jimmaclellan714 I have only seen a couple of brief excerpts. The performance of the first act from Puccini's Madame Butterfly' was so amazing that I have been searching for the movie ever since. I imagine it is impossible to find. Over the years I have seen and heard many performances of "Butterfly" but there was something magical about this performance despite the grainy quality of the film.

chriggsiii I was moved to write this review because I took strong exception to some of the other reviews I just read here of this film.Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it predictable to a certain extent? Sure.But the singing and the musical numbers are not interruptions; they are not diversions; they are the whole point.In fact, the entire movie, more than anything, is a reinforcement of the message that music, and a wonderful person who sings it beautifully, is something important enough for folks to travel halfway across the globe to engage and to hire.Every time the movie takes its time to present a snippet of Traviata in its entirety or, more miraculously and effectively, a huge totally uncut snippet from the wonderful first-act duet in Butterfly, it is sending the message "You wonder why it's so important to the Buenos Aires management that Miss Telly keep her contract and sing at their opera house? This is why! Listen to that music and listen to that voice." If the movie is about the need to persuade an errant diva to fulfill her contract, then the musical numbers answer the question as to WHY it's so important. Why is it so important to them? Why are they angry enough to sue over the loss of such an opportunity? The musical numbers answer that question, the Butterfly sequence most eloquently of all. Moore's perfect light lyric soprano voice lifts the movie from mere silliness to real sentiment. Without them, the movie would really have no point. I'm really surprised that so many of you didn't get that!!!

TheLittleSongbird As far as Grace Moore films go, 'Louise' and 'One Night of Love' are better films, but having been let down by 'When You're in Love' (yes even with the presence of Cary Grant) 'I'll Take Romance is superior to that. Haven't seen 'Jenny Lind' yet, but am in two minds as to whether it will be good or not.'I'll Take Romance' is not a great film, but it's good fun and it is difficult to not be taken by its charm. The story is slight, it's also predictable and gets sometimes on the wrong side of incredibly silly. Moore showed in other films that comedy comes naturally to her, but they were films with a frothier approach. Here the timing (as it's more screwball-like comedy) needed to sharper and wittier and she struggles a little.Have to concur also that, as good as the operatic music is as music on its own, other films have done much better jobs at integrating opera into their stories. Here they are well sung (though Butterfly is rather heavy a role for Moore's voice from personal opinion), but it does feel like they are there for the reason of having opera to showcase Moore's voice without finding a way to weave it into the story in a relevant way, consequently they do slow the film down, especially when the scenes from 'Madama Butterfly' and 'Martha' are long. A couple are more interesting than others, coming off least is actually the least known one 'Martha', it was interesting to see and hear a non-standard repertoire excerpt but the staging was static and indifferently directed.On the other hand, 'I'll Take Romance' is a beautifully photographed and produced film and mostly very nicely directed (only 'Martha' doesn't quite come off, and it could be to do with that the drama in the opera is not the most compelling in the first place, not bad as such but there are operas that are more involving dramatically in general). The music is wonderful especially the title song, there are no qualms with the music itself it's just the placement.Scripting is witty, funny, frothy without being shallow and don't fall into schmaltz. Moore is charming and likable, though her character frustrates at times, while Margaret Hamilton and Stu Erwin provide sterling comic support. Best of all is debonair Melvyn Douglas, a role that fits him like a glove and one that he can do in his sleep and still engage the pants off you, a contender for Moore's best leading man. The romantic chemistry is sweet without being sentimental and endearing.To conclude, charming, romantic and fun, reservations for the story and placement and timing of the operatic excerpts aside. 7/10 Bethany Cox

MartinHafer Back in the day, Grace Moore was a huge opera star. Somehow, the studios thought they could translate this into making her a movie star but after less than a dozen films, she just didn't make much traction in the film industry. Her acting wasn't bad but she didn't exactly have a movie star look and her singing style was something most viewers wouldn't have enjoyed...even more so today. Fortunately, Columbia paired Moore with Melvyn Douglas, an actor who had an easy-going acting style and brought out the most in this otherwise limp film.The film hampers itself by creating a pretty dreadful conflict...one that makes viewers immediately dislike Moore's character. Apparently, this singing diva has a contract to sing in South America but is planning on just ditching it in favor of singing in Paris. I don't know about you, but anyone totally ignoring a contract and the impact breaking it would have on others makes me pretty angry at her. Douglas plays a guy hired to try to get her to South America and eventually he tries to use romance to woo her that way. Unfortunately, every time this film starts to get interesting, Moore breaks into song....and most of the songs are operatic. I was watching the film at home and whenever she sang, I did chores! Too bad, as it's otherwise an agreeable little film.