To paraphrase a popular expression, I was a few weeks ago old when I learned a 1963 film version of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father existed. I recall the late 1960s/early 1970s Bill Bixby TV show from my childhood, but not until recently did I realize the property enjoyed an earlier cinematic incarnation.

Itself based on Mark Toby’s 1961 novel, we meet young Eddie Corbett (Ronny Howard). Eddie’s mother Helen recently passed away so he lives in Manhattan just with his dad Tom (Glenn Ford) and new housekeeper Mrs. Livingston (Roberta Sherwood).

A busy radio executive, Tom seems to lack time to date, but Eddie wants a stepmother so he takes matters into his own hands. This leads Tom on a series of romantic escapades engineered by his son.

Perhaps Courtship made sense in the context of 1963. However, 60 years later, it feels like an odd piece of work.

I don’t mean that due to its variety of anachronistic attitudes and concepts. I don’t judge the film because it represents a slice of its culture.

Instead, I can’t get over the fact that Eddie’s mom is barely in the ground and yet everyone expects Tom to land a new woman virtually immediately. Were folks in the early 60s so obsessed with the nuclear family that they insisted on remarried parents before the corpse gets cold?

Maybe, but I doubt it – at least to this extreme - and it just feels weird. Courtship can’t connote these attitudes well, so it simply seems bizarre that poor Tom gets no time to mourn before his friends and colleagues all push him to “move on”. >P? Perhaps this wouldn’t grate on me if I found a more engaging experience from Courtship. Unfortunately, the movie generates an awkward mix of light comedy, romance and drama.

Or melodrama most of the time, as Courtship veers toward the mawkish side of the street. When it leans in this direction, it avoids sincere emotions and favors broad, over the top material.

Essentially a light rom-com at heart, these scenes tend to come out of nowhere and form an awkward fit. The dramatic sequences don’t blend with the rest of the film and seem like forced attempts at seriousness.

If the comedy worked, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, these elements also fail to connect.

Courtship essentially follows an episodic nature, as we go through the various escapades. Too many of these fail to really link to the overall story, such as odd and pointless detours with Dollye Daly (Stella Stevens) and disc jockey Norman Jones (Jerry Van Dyke).

There seems to be no logical reason Courtship runs nearly two hours, as it fails to find useful content to fill that span. This means we end up with extraneous scenes such as the Dollye/Norman moments that just pad the movie without real purpose.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the movie never leaves any question which woman Tom will choose. No spoilers, of course, but the film comes with an obvious candidate, so this leaves the tale without any suspense.

Courtship hopes to entertain us with all the episodes I mentioned, but these fail to zing. An odd mix of glib comedy and overwrought melodrama, the movie feels tedious.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer consistently looked pretty positive.

Sharpness became one of the more satisfying aspects of the picture. A smidgen of softness crept into a few wide shots, but these were minor. The movie usually looked tight and concise.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge haloes were absent. Outside of the brief segment already mentioned, grain felt natural, and the image lacked print flaws.

Colors worked fine. The film opted for a mild blue feel, but other hues materialized as well, and these tones came across as well-rendered.

Blacks appeared dark and tight, while shadows showed good clarity. The movie came with a nice visual presentation.

As for the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Courtship, it worked just fine given its age and ambitions. Speech consistently appeared intelligible enough, even with some age-related reediness.

Music lacked much heft, but the score and songs were acceptably lively and full. Effects also showed decent clarity.

Those elements didn’t pack much of a punch, but they were fairly accurate and tight. No issues with source noise occurred, so I thought the audio was good enough for a “B-“.

The disc includes an audio commentary with actors Shirley Jones, Dina Merrill and Stella Stevens. Taped for the movie's DVD release, the track combines two separate running, screen-specific commentaries. Jones conducted one on her own, while Stevens and Merrill sat together for the other.

The track looks at cast and performances, sets and costumes, working with director Vincente Minnelli, and related domains. I admit I didn't expect much from this commentary, as "nostalgic actor chats" usually seem long on sentiment and short on insights.

Happily, the three participants offer a good collection of notes about their experiences. Yes, some of the usual "remember when?" emerges, and we get a bit more dead air than I'd like, but this nonetheless becomes an engaging and informative discussion.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find a 1963 Tom and Jerry cartoon called Penthouse Mouse. Jerry connives to butt in on Tom’s fancy lifestyle in this moderately amusing short.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father starts with an awkward premise and never finds a groove. It offers an uncomfortable mix of comedy and drama that fails to connect. The Blu-ray comes with strong picture, appropriate audio and a few bonus materials. This turns into a surprisingly clumsy movie.