It Started with a Kiss Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

It Started with a Kiss Blu-ray Movie Review

No Fun in the Sun.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 4, 2020

Half travelogue and half commercial for the Lincoln Futura, George Marshall's It Started With A Kiss aims to capture the lightweight, contagious magic of classic screwball comedies by way of its attractive leads and sunny Spanish backdrop. It mostly falls flat, but that doesn't mean there's no fun to be had here -- especially if you're just in it for the visuals. Glenn Ford (The Big Heat) and Debbie Reynolds (Singin' in the Rain) star as Sgt. Joe Fitzpatrick and his vivacious wife Maggie, recently married after a whirlwind one-day romance is sparked by one hell of a kiss. Soon enough, Joe's posted to Spain and Maggie's right behind him -- along with the surprise gift of said concept car, won in a raffle -- but both attract way more attention than he's ready to give. In more ways than one, it's all downhill from here.

As already implied, the biggest strengths in this film's corner are the visuals: if nothing else, It Started With A Kiss skates by on time capsule appeal, building a great atmosphere in and around Spain. Despite the challenges our main characters face, this sure looks like a fun and relaxing adventure. And it goes without saying that the custom-built Lincoln (later repurposed as the original 1966 Batmobile) is perhaps the film's best supporting character, carving out an immediate impression that becomes its own plot point as the Fitzpatricks cruise around all those scenic locales.

Sadly, that's a perfect representation of why It Started With A Kiss doesn't hold up very well: it's all style and no substance, with a threadbare script that doesn't give its leads much to do during the film's surprisingly bloated 104-minute running time. Momentum is routinely derailed along the way, from a time-wasting pregnancy mix-up to the third-act-dominating love triangle involving a suave bullfighter (Gustavo Rojo). While there are many moments when Ford and Reynolds' natural charisma shine though these roadblocks, they rarely spark enough collective on-screen chemistry to make the Fitzpatricks feel like a memorable on-screen couple. (Of course, the celibacy enforced by Maggie -- not to mention the Hays Code, still in effect for several years after the film's release -- doesn't help matters either.) For these reasons, It Started With A Kiss feels like a second-hand product of its time...but even if it'd been made a decade or two later, Joe and Maggie would just be driving a Maserati Boomerang while getting away with riskier jokes. No matter the era, there's just not enough meat to this film...even if it's awfully pretty to look at.

Luckily, Warner Archive Collection's new Blu-ray plays to It Started With A Kiss's most immediate strengths, serving up another top-tier 1080p transfer and a solid lossless audio track. The film's last appearance on home video was WAC's 2011 remastered DVD, which quite simply pales in comparison to what we get here. It's still only recommended to established fans, but they'll certainly enjoy the fresh and vibrant face-lift for this lightweight production.

It Started with a Kiss Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Not surprisingly, It Started With A Kiss earns yet another high-quality 1080p transfer from Warner Archive. Sourced from a recent 2K scan of the interpositive with additional manual cleanup, this extremely film-like image is loaded with great textures and a pleasing amount of grain. The color palette, which favors earth tones with splashes of more vivid hues, is true to its Metrocolor roots. Black levels run fairly deep with no obvious signs of crush, while only a handful of scenes -- whether optical push-ins or the occasional freeze frame -- yield anything less than a sharp and stable image. As usual, it's authored perfectly and maintains a high bitrate with no compression artifacts, banding, or other eyesores. All in all, just a wonderfully pure image that plays to the film's most obvious and immediate strengths.

It Started with a Kiss Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though less instantly impressive, this DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix maintains the film's mono roots with a clean and crisp presence. Dialogue is almost always understood, though select regional dialects might require the help of this Blu-ray's optional English subtitles. The original score by prolific composer Jeff Alexander (The Twilight Zone ), as well as the title song by Rudy Render and Charles Lederer (sung by Debbie Reynolds), employs a nice dynamic range from start to finish. No obvious defects, aside from one or two stray lines that sounded either badly-recorded or damaged, were heard along the way. Overall, a fine mix that feels a bit more robust than many films from its era.

As mentioned earlier, optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the film. Although these are once again poorly formatted in ALL CAPS, there are no sync issues and they fit snugly inside the 2.35:1 frame.

It Started with a Kiss Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

It Started With A Kiss arrives on Blu-ray in a keepcase with poster-themed artwork and no inserts. As usual, on-disc extras are extremely limited -- WAC released a featureless DVD back in 2011, so at least we get something.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:39) - This trailer, which captures the film's spirit reasonably well, is in rough but watchable shape and preserves the correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Watch it here.

It Started with a Kiss Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

George Marshall's lukewarm It Started With A Kiss is far from a career highlight for everyone involved...but its sunny atmosphere, lightweight tone, and time-capsule appeal still hold some value, even when the theadbare script struggles to maintain interest along the way. Warner Archive Collection's new Blu-ray offers a good amount of support, including a reliably solid A/V presentation that overshadows its meager bonus features. For obvious reasons, it's for established fans only...but if you're at all intrigued, this Blu-ray is easily the best way to experience the film.