her ambition though – her willingness to do whatever it took – her total lack of a Plan B – this is a huge part of the character. She wasn’t just some naive novice thrust into the spotlight – this was a hungry ambitious woman, even ruthless to some degree. You HAVE to be if you want to be a star.
Doris Day did not soft pedal any of that, even though it may not be a very “attractive” quality. She was working from a very personal place, it felt like. She was underestimated constantly – she was a pretty blonde with a gorgeous figure who could sing – and so she knew she had to go after what SHE wanted, because nobody else was going to take care of her.
It’s a terrible irony that her own husband lost all of her money. She too trusted a man who SCREWED her.
She was a smart tough cookie.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting.