sewhite2000 Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 It's sung by multiple cast members in one of those Maurice Chevalier movies directed by Ernst Lubitsch in the early '30s, and it was still figuring prominently in Sabrina nearly a quarter of a century later. I just noticed it playing on the soundtrack when Barbara Stanwyck lures Henry Fonda into her cabin in The Lady Eve. Clearly, Paramount had absolute control over this song for many years. Every time I hear it playing on TCM presentation, I'm like, wait, is this a Paramount film? And it always is. If I can ever figure it out, I'm going to post on here a list of all the Paramount films that used this song. It has to be dozens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 12 minutes ago, sewhite2000 said: Clearly, Paramount had absolute control over this song for many years. Every time I hear it playing on TCM presentation, I'm like, wait, is this a Paramount film? And it always is. Factory-era studios usually had their own publishing-rights divisions for songs written for their films, and had absolute control over ALL their songs for many years, to be used and re-used at their convenience with no rights issues-- Which is how "As Time Goes By" could resurface in Warner's Casablanca, or how Wizard of Oz songs could occasionally turn up in MGM Tom & Jerry cartoons. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikisoo Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Yeah, I agree with the OP-Isn't It Romantic is everywhere. Not a very good song either, imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 In Moonstruck, Louis Guss (Loretta's uncle) sings it very briefly to Julie Bovasso in their bedroom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 10 hours ago, sewhite2000 said: It's sung by multiple cast members in one of those Maurice Chevalier movies directed by Ernst Lubitsch in the early '30s, and it was still figuring prominently in Sabrina nearly a quarter of a century later. I just noticed it playing on the soundtrack when Barbara Stanwyck lures Henry Fonda into her cabin in The Lady Eve. Clearly, Paramount had absolute control over this song for many years. Every time I hear it playing on TCM presentation, I'm like, wait, is this a Paramount film? And it always is. If I can ever figure it out, I'm going to post on here a list of all the Paramount films that used this song. It has to be dozens. LUBITSCH used ISNT IT ROMANTIC as a motif in many films, BILLY WILDER Used it a lot, sometimes ironically, as a tribute to Lubitsch. I have the feeling the use of the song was in many ways a salute to Lubitsch, who pioneered effervescent romantic comedies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 i kind of enjoy the way some studios had certain songs/musical themes they "leaned on" and used in multiple features, see also: If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight and South America Way for Warner's or THEME FROM THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON for Universal.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Does anyone know how many times Singing in the Rain was used in an MGM film? Must be the winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 17 minutes ago, RoyCronin said: Does anyone know how many times Singing in the Rain was used in an MGM film? Must be the winner. I thought about citing this too, but I actually am not really an MGM person at heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 19 minutes ago, RoyCronin said: Does anyone know how many times Singing in the Rain was used in an MGM film? Must be the winner. now that i think about it though, the song GOOD MORNING (HOW DO YOU DO?) shows up in a lot of MGM properties as well...maybe more than SINGIN... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brrrcold Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 11 hours ago, sewhite2000 said: It's sung by multiple cast members in one of those Maurice Chevalier movies directed by Ernst Lubitsch in the early '30s, and it was still figuring prominently in Sabrina nearly a quarter of a century later. I just noticed it playing on the soundtrack when Barbara Stanwyck lures Henry Fonda into her cabin in The Lady Eve. Clearly, Paramount had absolute control over this song for many years. Every time I hear it playing on TCM presentation, I'm like, wait, is this a Paramount film? And it always is. If I can ever figure it out, I'm going to post on here a list of all the Paramount films that used this song. It has to be dozens. Not quite ... it appears first in LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932), directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It does star Chevalier, and it is a Paramount production. It's actually a lovely film, some what Lubitschy - but not as risque as Lubitsch was in that pre-cod era. And the sequence that introduces "Isn't It Romantic" is a brilliant bit of storytelling and continuity in filmmaking. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingFan Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 "Isn't It Romantic" was introduced in Love Me Tonight (1932). It's easy to think it was one of those Lubitsch/Chevalier movies, and I'm sure the close similarity was intended when it was made. But it was directed by Rouben Mamoulian, rather than the great Lubitsch. According to Wikipedia, besides The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges also used the song in The Palm Beach Story, where Rudy Vallee sang it. In addition to Sabrina, Billy Wilder also featured the song in The Major And The Minor and A Foreign Affair. Definitely a Paramount standard! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 1 minute ago, Brrrcold said: Not quite ... it appears first in LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932), directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It does star Chevalier, and it is a Paramount production Ha ha, I just mentioned on another thread you have to be thick skinned around here, because when you make a mistake, there is a 100 per cent chance someone will know it. I stand corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brrrcold Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 8 minutes ago, sewhite2000 said: Ha ha, I just mentioned on another thread you have to be thick skinned around here, because when you make a mistake, there is a 100 per cent chance someone will know it. I stand corrected. I did not mean to be discourteous. Heaven knows I need correcting. ...but do make an effort to see LOVE ME TONIGHT. It's delightful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 I've seen it! I don't guess if would have known the song was in if I hadn't! I just got the director wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Rodgers and Hart wasn't it??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 Yes! It also appears in the Paramount films Hot Saturday and Skylark, according to Wikipedia, and somehow got used, I presume illegally, in the 1933 Warner Bros. film Private Detective 62, in addition to the ones listed above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJH Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 This was the song's introduction to the world, imaginatively directed by Rouben Mamoulian in Love Me Tonight, one of the truly great musical comedies of the '30s. Many think that Mamoulian out-Lubitsched Lubitsch with this delightful concoction. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 54 minutes ago, Hibi said: [ISN'T IT ROMANTIC was by] Rodgers and Hart wasn't it??? Yup. Some might even say it's their definitive collaboration (although others might credit BLUE MOON with that) (Personally, I love it.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Brrrcold said: Not quite ... it appears first in LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932), directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It does star Chevalier, and it is a Paramount production. It's actually a lovely film, some what Lubitschy - but not as risque as Lubitsch was in that pre-cod era. And the sequence that introduces "Isn't It Romantic" is a brilliant bit of storytelling and continuity in filmmaking. I have a new favorite adjective! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 2 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said: Yup. Some might even say it's their definitive collaboration (although others might credit BLUE MOON with that) (Personally, I love it.) Yeah, DITTO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Just now, Hibi said: Yeah, DITTO! FYI, MANHATTAN MELODRAMA contains the original version of BLUE MOON with different lyrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 (it's also worth it to read the lyrics, which are poetic in and of themselves) Isn't It Romantic Isn't it romantic? Music in the night, a dream that can be heard Isn't it romantic?Moving shadows write the oldest magic word I hear the breezes playing in the trees above While all the world is saying you were meant for love Isn't it romantic? Merely to be young on such a night as this? Isn't it romantic? Every note that's sung is like a lover's kiss Sweet symbols in the moonlight Do you mean that I will fall in love perchance? Isn't it romance? Sweet symbols in the moonlight Do you mean that I will fall in love perchance? Isn't it romantic? Isn't it romance? Songwriters: RICHARD RODGERS, LORENZ HART Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhov Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said: now that i think about it though, the song GOOD MORNING (HOW DO YOU DO?) shows up in a lot of MGM properties as well...maybe more than SINGIN... Yeah, I was about to mention that one. It shows up in a ton from the 1930s, usually in instrumental form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 17 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said: FYI, MANHATTAN MELODRAMA contains the original version of BLUE MOON with different lyrics. What was the original title? I wonder what the reasoning was to rewrite the lyrics? (I prefer Blue Moon's) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts