An Affair to Remember
Directed by	Leo McCarey
Produced by	Leo McCarey Jerry Wald
Written by	Leo McCarey Mildred Cram
Starring	Cary Grant Deborah Kerr Richard Denning
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 2, 1957
Running time	119 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

An Affair to Remember is a 1957 film, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

The film is considered one of the most romantic of all time, according to the American Film Institute.^[1] It was directed by Leo McCarey and was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. An Affair to Remember was almost identical to Love Affair on a scene to scene basis. McCarey used the same screenplay as the original film, which was penned by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart.

Contributing to the success of the 1957 film is its theme song "An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)' composed by Harry Warren with lyrics by Leo McCarey and Harold Adamson. The song is sung by Vic Damone during the opening credits and then sung later by Deborah Kerr's character, a nightclub singer. Kerr's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed for Kerr in the film The King and I.

Plot Synopsis

Nickie Ferrante (Grant), a well known playboy, recently engaged to an American heiress, meets Terry McKay (Kerr) on an ocean liner. After dinner and conversation, they decide that perhaps it would be best if they went their separate ways. However, they have a few mishaps, leading them to the final conclusion that they cannot avoid each other for the remaining few days aboard. When the liner makes port in a small town, Nickie invites Terry to come ashore with him, to meet his grandmother, a widow and retired concert pianist. This leads to a famous scene, where the theme "An Affair to Remember" makes its main appearance, with Jenou (the grandmother) playing, and Terry singing along. That night on the ship Nickie finds Terry, who has been crying, insisting, "That's what beauty does to me." It is here that they share their first kiss. However, since everyone aboard the ship knows who Nickie is, and his famous engagement, they have to keep their affair a secret, not seeing each other for two days. Finally, on the last day of the journey, a nosy traveler asks the pair to autograph some pictures that he bought from the ship's photographer, who is selling them on an upper deck. The secret is out, so Nickie and Terry make the most of their last night together. When they part, they don't know how things are going to work between them: they are desperately in love with one another, but Nickie doesn't have any money that's really his own, and neither does Terry. The next morning, as they are pulling into New York, Terry gives Nickie a note, which says they will meet in six months, when they have both been working and have broken up with their fiancees. Nickie suggests they reunite on top of the Empire State Building, and Terry enthusiastically agrees, saying "It's the nearest thing to Heaven we have in New York".

Each of them breaks up with their fiancees, and we see a progression of each's work over the next few months. Tery has gone to work in Boston as a nightclub headliner, Nickie as a painter. Each is very successful, and on July 1, they head to the Empire State Building for their 5:00 meeting. Terry, running late, rushes out of her cab to cross the street and is hit by a car and badly hurt. Nickie waits for her all evening, even in the rain. Terry wakes up in the hospital and cries out for Nickie. It is then that the viewer learns how badly she's been hurt: it's unlikely she'll be able to walk again, though the doctors can't be entirely sure yet. By her side the whole time is her former boyfriend, Ken, who is still in love with her. As Terry gets better, she insists that Nickie is not to know of her accident, until she can be sure of the results. We then cut to a year later. With help from a minister, Terry has secured a teaching job with a children's choir. Meanwhile, Nickie has returned to touring the world as a means of escape. He comes to the same small town where he and Terry had visited Jenou, who has passed away. He is given a shawl by the caretaker, who said that Jenou wanted Terry to have it. When he comes home to New York, his former fiancee asks him to go to an opera. On the way out, Nickie stoops to pick up a dropped handbag---and finds himself face-to-face with Terry and Ken. Stiff "hellos" are exchanged, and Nickie turns and marches out, ex-fiancee on his arm. Terry looks as though she might faint, and even puts her hand over her heart. In the cab on the way home with Ken, who is acting as her aide and escort, Terry explains to him why she refuses to burden Nicke with the knowledge that she is in a wheelchair, and may never walk again. According to her, she knows that he would want to take care of her, something she couldn't let him do because he couldn't afford it. Nickie, meanwhile, is walking home by himself, having been dropped off by his ex-girlfriend's car. He is brooding and silent, clearly still in love with Terry, though he is trying not to be.

Cary Grant as Nickie Ferrante and Deborah Kerr as Terry McKay

Not wanting to explain her standoffishness to Nickie, Terry doesn't contact him. However, things change when Terry is left by herself at home on Christmas Eve because she's not feeling well. As her neighbor is leaving, there is a knock on the door--it is Nickie. He claims to have stumbled across Terry accidentally in the phonebook, and decided that he had to see her to tell her he "wanted to apologize for not keeping their appointment at the Empire State Building", even though he had been there. Their conversation eventually comes around as to why Terry wasn't there and she asks that there be no more questions. He starts to leave, but then remembers and gives her the shawl that his grandmother had promised to her. With his back to the door, hand on the knob, Nickie tells her that he had painted a picture of her wearing the shawl. He says that a woman had come into the display room where his paintings were, and loved it, seeing what Nickie hoped Terry would in it. As he tells the story, he slowly realizes that Terry has not once gotten up from her place on the couch nor has she shifted position, not even to greet him when he first came in. He fully takes it in that she is in a robe, her legs are covered by a blanket, and she is unable to support herself without the stack of pillows behind her. He runs across the room and flings open her bedroom door, where he finds the picture--and Terry's wheelchair. He realizes at last her true reason for not meeting him on that fateful day and they are finally re-united. "If you can paint," cries Terry, her arms wrapped abound Nickie, "I can walk! Anything's possible, don't you think?" The movie ends with the two of them holding each other, wiping each other's tears of apology and joy.

Cast

• Cary Grant - Nickie Ferrante
• Deborah Kerr - Terry McKay
• Richard Denning - Kenneth Bradley
• Neva Patterson - Lois Clark
• Cathleen Nesbitt - Grandmother Janou
• Robert Q. Lewis - Himself - Announcer
• Charles Watts - Ned Hathaway
• Fortunio Bonanova - Courbet

Remakes

Mann, a Bollywood film starring Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala is inspired by this movie.

Nora Ephron's 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, was inspired by An Affair to Remember, and clips from the earlier film and its theme song are used throughout. This publicity sparked a new love of the film for many movie fans of younger generations. ^{[citation needed]}

A 1994 remake reverting to the original title of Love Affair was written and interpreted by Warren Beatty, featuring his wife Annette Bening as the female protagonist, and also Katharine Hepburn in a small but pivotal role, which would prove to be her last screen appearance.

Color and Print

• Deluxe

Short

• Yoshi Loves Dinosaur

External links

• An Affair to Remember at the Internet Movie Database

References

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