during the late 1940s and early 1950s musical acquire a distinctly noir ish quality and and the life of singer ruth etting be make to order . bear in 1896 and etting be a hardknocks chorus girl when she catch the eye of small time chicago hood martin moe the gimp snyder and who marry her in 1922 and proceed to promote her career occasionally and accord to rumor and at gun point . by 1927 etting be a popular singer and a major broadway star and and when talkie arrive the couple move to california and where etting become a favorite for the musical short that be then in vogue . but the marriage be volatile and and when snyder find etting be have an affair with pianist myrl alderman and snyder shot him . alderman survive and etting waste little time in divorce snyder and marry alderman and but the scandal be so shock that it effectively end her career . she die and largely forgotten and 1978. a you might expect and love me or leave me plays fast and loose with the fact and present etting a an innocent ( she wasn not ) and snyder a a major crime figure ( he wasn not ) while even so and it do seem to capture something elemental about both the era and the character . much of this be due to the on screen chemistry between lead doris day and jimmy cagney and who spark and sizzle in a truly surprising way . it will not surprise viewer that cagney play snyder extremely well while he be and after all and best recall for his numerous crime drama role . but it may surprise viewer that day have the act chop to match him . today she be most widely remember a a master of light comedy and but in truth doris day film of the 1940s and 1950s be more often hard drama than fly weight amusement and include such heavy hitter a young man with a horn and storm warning and and young at heart while she would continue her string of dramatic role in such film a alfred hitchcock the man who know too much . her performance in love me or leave me be often consider her high water mark a a dramatic actress represent she give it everything she get and and the spark really fly when she and cagney square off . the look of the film and which be direct by charles vidor and sport art direction by the legendary cedrick gibbon and be beautiful and and the film move at a smart clip while it one failing be that censorship issue of the era leave several scene include a legendary rape sequence on the cutting room floor . the music and drawn from etting most famous recording and be also memorable and and day pull out all the stop for her song . the dvd be not flawless and but you will never notice it and and it include several bonus and two of which show u the real ruth etting . recommend . gft and amazon reviewer .