Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

For Love of Ivy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson October 21, 2022

Director Daniel Mann's (Butterfield 8) For Love of Ivy (1968) was a significant production for two reasons. First, it was the maiden feature for Manhatten-based Palomar Pictures International whose president, Edgar J. Scherick, was previously vice president in charge of pro­gramming at ABC-TV. (ABC Pictures International also was a backer of this picture.) Cinerama Productions Corp. (named after the widescreen process) became Palmoar's distribution arm. The second reason it was important is that Hollywood insiders considered it the industry's first black romance. Owners of the Criterion disc of In the Heat of the Night will know Aram Goudsouzian for the excellent interview he gave about Sidney Poitier and Jewison's Oscar winner. In his 2004 biography Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon, Goudsouzian wrote that Poitier spent three weeks of isolation in his study working on a nineteen-page outline called Ivy. According to Goudsouzian, future producer Martin Baum (The Wilby Conspiracy) took that treatment to three major studios, who rejected it on grounds that an all-black romance wouldn't be that enticing to audiences. In March 1967, Baum pitched it to Palomar, which took a chance on it. The production company hired Robert Alan Aurthur (Grand Prix) to pen the screenplay, which he re-titled For Love of Ivy. In his 1980 book, This Life, Poitier recalled that the big-city love story "was made from my own original idea" (p. 295).

For nine years, Ivy Moore (Abbey Lincoln; Nothing but a Man) has worked as a maid for the Austin family in a well-kept house off Long Island. She's reached an age where she wants to assert her independence so she tells Doris Austin (Nan Martin) and Frank Austin (Caroll O'Connor) that she intends to leave them and head to New York City for secretarial school. Mr. and Mrs. Austin love Ivy and would like to keep her anyway they can. While the feeling mutual, Ivy wants to get on her own. Motorcycle-riding hippie Tim Austin (Beau Bridges) and his sister Gena (Lauri Peters), who manages a family-owned clothing bou­tique, hatch a scheme to keep Ivy in their living quarters. Tim contacts Jack Parks (Sidney Poitier), a business associate and friend of the Austin's. Jack runs Partal Trucking Co. with Billy Talbot (Leon Bibb) in the day. In the evening, they operate it as a casino on wheels. Tim essentially blackmails Jack into becoming a suitor for Ivy. Since neither Jack nor Ivy intend to get married, Tim and his sister consider it an effective way to keep their favorite domestic at home. Jack and Ivy are friendly with each other but the first meeting doesn't result in romantic interest. "He's not my type," Ivy tells the Austin siblings. Gradually, though, the two grow to like each other more and more.

There's great acting by Poitier when Beau Bridges's character leads him down the hall en route to meeting Ivy in the family room. Poitier's body language conveys that he's doing this as a favor for friends but isn't all that eager to meet this mystery woman. The chemistry between Poitier and Abbey Lincoln is alright but not special. The movie does an admirable job of breaking down stereotypes of the black housemaid as obsequious servant. Lincoln gives a sassy side to Ivy that reifies the independence and womanhood she wants to achieve. The G-rated For Love of Ivy doesn't take a lot of risks, though. Even for 1968, it's a familiar rom com that suffers from too many artificial contrivances.

For Love of Ivy was generally well-received by critics, who share some of the same plaudits and criticisms about the picture that I have. Coincidentally (but not surprisingly), the film was greeted favorably where it was filmed. Vincent Canby of the New York Times described it as "...a cannily con­structed Hollywood movie with something for everyone, except, possibly, a person who does not feel that all the potentialities of the cinema art were realized in the comedies of the 1940s....For the student of cinema sociology, it marks the final step in the metamorphosis of Sidney Poitier from a fine character actor into a Hollywood superstar, with all of the mythic cool and sexual prerogatives of a Clark Gable. With so many things going against it, it’s a De Mille-sized miracle that For Love of Ivy is so entertaining and, on occasion, af­fecting." In his 1978 book on Poitier's films, author Alvin H. Marill wrote of the male star in For Love of Ivy: "His portrayal of a gambler and bon vivant represented his first effort to alter the Poitier image the screen had come to know—in some cases, too well. His aim was to offer the alternative view to the image of the black man on the screen, and to create a love story to be symbolic of Negro women in America, that most could identify with" (p. 35). In her three-out-of-four-star review Wanda Hale of the Daily (NY) News reserved particular praise for a supporting player: "All big stars should look out for Beau Bridges, the most relaxed young actor I’ve seen in years. He tosses off his lines as if they were extemporaneous. Beau’s portrayal of the conniving hippie is just marvelous." Kathleen Carroll, Hale's colleague at the same paper, headlined her piece with "A Breakthrough for Poitier." The Kansas City Star's Dennis Stack singled out its sociocultural significance: "For Love of Ivy is more than a charming movie. It accomplishes—with no preaching—what civil rights speakers, ministers, editorial­ists and others have tried to do: Convince us that Negroes are human beings no different in any important way than white people. Perhaps this is something no medium other than film could accomplish so well." Others thought it was a black version of the Doris Day and Rock Hudson comedies. Ben Kern of the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune considered it a throwback to Hollywood of the '30s and 40s with Poitier filling the shoes of James Cagney and Lincoln those of Constance "Connie" Bennett. He wrote: "...you’ve just about got it—a triumph of translation. Miss Lincoln does a beauti­ful job as Ivy, the maid, and it is her picture more than anyone else’s."

For Love of Ivy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber Studio Classics' standard edition of For Love of Ivy comes on an MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25. Daniel Mann's sixteenth feature appears in its presumed original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Anchor Bay's 1999 DVD was DS-SL with a non-anamorphic 1.85:1 on one side and full frame on the other. In 2004, MGM apparently issued the same letterboxed transfer on its DVD-5. Kino's 2K transfer is a big improvement over those two as well as the MRA Entertainment DVD released in Australia. It boasts a wonderful saturation of colors. It mostly looks sharp and clean but damage marks show up on occasion. For example, see the small scratch between Bridges and Poitier in Screenshot #20. In addition, see the scratch over Lincoln in the frame grab following that one and the scratch in the upper-right corner in the last screen capture. My video score is 4.25/5.00. Kino has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 24450 kbps.

Kino has provided eight scene selections for the 101-minute film.

For Love of Ivy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kino has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1558 kbps, 16-bit). The mix is clean with no audible hiss. Delivery is solid with clearly spoken words. Poitier's friend Quincy Jones composed a breezy jazz that nicely accompanies the movie's comical moments and romance.

Optional English SDH are available to select on the menu and via remote.

For Love of Ivy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Trailers - trailers for two other Poitier films in Kino's catalog: They Call Me Mister Tibbs! and The Organization.

. Oddly, there's no For Love of Ivy trailer.

For Love of Ivy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The black romance in For Love of Ivy was something of a milestone when it came out in 1968 but it looks a bit pedestrian today. I'd regard the picture as a relatively minor work in Poitier's long career. It would be a great occasion to revisit it in the wake of Apple+'s recent documentary, Sidney. Kino's image displays excellent colors with the only drawbacks being some scratches and minor blemishes on the transfer. Sadly, there are no extras. It's too bad Kino couldn't have interviewed Poitier before his recent death as well as the still-going Beau Bridges. RECOMMENDED to the fans of Poitier and Bridges, who should add it to their collections at a price tag of around $15 or less.