Based on the Hungarian Play of the same name, Tonight or Never is a 1931 American pre-code comedy film that stars screen legends Gloria Swanson and Melvin Douglas.
In this picture, Gloria Swanson (Manhandled, Zaza, Sadie Thompson) stars as Nella Vargo, a young opera singer who is having some trouble advancing her career according to her teacher Rudig (Ferdinand Gottschalk, Nana, I Sell Anything, Peter Ibbetson). He thinks her performances are rather heartless, soulless and without any passion. Rugid says she needs to fall in love to feel passion when she sings. Soon she finds romance with a mysterious handsome admirer named Jim (screen legend Melvyn Douglas, Ninotchka, Hud). But there is more to Jim than meets the eye. For one thing Rugid says Jim a gigolo, but is he really? And for some reason Rugid does not want Nella to fall for Jim!
Tonight or Never is another classic film from the pre-code era where Gloria Swanson steals the show with an excellent performance. Melvyn Douglas also sparkles in the movie as well as the mysterious Jim. The entire cast all hand in excellent performances, which includes Boris Karloff, fresh off playing the monster in Frankenstein. The iconic Karloff has a small role in this movie. The story and actors gel together well in this picture, as the players have chemistry which contributes to making Tonight or Never a highly entertaining, compelling movie!
VCI Entertainment releases Tonight or Never onto Blu-ray from a 35mm nitrate element that was preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The image for the film looks spectacular and is a TREMENDOUS offering from VCI in the picture quality department. Black levels are nice and dark with bright whites and a balanced greyscale. No age-old anomalies such as speckles or vertical lines were detected, and nor was the use of any DNR. The image does have a polished look to it and seems to have been cleaned up quite a bit! Film grain is present throughout the film. Interior and exterior shots, close-ups of the actors faces show a lot of detail, along with the spectacular cinematography by Gregg Toland looking fantastic. The picture quality is impressive and better than one had a right to think how it would look!
VCI has gone with an English LPCM 2.0 soundtrack for their Blu-ray which is clear and robust, especially for the musical numbers. Dialogue is also clear, but it is the music with the highest fidelity. All the sounds come in clearly and with the spoken dialogue and soundtrack coming in perfectly balanced. I did not detect any audio drop-offs, hissing or crackling during the presentation and was a pleasure to listen to. English subtitles are available for this release.
Extras include a commentary track by Author and Film Critic Mick LaSalle and a linear notes/booklet by writer and historian Richard Barrios. The commentary has a vast number of tidbits about the film, the cast and crew. A poster and photo gallery is the other supplement.
VCI Entertainment has given Tonight or Never the royal treatment with great audio and video quality with some extras that fans will undoubtedly dive into and enjoy thoroughly. Highly recommended!
Tonight or Never
Director – Mervyn Leroy
Cast- Gloria Swanson, Melvyn Douglas, Boris Karloff
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – VCI Entertainment
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –3/18/2023