1956’s Friendly Persuasion comes with the tagline “It Will Pleasure You In a Hundred Ways!” Combine that with its title and one would expect some kind of porn movie, not a tale of family and conflict set during the Civil War.

Set in Indiana circa 1862. We meet the Birdwell family: Jess (Gary Cooper), wife Eliza (Dorothy McGuire) and kids Joshua (Anthony Perkins), Mattie (Phyllis Love) and Little Jess (Richard Eyer).

As Quakers, they remain pacifists. However, when Confederate troops cause trouble in their area, Jess and the rest find their resolve tested.

Persuasion filmmaker William Wyler enjoyed a terrific 1950s, with Best Director nominations for four of his seven movies. Three of those flicks also earned Best Picture nods as well, with a win for 1959’s Ben-Hur.

Persuasion became one of those double honorees, with four additional nominations as well. It took home zero trophies, but it still received ample praise.

I don’t know if Persuasion really deserved all that Oscar love, mainly because it mostly offers a fairly frothy little confection. Despite the drama my synopsis implies, the flick spends surprisingly little time preoccupied with the impact of the Civil War.

Oh, we get hints and allusions. However, the Birdwells don’t confront the impending Confederate presence until about 96 minutes into the film.

For the movie’s first two acts, we essentially get a long look at the Birdwells, with an emphasis on the nature of the Quaker society. Persuasion can feel like a precursor to 1985’s Witness, as the latter devoted large chunks of time to an exploration of Amish life.

In both films, we see the tension between those who prefer to live a particular way and the more modern world. However, Witness used that concept to advance the plot, whereas with Persuasion, we get a film largely devoid of a formal narrative.

Yes, it pursues some themes, and it builds to the aforementioned issues when the Confederates finally arrive. Nonetheless, most of the movie just follow the Birdwells through their various antics and shenanigans.

Although this can make Persuasion feel aimless, it entertains too much for me to really mind. And I get the basic purpose: to paint the Birdwells as people before the Confederates formally threaten them.

I think Persuasion could’ve balanced those sides better than it does, mainly because we spend so much time with all that “Getting to Know the Birdwells” content. Again, much of this seems enjoyable, but I also feel the film takes too long to get to the real conflict.

Still, Persuasion keeps us with it despite its lack of plot, and a good cast helps. I admit I never loved Cooper as an actor, mainly because his lack of range restricts his usefulness beyond particular roles.

Though Jess doesn’t force Cooper to expand his horizons much, he proves unusually nimble and charming here. Don’t expect him to actually resemble a fully-dimensional human being, but Cooper nonetheless offers a better than average performance that helps ground the film.

All of this leaves Persuasion as less substantial than I might prefer, but it still connects. A mix of comedy and drama, the movie keeps us with it.

Friendly Persuasion appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. We got a generally good presentation, though the source showed some kinks.

Primarily sharpness became inconsistent. Large chunks of the movie displayed appealing delineation, but more than a few oddly soft shots materialized as well.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and the image lacked print flaws.

Persuasion tended toward a fairly natural palette, one whose stock appeared to have faded a little over the decades. Still, hues largely came across with reasonable fidelity.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, while low-light shots came across as clear and smooth. Given the nature of the source, this image worked pretty well.

We got a perfectly adequate DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack for Persuasion. Like most films of the era, speech sounded somewhat metallic, but the lines always remained easily intelligible, and they lacked notable edginess.

Effects were also thin and without much range, but they seemed fairly concise and didn’t suffer from significant distortion. The score fit in with the rest of the audio, as the music felt reasonably lively. This turned into a more than acceptable mix for a 68-year-old movie.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get a segment from a 1955 NBC TV documentary series called Wide Wide World. It spans 10 minutes, 22 seconds and comes hosted by Dave Garroway.

We get a visit to the Persuasion set along with movie clips. This becomes a contrived look behind the scenes, as it seems clear the participants act for the TV cameras.

Still, we get a few solid looks at the shoot. Given how infrequently we find clips like this, I’ll take it.

Despite some awkward tone shifts, Friendly Persuasion usually becomes a pretty charming look at Quaker life during the Civil War. While it never becomes a particularly deep flick, it entertains. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio as well as minor supplements. Don’t expect an all-time classic and you’ll enjoy this tale.