The Love God? (1969)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Released by: Universal
Rating: PG-13
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes
My Advice: Rent it...but only if you really love Don Knotts

Abner Peacock (Knotts) was just a simple small-town magazine publisher until his magazine hit on hard times. Enter Osborne Tremain (O'Brien), a gentleman's magazine publishing who has been ordered to cease and desist from publishing his smut. He comes in and takes over Peacock's little birdwatching magazine and turns it into yet another magazine of smut. So, Peacock is instantly transformed into a international playboy with a magazine worth millions. However, all the time that he is being led around the world as the publishing magnate, he only wants to get back home to his small town and the girl next door, Rose Ellen (Maggie Peterson), but getting out may be a lot harder than getting in.

Well, this is just a silly little movie. Knotts is capable of much more than this script allows him to be. You'd think that putting him in situation after situation where he is around lots of beatiful women would make for some very funny moments, but they really didn't take it as far as they could have. I'm sure that one of the big problems with this movie is that it tried to satire the pornography industry all the while trying to hang on to Knotts' crystal clear reputation of pruducing good wholesome movies for the whole family. And, in case you didn't know, Maggie Peterson was Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies. She plays the same type of character that she did on that show, but with a little more of the prude, preacher's daughter thrown into the mix. All in all, it boils down to a slight little story about a man realizing that there's more to life than a lot of loose women and money.

And, the DVD is a disappointment. Let me start out by saying that Knotts is not going to be with us forever. It would therefore make perfect sense to get him into the studio to record as many audio commentary tracks for the "Don Knotts Comedy Classics DVD Collection" as possible, wouldn't you say? Let's hope that they tried and just couldn't swing an agreement. Still, there are no special features of any kind. I'm sure that someone could have looked around and found something vintage that could have been thrown on to the DVD, even if was just the trailer. Instead, we get nothing. At the very least, we should be grateful, I guess, that they gave us the movie in widescreen format.

So, if you are a true fan of late-60s comedies or a fan of Don Knotts, you will want to rent this one. I can't think of anyone who would want to buy it, however.