Peter Bogdanovich's At Long Last Love, a romantic musical-comedy with songs by Cole Porter, has never been released on video or on DVD. I for one want to see the complete widescreen Director's Cut on DVD (in 5.1), and I know I'm not alone as the film has a devoted cult audience.
Doctor_Mabuse
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Ditto - come on whoever-owns-the-rights, do a little market research and release this.
shareUnderstand: On April 9, in conjunction with Fox, the Twilight Time "limited edition" label will release a Blu-ray of Peter Bogdanovitch's infamous 1975 flop AT LONG LAST LOVE, a "tribute" to '30s screwball comedies using Cole Porter songs sung live by Cybil Shepard, Burt Reynolds, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, and the rest of the cast. This release will be available
*exclusively* through Screen Archives"
I'm seeing April 29th now as the release date, and cover art for a blu ray. A couple of years ago it streamed on Netflix and I got to play it for my wife, who had never seen it. She enjoyed it thoroughly. Of course, being Burt Reynolds and Cybil Sheppard fans doesn't hurt in our being predisposed to like something they are a part of. LOL
shareAmen. Madeline Kahn died of ovarian cancer, what a loss of a great singing voice combined with a comedienne. She and Burt Reynolds were fantastic.
"He who swaps his liberty for the promise of 'security' deserves neither." Ben Franklin
"At Long Last Love" had a dynamite cast. Burt was at the top of his game, and Kahn was in the middle of her great series of films with Mel Brooks. Sheppard's introduction led to other good roles and her run on Moonlighting several years later. John Hillerman was an occasional TV guest star and character actor, but in a few years showed off his wonderful talent on Magnum PI. Eileen Brennan always stood out in her roles, and Duilio Del Prete was popular in Europe.
ALLL gets a bad rap in some quarters because musicals had lost their shine by the 70s. Most popular musicals of the late 50s and 60s were big budget events. ALLL paid tribute to the era in the 30s and 40s where musicals were about as common as westerns, and didn't have to be based on a major broadway hit to find an audience.
Im curious, I'd like to see this film!
shareI saw this film under optimum conditions (in its original run at Radio City Musc Hall) and it wasn't very good. Madeline Kahn's number "Find Me a Primitive Man" is up on You Tube at the moment. God knows how long it'll stay there.
shareI saw At Long Last Love several times in theaters on original release and loved and greatly admired it. Also enjoyed the soundtrack album. The critics were gunning for Peter Bogdanovich and Cybill Shepherd, and the film played to an unappreciative 1970's audience ignorant of the talkie era of musical films to which the film is intended as a humorous valentine. I regard it as one of the most underrated and maligned musical films since the early 1930's.
Other unpopular musicals (Song of Norway, A Little Night Music, Mame) have received video or DVD release, but not At Long Last Love or, for that matter, Ross Hunter's Lost Horizon, which, regardless of individual opinion, were major releases of their day. I wish for the choice to add these and other less-than-mainstream titles to my personal library.
I agree with you Doc. I also saw this in first run at Radio City Music Hall, and again at a local theater later when it played in general release in Florida. It isn't great art, but it is a fun romp, and it's hard to go wrong with Cole Porter music.
shareThanks for the props, vranger, and the straightforward comment on the film itself. Any Cole Porter musical is of value.
Doctor Mabuse, Evil Genius, King of Crime
Bogdanovich claimed that Fox is planning to release Long Last Love on dvd just recently in an interview. Apparently the new print that has been going around has been very well received, hence Fox's renewed interest in the film.
I certainly hope so. I'd love to see a good print of it. plus you know it's going to have a commentary, like most Bogdanovich films, and he is eminently listenable.
Doc and I have been hanging out in these threads for years hoping for a watchable release of this film. I hope you've got it right and that we will get a DVD/Blu Ray in the next year or so.
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My source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLOhLTB4QoU
^^The entire interview is worth listening to, it's one of the best with him i've seen of late. But he starts talking about A.L.L.L at roughly 22.00. He mentions the new print, and the dvd release.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to FINALLY get our hands on this GEM! I have a LP of the soundtrack, or I should say I HAD; played it so much finally wore it out. Please Oh Please let it be true that it will be released this year! It should be cause it is a true Tribute to Cole Porter and all the Movie Musicals of the 30's & 40's!
shareI too would love to see a complete Director's cut of this film. Have been going to try my own as I have two different versions off TV,but they are still not complete. How can this film be available at this site when it is not available in the stores? Obbiously a release not put out by the stuidos.
shareI've sent them an e-mail as a search on that site didn't display anything re this movie.
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You can buy it on dvd-r at rare movies world wide dot com.....thanks! Gary
shareNow you can get the REAL THING at Amazon.com. It's on pre-release order and shipping on June 4th.
People in these threads have been waiting a decade or more after the first posts! What an amazing win for all the fans who have chatted patiently here for so long!
We watched the Blu ray last night. It was not the most pristine transfer ever done, and the audio seems to be mono, but for fans of the movie, this is going to be as good as it ever will get.
The picture does look pretty good. There is some grain evident, especially on large white backgrounds, but everything else looks fine. There is no distortion in the sound.
I'd forgotten how entertaining it was having the actors do the songs "live" and act the songs. We chuckled and laughed throughout the film. What some of the actors may have lacked in pure singing quality, they more than made up for with pure performance.
This movie made me a Cybil Sheppard fan, and I was reminded why last night. Her costuming was designed to show off her great figure to best advantage. LOL
It looks like the running time of this version is five minutes longer than the theatrical release. I'm guessing that they added in an individual song. There were a couple of minor numbers that I didn't specifically recall, so it may be one of those. At 123 minutes, it is almost certainly longer than any cut ever syndicated.
We had a blast watching it, and I can unreservedly recommend it.