As Jean-Baptiste Thoret, the French director, historian and film critic, points out in one of the many extras, the title One Potato, Two Potato doesn’t really do justice to the film.

Owing to its controversial subject matter, One Potato, Two Potato initially struggled to find distribution upon completion but was picked up only once. Barbara Barrie (she would go on to have a long career in television, her many shows included Barney Miller in the 70s and Breaking Away in the 80s) won the Best Actress Award at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. 

Little seen since its initial release in 1964, One Potato, Two Potato is a gripping account of racial prejudice in 1960s America that, if it had a better-known cast of actors, would probably be mentioned in the same context as the likes of the 1967 classics Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of The Night, both of which starred Sidney Poitier and dealt with racial prejudice in 1960s America.

One Potato, Two Potato is directed by Larry Peerce (Pearce would later direct a number of classic 60s American TV shows, including Batman, Wild Wild West and The Green Hornet) and stars Barbara Berrie, Bernie Hamilton (Hamilton would go on to play Capt. Harold Dobey in Starsky and Hutch), and in his first film role, Richard Mulligan (he would later go on to star in the classic 70s TV series Soap).

One Potato, Two Potato centers on an interracial romance between Julie Cullen, a white single divorced parent and her black co-worker Frank Richards (Barbara Berrie and Bernie Hamilton). Despite their relationship being strained by the racial prejudices of many around them, including Frank's parents, William and Martha, the couple decide to marry.

Once married and living happily with a new baby, Julies previous husband (Mulligan) turns up looking to seek sole custody of their daughter, his argument being that a mixed relationship is not a fit place for his white daughter to be brought up in.

As is always the way with all of the films in the Studiocanal Vintage Classic series the newly restored print looks pristine. The disc also includes a number of extras most notably amongst them being an interview with director Larry Peerce and Barbara Berrie.

One Potato, Two Potato is an undiscovered classic that deserves to be seen by as a wide an audience as possible and comes highly recommended.