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A Few Words About A few words about...™ April Love -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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For those who are either offended by the sexual themes or violence in The Sound of Music, and whose viewing pleasure necessitates something less virulent, Twilight Time is offering their new Blu-ray of Henry Levin's Kentucky bluegrass musical drama, April Love.


It's the story of two virgins and a horse -- in CinemaScope.


There's always something to be found that one can like in a film, and for me, in April Love, it's the Austin Healy.


I scratched my head a bit, trying to figure out why some shots appeared a bit noise-reduced, because Fox no longer allows post houses to affect their films in that way. Something is going on in some sequences, where detail seems lacking, but it could come down to something as simply as multiple layers of pancake makeup.


Colorwise, April Love is fine for a 1957 production. When it appears normal, grain seems proper, and color generally is pleasing -- especially that red Austin-Healy.


May be too sweet for some modern viewers, but it's a film of its time.


Image - 3.75


Audio - 5


Pass / Fail - Pass


RAH
 

JoHud

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Definitely getting this. TT has become a great venue for recently restored/remastered Fox titles as of late. Granted they've become more scarce lately, but when they deliver boy do they deliver. This title is no exception and is in fact an exemplary case of holding out for a better video presentation.


Speaking of which, anyone unlucky enough to buy or receive the Fox Archive release should sent that to the nearest landfill--if they hadn't done so already.
 

Virgoan

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It's got a lovely score and is fun entertainment. Pat Boone and Shirley Jones are in great voice.


You'll love the title song, plus the Bentonville Fair number is wonderful!
 

octobercountry

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I'm looking forward to this! (Have ordered a copy, but it hasn't arrived yet.) It's a nice slice of 1950s nostalgia, with Pat Boone as the most clean-cut juvenile delinquent ever.


I'm not a fan of Boone's; the public statements he has made in his later years always put me in mind of a certain newspaper clipping:


oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg



But holy cow, in his prime he had a fantastic singing voice, I'll give him that. He really was one of the best of the teen idols of his time. I grew up with an LP of the music from this film; if I recall correctly it had April Love on side one and Tammy and the Bachelor on side two. So, the tunes are very much a part of my childhood and have a strong nostalgic draw for me. I'm looking forward to seeing the film again; it's been many, many years since I've viewed it.
 

John Hermes

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octobercountry said:
I'm looking forward to this! (Have ordered a copy, but it hasn't arrived yet.) It's a nice slice of 1950s nostalgia, with Pat Boone as the most clean-cut juvenile delinquent ever.


I'm not a fan of Boone's; the public statements he has made in his later years always put me in mind of a certain newspaper clipping:


oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg



But holy cow, in his prime he had a fantastic singing voice, I'll give him that. He really was one of the best of the teen idols of his time. I grew up with an LP of the music from this film; if I recall correctly it had April Love on side one and Tammy and the Bachelor on side two. So, the tunes are very much a part of my childhood and have a strong nostalgic draw for me. I'm looking forward to seeing the film again; it's been many, many years since I've viewed it.
Pat gets derided for his image and rock 'n' roll cover songs, but he did have an excellent pop ballad singing voice. He is a very friendly, obliging person in public too. I met him a couple times at the Andy Williams Open golf tournament here in San Diego and he couldn't have been nicer, joking with us and singing verses of "April Love" and "A Wonderful Time Up There".
 

Kyrsten Brad

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Once again, I have to wait. Haven't received a shipping notification yet (but all my 4th Anniv Sale items have shipped). Can't wait to check April Love out as a nice cuddle with the wife movie.
 

Drew Salzan

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Preordered this. A little disappointed that the image is under 4, especially at that price point. At any rate, I'm sure it is miles ahead of the horrendous DVD and pan and scan Fox cable broadcast version that's been out there.


I can't wait to hear the beautiful Alfred Newman score in 5.1 DTS-HD.


It probably belongs on another thread, but I still don't understand how Twilight Time can justify the prices they charge. I took advantage of the recent Screen Archives 4 year anniversary sale, but even with the 20% off, it's still way higher than it should be. And no free shipping. Just saying.
 

Rory*M

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I was expecting this transfer to have originated with a 4K scan of the original camera negatives, but it sounds as if Fox went with something less. I'll have to wait for more reviews and some screen captures, but if it's as flawed as it seems, I'll have to pass. This isn't exactly the best from a less-than-great era in Fox history anyway. Only a stellar transfer would make the $30 asking price worth it.
 

RolandL

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Does it have the highly directional dialog like other Fox CinemaScope films from the 1950's?
 

Thomas T

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Drew Salzan said:
It probably belongs on another thread, but I still don't understand how Twilight Time can justify the prices they charge. I took advantage of the recent Screen Archives 4 year anniversary sale, but even with the 20% off, it's still way higher than it should be. And no free shipping. Just saying.

Their prices are on a par with Criterion. They do have to pay licensing fees you know and they're not making money on older 40s and 50s titles and have to release junk like Christine, Fright Night and The Blob to pay for the good stuff.
 

octobercountry

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Drew Salzan said:
It probably belongs on another thread, but I still don't understand how Twilight Time can justify the prices they charge.

Yes, I don't want to get too far off-topic, but you have to keep a few things in mind regarding Twilight Time's pricing. For each $30 disc they sell, they pay $10 to the studio for licensing fees, and another $5 to actually have the disc physically produced. So, fully half the cost of each disc is tied up in expenses. This means that for every film which has a pressing of 3000 blu-ray discs, 1500 discs have to be sold before Twilight Time even begins to show a profit on the title. And some of these films take many years to sell that many copies.


Sad fact of the matter is, studios are losing interest in selling their films on physical media; the focus in the future is going to be on streaming video. And several of the studios have basically no interest at all in putting their older back-catalogue titles on blu-ray; they just don't want to be bothered. So that's where Twilight Time and some of the other small specialty distributors come in, and I personally am quite grateful to them. Because if we didn't have these small companies that were enthusiastic about old movies, none of these titles would be getting a release on blu-ray now.


I don't buy a large number of Twilight Time titles, but when I see a movie I'm interested in from this company I'm willing to bite the bullet and spend the money, because I know if it wasn't for them these films simply wouldn't be available in high definition. (My purchases from Twilight Time over the past year have included titles like Leave Her to Heaven, Picnic, and Bell Book and Candle. I'll also be ordering the upcoming The Best of Everything as well---love these old films!)
 

Robert Harris

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AnthonyClarke said:
I'm not really a fan of Austin Healey ... a slightly limited range really.

Give me Morgan any day .. or maybe Mr MG TD (sounds like a rapper's name!)

One might also go with a BRG MG-B GT
 

Kyrsten Brad

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John Hermes said:
Pat gets derided for his image and rock 'n' roll cover songs, but he did have an excellent pop ballad singing voice. He is a very friendly, obliging person in public too. I met him a couple times at the Andy Williams Open golf tournament here in San Diego and he couldn't have been nicer, joking with us and singing verses of "April Love" and "A Wonderful Time Up There".
His daughter (Debby) was, and still is quite the singer herself.
 

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