Excellent but underrated film

Best movie ever!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I'm a sucker for romantic films (full disclosure), and this one is so beautiful. The story is pretty well known, having been re-made several times (and heavily referenced in 'Sleepless in Seattle'), so I won't summarize it. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are absolutely charming, with their natural sophistication and class combined with little moments of humor, sadness, and dialog that is very natural. Their time on the ship and then with his grandmother (Cathleen Nesbitt) in her hilltop home on the French Riviera is magical. The film has a couple of artificial plot devices and is unrestrained in going for the emotional jugular at the end, which will have cynics howling. On the other hand, there is a lovely element of restraint in the pair's passion for one another. The two don't "do anything" despite their feelings, and director Leo McCarey even films one of their few kisses by showing their legs only on one of the ship's staircases. At the same time, everyone knows that Grant's character is a womanizer, he clearly tries to seduce Kerr in the beginning, and there is a sexual subtext to it all.There are many very nice little moments along the way to the ones people remember most. Grant getting flustered early on when rebuffed. Kerr saying "well that's the only page" with steely eyes, after Grant tells her that her life story is "only one page." The entire scene with Nesbitt, with her sweet old face and knowing eyes. As Nesbitt plays piano, Grant looking intently at Kerr singing (actually lip-synching Marni Nixon). Kerr saying "while we miss each other" as she pushes Grant out of her room, and then him poking his head back in to say "oh that was very sweet", lightly kissing her hand, and then "what you just said." What a great little bit of acting that was.The bigger moments are pretty special too. Grant's expression as he waits at the top of the Empire State Building, with the elevator operator noticing him again and again. That moment when they meet after the ballet, in the company of others. Does he fly into a rage or make an angry remark? No, he simply helps her with something she's dropped, though his eyes speak volumes. And of course, the final scene, when he finally does meet her alone, still not knowing her condition, and pretending he was the one who didn't show up that night. Yes, it's contrived, but her sacrifice and his regret for saying things without knowing the whole truth strike a chord. Who hasn't done something foolish in their love life at one point or another?I truly wish the last line had been changed ("If you can paint, I can walk..."), and the film is also a little heavy-handed in its Catholic references. The biggest issue, however, is in the scenes when the couple is separated in the second half of the film. The two songs from the children's chorus are excessively long, not particularly charming, and in one (of course) the African-American boy and girl pop out to do a dance. Kerr's singing performances are uninspired and also just get in the way. The back half of the film should have been tightened up, and Kerr's condition made permanent, to keep this already sweet film balanced. For that I lowered my review score a teeny bit, but it's still a classic romance in my book.

Available on Blu-ray Disc (Region B)USA 1957 English (Colour); Comedy/Drama/Romance (Twentieth Century Fox/Jerry Wald); 115 minutes (PG certificate)Crew includes: Leo McCarey (Director); Delmer Daves, Leo McCarey (Screenwriters, adapting Screenplay LOVE AFFAIR by Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart (uncredited) *** [6/10]); Jerry Wald (Producer); Milton Krasner (Cinematographer); Lyle R. Wheeler, Jack Martin Smith (Art Directors); James B. Clark (Editor); Hugo Friedhofer (Composer)Cast includes: Cary Grant (Nickie Ferrante), Deborah Kerr (Terry McKay), Richard Denning (Kenneth Bradley), Neva Patterson (Lois Clark), Cathleen Nesbitt (Grandmother Janou), Robert Q. Lewis (Announcer), Charles Watts (Ned Hathaway), Fortunio Bonanova (Courbet)Academy Award nominations (4): Cinematography, Original Score, Original Song ("An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)"), Costume Design (Charles LeMaire)"In Italy... on the Mediterranean... across an ocean... and all over New York!"Despite knowing his reputation and both being engaged to others, a nightclub singer (Kerr) embarks on a romance with a womanising playboy (Grant) on board an ocean liner bound for New York, and determined to prove their love, they agree to rendezvous in six months, on top of the Empire State Building.McCarey's scene-for-scene (sometimes shot-for-shot) colour remake of his own LOVE AFFAIR (1939) soared in popularity following its significant, plot-propelling appearance in 1993's SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE.Remade again (under its original title) one year later, this is the most sophisticated and appealing version, except for the too-numerous moments that involve children, which are supposed to be cute but aren't.Blu-ray Extras: Commentary, Featurettes, Newsreel, Trailer. ***½ (7/10)

RELEASE DETAILS: New York opening at the Roxy: 19 July 1957. U.S. release: July 1957. U.K. release: 22 September 1957. Australian release: 17 October 1957. Sydney opening at the Regent. 10,312 feet. 115 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A shipboard romance seems doomed when the girl is crippled in a street accident.NOTES: Fox's 80th CinemaScope feature was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Photography (won by Jack Hildyard for The Bridge on the River Kwai); Music Scoring, Hugo Friedhofer (won by Malcolm Arnold for The Bridge on the River Kwai); Song, "An Affair To Remember" (won by "All the Way" from The Joker Is Wild); Costumes, Charles Le Maire (won by Orry-Kelly for Les Girls).Best Film of 1957 — Photoplay Gold Medal Award. Deborah Kerr, Best Actress of 1957 — Photoplay Gold Medal Award. Fox's top-grossing domestic release of 1956-57. A re-make of McCarey's own 1939 RKO picture Love Affair which starred Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in a screenplay by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart from the story by Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey. The Oscar-nominated McCarey produced as well as directed. COMMENT: This re-make of "Love Affair" is strictly a distaff offering. Femmes will enjoy weeping into their lace-edged handkerchiefs at love's labors lost and found — all against nice plush backgrounds and a heavy syrupy score. Cary Grant seems a trifle bored with the proceedings — and who will blame him? but Deborah Kerr seems right at home, jerking tears with a winsome smile. The color photography is as lush as the sets, and the direction is as dull as the script. Admittedly, it does not open too badly with some pleasant though mediocre shipboard banter between Kerr and Cary; but wait till you strike an extremely long and screamingly dull visit to Cary's aged grandmother, hammily acted by Cathleen Nesbitt! If you can sit through that scene and through two songs murdered by a typically freakish Hollywood group of school- children, the rest of the film is not too bad: Some very attractive color sets, some very pleasant color photography, an engaging theme tune, and directorial craftsmanship that would measure up to a third-rate Frank Borzage.

When you buy a Blu Ray edition of an old film, you never quite know what you're going to get, With the nice boxed edition put out by 20th Century Fox, you get some very nice extras, including some rather revealing interviews about Cary Grant's love affairs and about Deborah Kerr's love affairs. But, we don't really buy Blu Ray for the extras. We buy them for a sparkling version of a beloved film. This edition gets off to a bad start. The credits and initial wide shot of Manhattan included pinkish snow while Vic Damone is singing the theme song, and then very grainy photography. Not a good omen. The way transitions occur, it's clear there has been an attempt at some restoration. But it's somewhat uneven. Most of a scene is good, just a little odd and the beginning and end of some scenes. However, in this case it is a better print than the last DVD edition I owned.There are those who say that this is the film that turned Cary Grant into the Cary Grant we all remember -- the epitome of a suave sophisticate. Of course, Cary Grant was around and sophisticated long before 1957, but this film is pretty much how we remember Cary Grant.I have long loved this film, although it is not on my top 5 list...though certainly in my top 10. The question is why. But that's easy. A remarkably witty script for the first half of the film. A remarkably sentimental script for the second half of the film. An outstanding performance by Cary Grant. An outstanding performance by Deborah Kerr.For the witty and/or sentimental script we have Delmer Daves ("The Petrified Forest"), Donald Ogden Stewart (who helped write the original film version), and Leo McCarey (also the director and producer of this and the original film version).As mentioned, this IS Cary Grant. I remember reading that Cary Grant once said that he became the character he often portrayed on screen. And this film is the evidence for that statement. He's just fabulous here.Deborah Kerr was a wonderful actress, and at least for me, this is the film I most remember her for.And then there are "the others". The other man in love with Kerr is Richard Denning. He's good, rather sanitized, and you have some sympathy for his character. The other woman in love with Grant is Neva Patterson; tough role to be so unliked by an audience, but an audience never likes a witch (or something that rhymes with that). The other interesting and humorous addition to the supporting actors is Robert Q. Lewis, who takes a humorous tone to his interview with Grant and Denning. Fortunio Bonanova adds a nice touch as an art dealer.There are so many touching scenes in this film. In fact, perhaps the most touching film in any movie -- when Grant and Kerr visit Grant's grandmother in the villa. No matter how many times I watch it, it chokes me up every time. The wonderful actress who excelled so as the grandmother is Cathleen Nesbitt, who, though old, went on to live another 25 years. Her career in show business lasted 80 years! Another touching scene is when Grant encounters Kerr, not knowing that...well, no sense of ruining the scene if you've never seen the film.But the penultimate sentimental scene is the closing. Brilliantly conceived, well written, and the perfect mix of tragic realization and hope. If it doesn't get you, you have a heart of stone. I cry every time. In fact, it is reported that Cary Grant said that whenever he watched the film, he cried at the end! Is there anything wrong with this film. Well, yes there is, although it's a minor point. In several scenes we are brought up to date with Grant's character's history (at least superficially). We never quite get that with Kerr's character. Yes, we eventually find out she was a singer, but beyond that's it's pretty scant, and it could have been accomplished in a matter of just a couple of minutes. And, I'll forgive them for having 2 Black children tap dancing.I wonder. Was this the only film where Cary Grant cried? In sum, this is one of my two favorite romantic films, the other being "Random Harvest" with Ronald Colman. Both are quintessential examples of the genre. This is a classic, and the public knows it. VHS and then DVD sales were unusually high for a 1950s film. And it's no wonder. Grant (along with Spencer Tracy) was the best that Hollywood ever offered. Here, he and Deborah Kerr shine.