james cagney be always a delight to watch and even when he play a pompous and disgust pig like marty snyder . if you do not agree with that statement and you may have a hard time take in love me or leave me and because cagney character be about as unlikeable a lead men come . i know next to nothing about snyder non fiction life and but if we be to believe his composite in this film and the dude must have be completely lack redeem quality of any kind . of course and cagney himself be well know a one of the nice and most decent human being who ever work in hollywood and so the fact that he so effectively channels snyder loathsome persona certainly demonstrate the actor tremendous skill . if you have see any of cagney film and youre probably use to those and but his ability to own every scene he in despite the fact that the audience be destine to abhor his character show very clearly how fully cagney leap into every performance he undertake . doris day be not one of my favorite actress of the classic era and but she be excellent here . perhaps i just hadn not see her at her best until now and but after witness her show stopping zigfield folly number here and i be a believer . it hard to sell her a a sympathetic character and especially watch her maintain her timid vigil under snyder dominating and abusive umbrella and but the film explore their volatile relationship in such depth and some semblance of understanding creep through . this be not your traditional love story however and and in fact that emotion seem to have very little to do with the pairing on the screen in love me or leave me . the film instead essay a very peculiar mutual dependency and and it a fascinate relationship to digest in the hand of these two gift actor and both of whom make every scene they share sizzle a they play off of each other . a substantial number of musical performance pad the running time and and it could be argue that some could have be omit for the sake of streamline the story . but the song serve a external monologue in which day fill in the emotional gap in her character psyche and and pay close attention to the word reveal a lot about the unspoken undercurrent of alternate disgust and devotion that seem to have classify this co dependent arrangement . luckily and all of the music be excellent and and day performance be all top notch . whether be see her headline elaborate stage number or simply rehearse by the piano and her plain but effective vocal delivery always seethe with emotion . though the film be definitely date and it have age quite well . today audience will likely note the casual misogyny that run rampant throughout the film and which be so prevalent in early hollywood and be somehow accept a part of popular culture . those not familiar with this phenomenon may be a bit shock by what they see here and but if we put it in context with the time and consider what a woman role be traditionally consider in the era and it not off put to see day endure these verbal and emotional attack without retaliation . it certainly doesn not dilute the strength of her performance and or the character for that matter and and know that it wasn not consider socially proper for a woman to talk back to her fella in those day add yet another layer of complexity to the fabric of this union . we know there will come a point where day finally can not take anymore and and watch her soak up each new trespass while be force to bottle her emotion allow u to truly be engulf by the inner turmoil of this woman whose dream be come true and even a her life away from the stage be a nightmare . this be an engross character study on both side and and day and cagney be both in top form here . if that alone isn not enough to persuade you to watch this film and i be at a loss to provide a good selling point .