An
Affair To Remember: 50th Anniversary Edition (1957)
20th
Century Fox
Cast:
Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr.
Rating:
PG
Run
time: 119 mins..
Genre:
Romantic
Verdict:
Brilliant
(see rating
system)
Fans
of this classic romance will be delighted with 20th Century
Fox's great 2-disc edition marking its 50th anniversary.
The
newly remastered print is a beauty, full of the vibrant color
so typical of the 1950s. ASnd the great extras include featurettes
on the lives of Cary Grant and co-star Deborah Kerr. Grant's
widow Barbara Harris, who was at his side when he died in
1986, gives a particularly touching interview. There are also
featurettes on the making of the movie, director Leo Carey
and prolific producer Jerry Wald.
One
of those rare examples of a remake that really works, An Affair
To Remember paired Grant and Kerr in an unforgettable love
story for adults.
The
movie worked so well that it was a key element in the plot
of Sleepless In Seattle (1993), in which the characters played
by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan arrange to meet atop the Empire
State Building - just as Grant and Kerr did in An Affair To
Remember.
Director
Leo McCarey, who co-wrote the story, made his first movie
based on this plot in 1939, calling it Love Affair. It starred
Charles Boyer and Irene Dunn and is a pretty decent flick.
(Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening made another version
in 1994 that's best avoided! Grant and Kerr simply couldn't
be topped).
Even
though the dialogue and many scenes are virtually identical
in Love Affair and An Affair To Remember, Grant and Kerr have
far more chemistry, the use of colour really boosts the movie
and the title song is imaginatively used throughout, sometimes
happy, sometimes sad and wistful.
Grant
is Nickie Ferantte, a playboy who has squandered his talent
as a painter and drifted from one empty relationship to another.
Aboard a cruise liner he meets Terry McKay (Kerr) and there's
an instant attraction, though she's well aware of his reputation.
However, she discovers the real Nickie during the voyage and
he finds a soul mate.
Problem:
Nickie and Terry are already both in relationships and their
partners are back in the U.S. waiting for them to return so
they can get married. The thing is, Nickie and Terry aren't
kids - they're middle-aged and their prospective spouses are
perfectly decent people. It should be enough, but it isn't
- not when they discover the rapport they have with each other.
With
their voyage almost over as New York harbour appears, the
pair agree to meet again in six months at the Empire State
Building. But then fate takes a hand . . .
Both
leads are on top form and there are many imaginative moments
- for example their first kiss on a ship stairway in which
we see only their legs. Romantic, often funny and with a finale
that should wring tears from even the most unromantic heart.
