L'Amour en première page

Back when this film was made in the mid Thirties there seem to be an abundance of films about madcap heiresses. In the middle of the Great Depression films about the rich partying away seemed to find an audience.

Back then the real life model was Peggy Hopkins Joyce, today it's Paris Hilton. We just love to read about the rich doing their reveling.

So the premise is a bit ludicrous about Loretta Young getting very angry at the newspaper reporters for reporting on her every move. Believe me if she didn't want publicity she wouldn't get any. Believe it or not, then as now, there are rich people out there who are not tabloid fodder.

But I guess anyone can get a little cranky and Loretta has come her time of crankiness in Love Is News. When an especially enterprising reporter gets on board her private plane, she's had it. While reporter Tyrone Power thinks he's scooped his colleagues, Young has an impromptu press conference with the others and announces she's engaged to Tyrone Power.

And then Power as he was in real life becomes the object of a lot of tabloid fodder. His editor is Don Ameche who keeps firing and hiring him back to straighten the mess out. If this were done at Warner Brothers, Love Is News would have been perfect for James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.

Twelve years later Power did a remake of this same film with Gene Tierney. Hard to choose between the two which is better.

Ty is at the beginning of his career and Darryl Zanuck was casting him in all kinds of parts, comedic, adventurous, dramatic. And Power himself was perfecting his screen image.

Best scenes in the film involve small town judge Slim Summerville who Young comes up before for speeding and that sets up a whole bunch of funny situations.

I can see this being remade today, unless Paris Hilton herself wants to star in it.

This picture is killingly funny. Newspaper man Tyrone Power is sent by his editor (Don Ameche) to get a scoop: an exclusive interview with an heiress arriving in New York (played by Loretta Young). He tricks his way into her airplane, she realises what he is after and turns the tables on him by announcing to his colleagues that he is her fiancee. Now they are hounding him. For the rest of the film, the two of them trick and fool each other, with hilarious results. The scene in jail is unsurpassed. There are elements of slapstick (Ty trying to close the drawers of his dresser without banging his head, Don Ameche taking him on and off the payroll), but the focus is on dialogue and on the reporter and the heiress sparing with each other. The two of them have great chemistry and comic timing. I can't imagine why this film is not much better known.

this is one of those fast talking reporter movies that makes you laugh a lot-- and wish that you were a reporter...or an heiress. when steve tricks Toni into giving him an interview she tells all the other papers in town that they're engaged to show him what it feels like to be a "public freak". they fight it out throughout the entire movie..trying to outwit the other the whole way. they end up in jail together, in mud puddles, steve gets caught with his pants off and Toni deals with her ex husband, the Count. and of course they fall in love...choosing not to admit it to the other. it's a pretty cute movie if you like romance, comedy, tyrone power, don ameche and/or loretta young.

Love is News (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Loretta Young plays a millionaire with a strong hatred of the press who she feels is constantly telling lies on her. One reporter (Tyrone Power) is the most guilty with his lies but Young plans on getting even by announcing to the world that they're going to be married. This way the reporter will know what it's like to be in the spotlight all the time. I read a couple negative reviews of this film but I thought they were way too hard on the film, which I found to be incredibly entertaining throughout with some terrific laughs from the cast. Young is my favorite actress and she delivers another strong performance here as she really captures that society girl image and delivers great comic timing. Power also comes off terrific as does Don Ameche in his role as Power's editor. The two men are constantly battling over the headlines and their comic timing together is wonderful and adds many laughs. Power also works great with Young and the two deliver the laughs as well as the romantic angle. George Sanders has a small role as Young's ex-fiancé. The film runs 78-minutes and there are very few scenes that don't work. The screwball antics are all very funny and the entire situation just makes for some wonderful laughs. One of the highlights is a scene in the bar where Power and another reporter are playing checkers on the floor with whiskey and beer.

Loretta Young, Don Ameche and Tyrone Power in a madcap comedy about an heiress who turns the tables on a reporter by announcing they are engaged. Power as Steve Leyton is classicly comic as the sensationalistic reporter whose world is turned upside down when the media spotlight is focused on him. Don Ameche wonderfully offsets him as the city editor, an old friend, who grapples with Power to get a scoop. Loretta Young is pretty and charming as heiress Toni Gateson who chases after Power to keep him in the media spotlight.

The acting is wonderfully funny, and the supporting actors do equally well--George Sanders as the egotistical count jilted by Young, Dudley Digges as Young's wealthy uncle, and Jane Darwell in a minor role as Power's landlady.

Though remade in 1948 as "That Wonderful Urge" with Gene Tierney, this is one case where the original is much better. The comic rapport between Young and Power keeps the action moving. Though Power was one of the most romantic of leading men throughout his career, this movie showcases his talent for comedy.