Father Came Too! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Father Came Too! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 6, 2020

Peter Graham Scott's "Father Came Too!" (1964) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Network Releasing. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and vintage promotional materials. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

A sleepy town in England’s heartland. Newlyweds Dexter (Stanley Baxter) and Julie Munro (Sally Smith) are facing a difficult dilemma: continue to live with Julie’s father, Sir Beverley Grant (James Robertson Justice), a snobbish semi-retired actor with a reputation, so that they can save enough money for their dream home, or immediately apply for a small loan and get a home. Option one makes more sense to them, but Dexter can no longer tolerate Sir Beverly’s house rules and ‘logical’ opinions. So, on a very rainy morning, Dexter enters the office of real estate agent Roddy Chipfield (Leslie Phillips) and he enthusiastically agrees to show him a very beautiful property where he and Julie can regain their independence and start a family. It is Rose Cottage, a piece of heaven on earth.

Despite Sir Beverly’s multiple warnings that the property isn’t as heavenly as described by Chipfield and needs some very serious work to function as a home, Dexter secures a loan from the local bank and then writes a check to the agent. However, almost immediately after he carries Julie over the threshold Rose Cottage begins to fall apart -- quite literally. Parts of the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling crumble and at one point it looks like the whole house is about to come thumbing down. Fortunately, Sir Beverly rings the bell, moves in, and soon after begins overseeing the restoration of Rose Cottage. Despite some positive developments, however, Dexter is quickly pushed on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown.

Father Came Too! was released just a couple of years after The Fast Lady and as far as this writer is concerned it is unquestionably a superior comedy. Baxter, Justice, and Phillips are once again engaged in a very spirited British battle of wits but this time the humor that emerges from it is far more colorful and effective. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Jack Davies and Henry Blyth’s screenplay produces several situations where these great actors quite simply get better opportunities to impress. Second, the interactions between the stars and the supporting cast are managed better as well. Director Peter Graham Scott allows greater freedom in the ways they engage each other and as a result the most memorable moments in the film feature different but equally brilliant improvisations. The quality of Tom Priestley’s editing work cannot be ignored either. Instead of looking like a collection of uneven episodes, the film maintains a natural flow that makes many of its hilarious mini-climaxes quite unpredictable. (Precisely the opposite is true in The Fast Lady where it is very easy to tell when and how each episode will end).

The mayhem inside and around Rose Cottage lacks the pure intensity of the big race from The Fast Lady, but the energy of the humor is actually much better. It is because the screenplay quickly removes the social filters and barriers that force the different characters to behave rationally and transforms them into ‘brilliant experts’ of anything and everything. After that, there is a predictably uncultured and fierce competition to prove that one of them is the voice of reason and it is only a matter of time before it becomes crystal clear that they are equally clueless. Needless to say, there is an avalanche of hilarious failures.

While it is very easy to praise the entire cast, Justice is unquestionably the heart and soul of the film. The big man delivers his lines in a genuinely brilliant fashion and then makes everyone else look terrific. An incredible performance, indeed.

*Father Came Too! has been exclusively restored in 2K from an original interpositive by Network Releasing.

Father Came Too! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Father Came Too! arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Network Releasing.

The release is sourced from an exclusive new 2K master that was reportedly struck from an interpositive. The master is quite nice, but it could have been a stunner. Why? Because after the raw files were transferred digital work was done to rebalance the visuals, and I think that it was entirely unnecessary. The good news is that even on a very large screen the effects of the rebalancing work are very difficult to recognize. The not-so-good news is that there are a few darker areas where the film's dynamic range very clearly suffers because of it (see screencapture #2). So, there are a few minor fluctuations that affect depth and clarity that could have been avoided. Delineation is still pretty good, especially during close-ups with an abundance of natural light (see screencapture #4). The color scheme is convincing, though as explained above in darker areas certain nuances could be more convincing. Image stability is excellent. There are no distracting large debris, cuts, stains, warped or torn frames to report in our review. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content). .

Father Came Too! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is excellent. It has very good clarity and depth for a film from the early '60s. Balance is excellent as well. The dialog is clean and stable. Dynamic intensity is predictably modest, but there are still good ranges of nuances, especially during the second half where all of the mayhem is.

Father Came Too! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - remastered original trailer for Father Came Too!. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Image Gallery - a small gallery with original promotional materials for Father Came Too!. (2 min).

• Leaflet - a small gallery with original promotional materials for Father Came Too!.

Father Came Too! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I wonder if Father Came Too! might have been an inspiration for The Money Pit because there are so many thematic similarities between the two films. The style of Father Came Too! is of course very different, but it is exactly what I hoped and wanted it to be. The big man, James Robertson Justice, is even better in it than he is in The Fast Lady, so keep this in mind if you have already seen the latter and had a good time with it. Network Releasing's release is sourced from a nice exclusive 2K master, but I once again have to mention that it could have been a visual stunner. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.