Gloria Swanson stars in the rather unlikely role of Hungarian opera diva Nella Vago, who, though technically proficient, must experience the passion of love to achieve the true soul of an artist. Melvyn Douglas plays the supposed gigolo she falls for. (…) Director LeRoy, borrowed from Warner Bros. – First national, released seven features in 1931, including Five Star Final, and Little Caesar. He had appeared as a newsboy in the Swanson film The Prodigal Daughters in 1923. He had proven skillful in a number of genres; though this airy sophisticated comedy was definitely Lubitsch territory (screenwriter Ernest Vajda wrote many of Lubitsch’s best film), LeRoy handles the material deftly. Vajda provides a witty script, full of subtle and not-so-subtle sexual innundo. Perhaps the most amazing feature of Tonight or Never is Gregg Toland’s cinematography. Citizen Kane was still ten years away, but his experimentation is on full display here, with complex, even bizarre compositions.

Ed Carter, Tonight or Never, in AAVV, Fifth Annual Festival of Preservation, UCLA Film and Television Archive, 1993

The film had various cuts in respect to the original version filmed by LeRoy. All  of them had been decided upon by Samuel Goldwyn on the request of colonel Jason J. Joy, director of the Studio Relations Department AMPP, which followed the orders of Will H. Hays himself (in 1930 there was already an official code in effect, also written by Hays, and many aspects of that code were exactly the same as the famous code that took effect in 1934). Even so, according to the Hollywood Reporter of November 15th, 1931: “Tonight or Never will be considered as one of the sexiest, if not the sexiest film of all times. Moreover, it is by a long shot the best film ever made by Gloria Swanson, a feather in this cap for Mervyn LeRoy, whose director’s cap is already full of feathers” (for a summary of the changes made in the film, see: Prima dei codici 2. Alle porte di Hays, a cura di Giuliana Muscio, Milano/Venezia, Ed. La Biennale di Venezia, Fabbri, 1999)