Really Surprised!

A Major Disappointment

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Don Ameche star in this fun fast-moving comedy about the press and how they hound celebrities and how it feels when the shoe's on the other foot.Ty is a reporter who tries to catch Loretta, a millionairess who just broke up with a duke or something, and get the story for himself for an exclusive. They don't get along at all. Really, they don't. At least for a while anyway.Costarring George Sanders, Jane Darwell, Walter Catlett and Elisha Cook, Jr. in a small role, it feels like a poor man's "Libeled Lady." But, just because something's unknown doesn't mean it isn't worth watching. This is one of the best Ty/Loretta films they made together and should be watched again and again. And, with Don Ameche as his boss, this is one escapade that's too good to miss.

Why is it that in the old days, movies used people's private lives as front page news? Wasn't there a depression going on? A war about to break out in Europe? A big New York newspaper then has to focus on the life of a silly millionairess (Loretta Young) who has just broken off with a gold-digging Russian Count (George Sanders). Reporter Tyrone Power gets on her plane, gets her to talk, then gets the story to his editor (Don Ameche), on a break from saying "yes, dear" to his constant telephone calling nagging wife (whom, thankfully, we never see.) Young decides to get even by alerting the other local newspapers that she has become engaged to Power, which causes him havoc at every turn as he deals with sudden "celebrity status" and the fury of Ameche. Cute premise, yet beyond "today's newspaper, tomorrow's fish wrapper" premise, who would really care about such goings on when the world is in trauma? OK, in the society column perhaps, but on the front page? Oh, let's be real here! OK, this is just a film, a screwball comedy famous for such lapses of reality. Did audiences really think that a bunch of rich people would traipse all over New York looking for a forgotten man, or that a woman dying of uranium poisoning would become the darling of New York society? Yet, "My Man Godfrey" and "Nothing Sacred" were spoofing the ridiculousness of society and newspaper headlines with their farcism. The problem here isn't the premise, or even the stars; It would be great if the story appeared in another section BUT the front page. It is also very apparent that Loretta Young and Tyrone Power were one of the best looking screen couples of the 30's, and had TONS of chemistry. That made them box-office bonanza, and they could re-do "Abie's Irish Rose" and get away with it. But I don't think anybody believes that Loretta Young was anything like the rather brainless twit she plays here that would waste her entire life trying to make Powers' miserable by acting all lovey dovey and not end up falling in love with him herself. Tyrone Power comes off best; He is handsome without being embarrassed by it (like Robert Taylor was), and masculine without being ridiculously macho. He's just your average guy who happens to look like a movie star, that's all. His charm was very apparent and he comes off more likable than Ms. Young.As for Don Ameche, sadly, he is wasted here. There is no love triangle involving him; His role could have been played by any contract character actor. Even though he had been in films for only a year, it was apparent he was going places, so he is sadly wasted. George Sanders plays his typical Euro-Trash cad, not as deadly as in some of his other films, yet obviously out for his own gain. Walter Catlett is funny as a rival reporter who plays chess with Power using beer and whiskey as the pieces. It probably set off a trend of college parties where the winner gets drunk, and the looser ends up hang-over free. (Who's really the looser?) Then, there is the small town jail scene with Slim Summerville as the droopy faced judge who sentences Power and Young to do time for various crimes. (She was speeding; He was taking something out of her car at her request, which she later denied). The sequence is funny (featuring prison doors that keep falling off the hinges) yet unrealistic. Yet again, this is a screwball comedy, not at all to be taken as anything but a fantasy of what life is really like. Jane Darwell has a few amusing moments as Powers' landlady. Dudley Digges, usually cast as elderly villains, has a change of pace here as Young's likable uncle.The film was remade in 1948 (with an aging Power and Gene Tierney) as "That Wonderful Urge" that seemed even more out of place in Post-War America when there was more important things to go into the entire newspaper than stuff like this. This time, the heroine pretends their married, which adds some sexual tension into the midst. Comparing the two films on the DVD, "Love is News" comes off a bit better, though not much.

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.

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.