Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As wonderful as Venice at sunset when the bells toll..., February 5, 2003
This has to be one of the most under-appreciated movies of all time. George Roy Hill had directed two of the best comedies of the late 60s-early 70s, Butch Cassidy... and The Sting. Then he made this gem...
Two lonely teenagers in Paris, a street-wise French boy and a sheltered American girl, both of whom are hiding their genius IQs in order to fit in, fall in love and realize how lucky they are to have found each other. With help from a romantic old con artist (Lawrence Olivier at his best; he should have done more comedy), they run away to Venice to make their love last forever. They have a wonderful adventure, and along the way, Hill pokes fun at American tourists, pays tongue-in-cheek homage to his own great movies, and shows us how beautiful life can be when you're different.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Endearing tale of young love... Excellent DVD, June 13, 2005
This endearing tale of young love will bring smiles and tears to both young and old alike. It features two bright, innocent 13 year olds, an American girl and a French boy who fall in love. When her mother disapproves, the pair run off with the aid of an elderly gentleman who take them across Europe for their romantic tryst under the Bridge of Sighs in the ancient city of Venice. Along the way we get to take in the sights of Paris and Verona before finally ending in the magnificient Piazza San Marco and on the gondolas plying the canals of the old city. It features a very young Diane Lane in her screen debut at age 13 and the venerable Lord Laurence Olivier who famously hailed his young costar as "the next Grace Kelly".
The lovely score by George Delerue won an Academy Award but much of the most memorable music within the movie is actually by Antonio Vivaldi. The loveliest piece, titled "Love's Not Like That", which is used throughout the movie to accompany the young lovers is actually the Largo from Vivaldi's Lute Concerto in D, RV 93.
This 2005 release is the same DVD released in January 2003. The film has been beautifully transferred in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (anamorphic), not 1.85:1 as stated at Amazon's website. Although there are occasional nicks on the print as befits its vintage (1979), it is a generally good and clean transfer with bright, natural colors and crisp images. Sound is a very basic 2.0 mono which although perfectly serviceable does not do true justice to the nuances of the lovely baroque music. Extras are pretty limited. There is an enagaging 7 minute look-back by Diane Lane on the making of the film and her reminiscences of her costars, especially of Lord Larry. There is a single theatrical trailer for the movie (also anamorphic). The rest of the extras consists of Production Notes, awards garnered and a Poster gallery. Even without any extras, the main feature alone is worth the price of the DVD, an unjustly neglected little masterpiece.
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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful gem of a movie, December 6, 2003
I was sorry to have missed this when it came out (in 1979 when I was 18), then forgot about it for many years. The other day I saw a picture of Diane Lane, and remembered this movie, and decided it would be a good family film that my wife and 2 oldest kids (girl 12, boy 15) would enjoy.It was indeed. I don't have much to add to the glowing reviews others have already given it here; I'll just note that 1) There are so many subtle grace notes that repeated viewings will be well repaid
2) It is not suitable for 10 and under, due to sexual references
3) I wish even more now that I'd seen "A Little Romance" when it came out, its existence in my memory would have enriched my life for the past 24 years What really makes the movie a classic is bullseye performers by ALL the actors. The hardest kind of character for an actor to play is an extremely intelligent one, only very intelligent actors can do it, and the two leads are up to it. (Too bad the scriptwriter uses the word "etymological" once when he means "ontological", it is the kind of mistake Lauren would never have made, but this is the tiniest possible blemish, and no movie this rich can avoid having a handful of forgivable glitches).
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