Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

So This Is Love? Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 16, 2024

One of the first high-definition debuts you'll discover in the Frank Capra at Columbia Collection is So This Is Love?, which tells the story of a weak dress-maker who secretly trains to be a boxer to beef up his image and settle matters with a bully. The Blu-ray features a solid AV presentation and a supplemental package that includes a film historian audio commentary.

Hilda Jensen (Shirley Mason) can't get enough of pugilist "Spike" Mullins (Johnnie Walker), on whom she has a crush. But Spike is as much in love with himself as he is with roast chicken and other favorite foods. He's also cruel to anyone who stands up to him. To sell tickets to the Boxer's Ball, Spike and his friends smash the windows of any shop owner who doesn't pony up for tickets. Enter Jerry McGuire (William Collier Jr), a dress-maker for Maison Katz (William H. Strauss), who buys two tickets and asks Hilda to accompany him to the ball. Spike tries to snatch her, though, causing Jerry to try to defend her honor, to which Spike responds by beating the living tar out of poor Jerry. After he heals up, his neighbor "Flash" Tracy (Ernie Adams) molds the desperate Jerry into a rough-and-tough fighter who aims to take on what will certainly be a surprised Spike in a boxing match. But Hilda isn't done with Spike. No, she doesn't love him by any means. She loves Jerry. But she has one more trick up her sleeve to help her true beau...

While So This Is Love? is melodrama, pure and simple, I actually fell head over heels for it. It's a delightful little story, with likeable characters and a laughably clearcut villain, sure. But watching Jerry battle his way into Hilda's heart and Spike's cranium, and all with the power of nothing more than will and way, was cinema at its most minimalistic and entertaining. There's not a lot of depth to be mined beyond that, but it has a great twist that gives Hilda far more autonomy than other films of the era, and had me grinning from ear to ear as the wimpy guy that could becomes the tough boxer that definitely will. It was also nice to see Capra skip the usual love triangle game -- well, sort of -- and offer a happy ending that will leave anyone with patience and affection for silent films cheering. Come to think of it, So This Is Love? could just as easily be a Popeye cartoon, with legitimate hard work and training inserted in place of spinach. Quaint but quality stuff, Capra flexes his muscles early in his Columbia career and proves he's one to watch.

So This Is Love? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray release of So This Is Love? is probably one of, if not the weakest video presentation in the Frank Capra at Columbia Collection, but that doesn't mean it's bad by any means. Average, perhaps, but for a film that hails from ninety-five years ago, it actually fares quite well; the only issue being print wear, which appears as vertical lines at various points throughout the movie. Fortunately, they're rather faint and par for the silent film course, and could only be eliminated with a higher dollar restoration. Necessary? No. Ideal? Absolutely. Ah well. Black levels, contrast, midtones, and delineation are all on point. Detail is what you would expect from the era: soft but, here, refined as much as it can be. And I didn't catch sight of any serious encoding issues like banding or blocking.

So This Is Love? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's not much to really say beyond So This Is Love? sounds great. A silent film comprised entirely of music doesn't have much of a challenge to overcome, and Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio mono mix certainly handles everything that comes its way with ease. There's a bit of thinness to the instrumentation that traces back to the elements' age, but other than that, there's nothing to really complain about.

So This Is Love? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

So This Is Love includes an audio commentary with film historians Stan Taffel and Bryan Cooper, which was recorded in conjunction with the pair's commentary for The Way of the Strong.

So This Is Love? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

So This Is Love? is as simple and straight-forward as they come, but I fell head over heels for it. Sony's Blu-ray edition struggles with print wear but still offers a solid video presentation, a strong DTS-HD Master Audio track, and an audio commentary with two film historians. Not too shabby!