A Sweeter Song

Jim Henshaw wrote the script for A Sweeter Song and reworked it with Eastman,[8] whom he had met on the set of Lions for Breakfast, in which Henshaw co-starred with Eastman's girlfriend, Susan Petrie.[9] Henshaw recalled in 2008 that Eastman, who was bored, asked if Henshaw had anything to read, so Henshaw gave Eastman a script he had written:

At day's end, he wandered back, said he'd liked it and would I be amenable to him directing and Susan assuming the female lead. I said sure and that weekend we talked to "Lions" producer Tony Kramreither and mutual friend John Hunter about producing. They said sure and a year later "A Sweeter Song' was in the can.[9]

Eastman said in 1985 that A Sweeter Song "only got made because I wouldn't take no for an answer."[7] According to him, he was the sole producer at first, through the company he founded, Labyrinth, up to the point when Canadian Film Development Corporation funding had been secured, "at which point John Hunter became Line Producer" and Anthony Kramreither joined as Executive Producer (Burg Productions), "providing the private investment and contracting to handle the post-production business."[10] The film's budget was $125,000.[7][10] After an article that implied that Kramreither had creative input into the film was published in Cinema Canada,[8] Eastman wrote a letter to the editor disputing its accuracy:

Tony is my friend and a sweetheart but does have a tendency to take credit where it is not due... Tony had no creative involvement in the picture from start to finish and, indeed, only showed up on the set when we were shooting a nude scene (being basically a dirty young man)... I am very proud of A Sweeter Song, as my first feature, and I want people to know who did what.[10]

The film's working title was Double Exposure.[1] Shot in 16mm colour, principal photography for A Sweeter Song took place in Toronto from 6 September to 3 October 1975.[11]

Music for the film was composed and performed by David Jove. While no official soundtrack album was released, many of the film's songs are found on Jove's Sweeter Song vinyl LP (Pax Records, 1974).[12] Video artist Jon Noel Shelton remarks that the version of Isn't It Funny in the film is distinctly different from the one on the album.[13]

Kramreither signed a world sales and U.S. distribution deal on 30 April 1976 with Bob Hope's company Epoh: $250,000 for U.S. distribution with a $50,000 cash advance, not including TV sales.[15] His experiences had made him an ardent believer in the "back-door policy" to Canadian distribution and world sales: "first you sell it and open it in the States, then you make your Canadian distribution deal" because: "Any film which has opened in the US will do better on the marketplace afterwards."[15]

With the advent of the VCR, A Sweeter Song was released (as Snapshot) on VHS (VCI Video).[16]

The film, like most of the B series Kramreither executive produced, was a financial success.[17]

Stephen Chesley predicted that the A Sweeter Song's contemporary audience would react well to the film's theme of youth sexuality: "overall there is a freshness and likeability to the film", and credits the novice director for choosing "such a difficult genre" and "bringing most of it off."[3] Chesley praised both the cinematography, editing, and the principal cast of five actors for their strong, enthusiastic acting, singling out Susan Petrie:

Susan Petrie proves herself to be one of the best actresses in Canadian film with this role. Unlike her past typecasting as the frigid teenage tease, she finds things in this character that aren't in the script, and it's one of the few times we can see a contemporary young woman on the screen, especially considering the void that now exists in roles for women. She allows the script to overwhelm her at points too much relish in her dirty lines that are grafted onto the dialogue, and tossing away a term such as "meaningful relationship" by laughing at its wrenching commonness as she proclaims it in her character - but in her crucial moments she's completely believable, and carries her low comedy scenes with great timing.[3]

Chesley was less impressed with the "far from full" characters themselves, faulting the script's tendency toward self-indulgence, low comedy, and extraneous scenes, speculating that Henshaw and Eastman were "too far removed" from the "type" of individual they were portraying in the film to do so "with any credibility", but elsewhere, the satire "works exceptionally well", as with the Canada Manpower scenes: "Henshaw's character would get into such a situation and act in the situation in just the way he does, and at the same time the whole experience, to everyone who's been through it, is a highly effective comedic extension of the horror of the real thing."[3]

Natalie Edwards felt that Henshaw had not quite mastered comic timing and that it was "obvious" that this was Eastman's first film and that "sharper cutting might tighten up the film, which lags a little self-indulgently at the moment".[8] Despite this, "the film has a lot of attractive features, not the least of which is a bright performance by Susan Petrie."[8]

The Great Canadian Movie Guide describes the film as a wandering, counter-culture comedy that "starts out weakly," but "gets better, and more off-beat, as it goes along." It is a "likeable, product-of-its-time" with unabashed Canadianisms now "almost unheard of".[4]