On 2010-02-08 bittersweet, witch city salem ma wrote: AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER 1957
....unlike it´s counterpart..LOVE AFFAIR filmed in 1939..this adaptation is colorized and it so screams as such...original story written by leo mccarey and mildred cram..screenplay by leo mccarey...songs by harry warren...music by hugo friedhofer...directed by leo mccarey...
our story begins not unlike the original version on an ocean liner out on the high seas..
we are introduced to nicky ferrente..(cary grant)..who never fails to amuse with his boyish devilish charms...a ´playboy´ who interesting enough we find is on his way to new york from london to be married.....our nicky conveniently happens to run into terry mckay..(deborah kerr)..who coincidentally also has a fiancee ´back home´ in new york...
our story steams full ahead with snappy dialogue at times and at other times seems stilted and forced and even draggy....could it be me i wonder...maybe i am missing some subtlety here..
of course the set design for our romantic voyage also screams 50´s era..who knew... drab olive green shocking oranges..turquoise and baby blue...god awful pop art pattern on fabric..lots of icy cold angles and mirrors...burr..makes me shiver! other telltale clues to this period in time..things that really irritate my sense and sensibilities.ladies wearing fur...OOCH!...lack of desired atmosphere touches...all surfaces too crisp clear and pristine...i think our attention is forced to focus only on these two people because i see nothing to admire in the rest...
i am irritated by small things as well....like nicky throwing his letter from his fiance into the ocean..thus littering...dark shadows cast on these characters even though they are supposedly standing outside in the bright sunlight....what ever happened to continuity?
my god....was i starting to get sea sick but was saved just in the nicky of time when nick invites spunky terry to visit his grandmother during a five hour stop in port....we are treated mercifully to getting off that darn boat...our vista opens wide to a delightful seaside village full of character and sunlight...i can breath again..
grandmother´s villa is full of old world european charm.....nicky redeems himself in our gals eyes by endearing stories told by grand mother about him....terry even discovers that he can even paint! the views are spectacular if you can believe them...i think they look quite fake....
oh my..the sappy dialogue continues on and on and on...and then sometimes..the words just float uncomfortably in space...not too much room for emotion nor emotional connection with these two...before our ship of fools finally docks in new york harbor it is much too late for my loyalty....
there are a couple of amusing moments..one being as nicky and terry stand waiting to disembark...and they´re standing at opposite ends of the passageway..they glance back and forth at each other....so do the other passengers...not unlike a tennis match...the other being an interview scene with robert q. lewis between nicky and his socialite fiance in her new york apartment....flash over to the strand reunion between terry and her fiance..both quite amusing...(you´ll have to see for yourself)...
life continues for our two star crossed lovers for six months as they have vowed to meet at the top of the empire state building.....he waits there for her...but she doesn´t show up...an accident befalls poor terry on the way to their clandestine tryst..witch leaves her crippled and broken....nicky does not know any of this and simply assumes that she has changed her mind....
mundane life continues for both...we see nicky brood on the street in front of the empire state building then sadly walk away in the night......then one foggy christmas eve...nicky shows up at terry´s apartment..to discover at long last that there always was a reason terry didn´t show up that night.....
cue the ending music.....thank you very much for that.....
although it was quite a chore to get through this film....i am sorry that i listened to that lovely melody by vic dimone.. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER....cause now hard as i try...i just can´t get that song out of my head!
. And summed up by saying AN INTERESTING AFFAIR..... Currently An Affair to Remember has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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Milton R. Krasner claimed In this poignant and humorous love story nominated for four Academy Awards, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr meet on an ocean liner and fall deeply in love. Though each is engaged to someone else, they agree to meet six months later at the Empire State Building if they still feel the same way about each other. But a tragic accident prevents their rendezvous and the lover´s future takes an emotional and uncertain turn.
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