Civil Love

This is a very sweet, wholesome movie with a great happy ending. The acting was a little bit robotic, but overall well worth the time to see how everything works out. James Welch Henderson Arkansas 6/5/21.

As soon as I started watching this movie,instantly I recognized the plot. This is a christian,PG version of a tv classic movie "The Outsider" 2002.... Without the sex scenes and with two kids instead of one.

I don't agree with other reviews,it was good enough,nothing stellar but good enough for tv.

I agree that the discrepancies un the wardrope was terrible,they shouldve consult some books on the era they were going to recreate. Same with the buildings been so new,unrealistic.

The male lead acting was good and he is handsome. The female lead was good for what it is,not terrible in my opinion.

Civil Love probably is a bad title for this story about a Union widow and a Confederate prisoner on the run. In those days it might indicate living together without benefit of clergy and in those days people did marry in the church for the most part.

Elise Groves whose husband was killed in the war is doing her level best to keep the family farm running and raising her daughter and son. One day Paul Hunt comes into their lives and he's wounded and running from a pair of bounty hunters who say they are US Marshals.

At first reluctant to take in one of the enemy Hunt does prove useful around the place and the inevitable happens. There's also Marshal Bellows around for a rival and he's both the brother of Groves late husband and the local sheriff. He has some feelings himself for Groves and that kind of interferes with his judgment.

The film was shot on a dental floss budget, but the acting is decent enough from a bunch of players you never heard of. The rural area is suggestive of 19th century America.

We never know exactly where this takes place. Hunt mentions escaping from a northern prison in New York. That would be Elmira which was a Union prison. Conditions there were little better than the infamous Andersonville and Libby Prisons in the South. That fact does kind of ground the film historically so to speak.

Civil Love despite its title is a decent enough film for family viewing.

I found this by searching for Jeannette Oaks movies. Hallmark did such a good job with the Love Comes Softly series, but you are right this one's a dud. I gave it a good 16 minutes, though. Couldn't take a second more.

Simply everything about this film is terrible. The acting, the directing, the camerawork - even the sets and costumes are terrible. The costumes are bizarrely perfect and clean. The roads are flat. The makeup is clearly modern with a shocking lack of the kinds of dirty hair and faces, rough hands, and dirty fingernails you would expect to see in those people.Even the buildings are astoundingly pristine with fresh-cut wood, perfectly square walls, doorways, etc., fresh paint - with VERY few exceptions. Even the tack and saddle blankets for the horses are nice and new - perfect.

Life was rough at that time/place and almost NOTHING was clean and pristine. I understand not blacking and staining teeth for authenticity. In modern times, that would distract us and look ridiculous. But the perfect and spotless costumes? And EVERYONE having very clean hair in the winter in those days? Do the filmmakers have ANY clue how much work it was to bathe in those conditions? C'mon!

As for the acting, what can I say? It's... it's ghastly. The actors' lines are recited like they are being read by the actors for the second time. Ever. The acting is absolutely terrible and it's painful to watch. I really wanted to like this. I watched it with my 87 y.o. dad, and even HE had these observations. "Don't these filmmakers know the people were dirty, the clothes were worn and stained, and the roads were full of ruts and holes? He's 98 and he observed that. Astounding.

The story was weak, but I'll say this - it was the least terrible thing about this absolutely ghastly film.

The film is awful, awful, awful. Watch that paint dry. Or count the loops in your carpet. Either one would be much more rewarding.