AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Romance

Director: Leo McCary

Cast: Cary Grant / Deborah Kerr / Richard Denning

Plot

            An international playboy and a lounge singer meet aboard a cruise ship and, despite both being engaged to other people, fall in love.

What I Liked

            Full of bright colors, perfectly groomed people, bittersweet melodrama, escapist locales, cutsey-wootsey kids, and unnecessary musical numbers drowning in melody, “An Affair to Remember” is in many ways the definitive example of the kind of movies that were most popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Indeed, only “The Sound of Music,” a widely acclaimed masterpiece, could surpass it for these qualities.  In this sense, it is essential as a perfect representative of a now extinct brand of entertainment.

            Cary Grant is at his charming best, debonair yet sardonic as world famous playboy Nickie Ferrante.  Much of the fun of the film’s first half originates from the banter that ensues during his attempts to woo Deborah Kerr’s eloquent and elegant Terry McCay.  I fully admit the affinity and heartsick love between the two would be palpable to even the most critical observer, which should be credited to two actors who were given unbelievably perfect characters yet somehow still conveyed very relatable human emotions to the audience.

What I Didn’t Like

            There’s not much to read into “An Affair to Remember.”  It’s a straight-forward love story built around charm, sentimentality, and of course romance.  Most ridiculous are the scenes with the overly adorable children to whom Kerr provides singing lessons.  It’s all just so gag-inducingly sweet that it feels more awkward than charming to this modern viewer.   This reliance upon soppiness doesn’t hold up well against a critical viewing, but those who enjoy this film don’t look with a critical eye.  They’re looking for the weepy corniness and romantic innocence of a bygone era, or at least the romantic innocence that played well on the screen in a bygone era which was never as innocent or romantic as “An Affair to Remember” makes life out to be.

Most Memorable Scene

*spoiler alert!*

            Grant’s wait at the top of the Empire State Building is the classic and most enduring moment (see “Sleepless in Seattle”) of this film, not only because of the heartbreak he experiences waiting for all night in a thunderstorm for a woman who is not going to arrive, but also because of the sounds of an ambulance in the distance which, unbeknownst to him, is carriyng his love away.  Break out the Kleenex, ladies.

My Rating: 3 out of 5