I love "At Long Last Love"! I really think the enmity displayed by critics at the time was most probably personal given Mr. Bogdonovich and Ms. Shepherd's public relationship. People wanted them to fail. I think the main problem people had with this film is that they didn't know how to categorize it. Not too long ago, I saw Mr. Bogdanovich speak at a preview of "The Cat's Meow" (another great evocative film) and asked him if we might ever see All on DVD, he said "probably not". This is a shame, because I think so many aspects of this film are brilliantly executed. I only hope, in time, that Mr. Bogdanovich will relent. While no film is perfect, it's a truism to state that many great films were panned when released but are seen as great today. As well, many great works of art have been reviled, only to be revered as masterpieces later on. At Long Last Love is one of them. The sets, costumes, cinematography, songs and story are wonderfully true to the period of the 30's (as Mr. Bogdanovich, an accomplished film historian would know) and I think Ms. Shepherd, Ms. Kahn, et al. were simply super given the difficulty of the tasks set before them. That they come across as breezily indolent as they do is a true testament to their acting chops. Consider they had to sing on cue, while swimming and meeting camera marks. A great experiment in Cinema Verite meets the Artifice of the Golden Age. Too bad it was so misunderstood. Then again, if you don't get it, you don't get it. Why some complain about Ms. Shepherds singing, I cannot understand. Ms. Shepherd's voice is better than many a modern singer. I hope we will someday see a full length version with all songs restored (like "Which", sung with aplomb by Ms. Shepherd) on DVD. Mr. Bogdanovich, please relent!! I think you would be very surprised at how many people would happily snap this up.
Review of At Long Last Love
