I was fortunate enough to purchase one of the special edition Blu Ray versions of April Love and I could not have been happier after watching this wonderfully pleasing film with its rich color, musical renditions by crooner Pat Boone and accompanied by a very young Shirley Jones.

I wish the current film producers would take a chance on bringing back some of the story lines from the 1950's films that carry such a simple enough plot and rely on well trained actors/singers/directors and cinematographers to bring their stories to life as does April Love. This is a charming film starring Pat Boone as a somewhat troubled young man named Nick Conover, who by court order has agreed to move from his hometown big city of Chicago to temporarily live with his mother's sister, his Aunt Henrietta Bruce (Jeanette Nolan) and his Uncle Jed Bruce (Arthur O'Connell) on their somewhat run down Kentucky horse farm. Both the Judge and Nick's mother felt he had too many bad influences around Chicago and a stay on his Uncle and Aunt's Kentucky horse farm may settle him down from getting into any more serious trouble with the law.

Uncle Jed and Aunt Henrietta have recently suffered a great loss of life of their own son in the war so their nephew's unexpected stay is met with mixed emotions. Uncle Jed lays down the law with his nephew Nick that his assigned chores have to be done first before any free time is spared. Nick is initially sombre about his surroundings until he spots a run down tractor and a run down car that he could tinker with to see if he could get them running. There is also one (1) ornery horse that Uncle Ned and Aunt Henrietta have out in the pasture that they just did not have the heart to get rid of. Little did they know that their nephew Nick has a natural talent to not only fix broken down machinery but as well race their trotter back on the Kentucky Fair track that brings back a lot of happy memories for Uncle Ned and Aunt Henrietta that had disappeared more recently with the tragic loss of their son.

Ahhhhh, what a wonderful way to pass an afternoon watching this classic film. I really enjoyed this 62 year old film. It is a classic that should be playing more often on television re-runs for fans of musicals, dramas as well as horse racing enthusiasts.

I give it a 9 out of 10 rating.

Changes sometimes happen in the places where you least expect them to, and for Chicago city slicker Pat Boone, it's in the country. This musical remake of "Home in Indiana" has him going to spend his probation with aunt and uncle Jeanette Nolan and Arthur O'Connell, basically turning their drab life into excitement and bringing romance to tomboy neighbor Shirley Jones who may have a wealthy for zoning father, but she's as down to earth as they come.

Then there's her sister, Dolores Michaels, the the sophisticated glamor girl who sets her sights on Boone herself but is only looking for some quick thrills. When Boone is able to tame a two year old horse that won't let any human near it, he ends up riding it at a horse race at the state fair, but his parole issues come back to haunt him. O'Connell, previously cynical about his wife's nephew, now sets out to protect him, having been amazed by the things he's done since arriving.

A decent musical score aides this into be coming a lot better than what I expected, and Boone and Jones have very good chemistry. It's been updated to have Nolan and O'Connell as the parents of a young man who was killed in the Korean War so that gives a reason for O'Connell's bitterness. It's colorful and funny, touching and profound, and a great cast takes an old fashioned story and gives it some modern reality. The combination of traditional musical comedy songs mixed with Boone's crooning style popular at the time insured screen success for him (which included a big budget remake of "State Fair"), and this is a nice follow-up from Jones' two big Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical versions of stage hits.

Troublemaking kid from Chicago, sent to his aunt and uncle's stud farm for rehabilitation, becomes involved with two neighboring sisters, one of whom is an accomplished horse-trotter. Flowery 20th Century-Fox remake of their 1944 family film "Home In Indiana," based on George Agnew Chamberlain's novel "The Phantom Filly," is bucolic and pleasant, with a scenario that comes equipped with Sammy Fain songs designed to showcase the singing stars, Pat Boone and Shirley Jones. Any signs of sexual chemistry between the two have been thoroughly scoured--the previous version was actually friskier and not so chaste--however, there's nothing truly embarrassing here save for Jones taking a shower while holding her high note. Boone may have been too old already to be convincing as a teenage hooligan, but his low-keyed personality (with angst bubbling just under the surface) gives the actor some unexpected substance. Boone's scratchy relationship with uncle Arthur O'Connell is bitter-tinged, while Jones' frustration being treated as a pal, "a good sport," is also interesting. The picture looks good in widescreen and has several fine scenes, including Boone singing the Oscar-nominated title tune at a community dance for the prize of 15 dollars. **1/2 from ****