Main Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbitt
Release Year: 1957
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
Plot
An Affair to Remember, director Leo McCarey's scene-for-scene remake of his own 1939 film Love Affair, isn't really an improvement on the original, but it's equally as enjoyable. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, high-profile types both engaged to be married to other people, meet and fall in love during an ocean voyage. To test the depth of their commitment to each other, Grant and Kerr promise that, if they're still in love at the end of six months, they will meet again at the top of the Empire State Building. Clips from An Affair to Remember were used as "reference points" throughout the 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle, which likewise concluded atop the Empire State Building. Disproving the theory that "Third Time's the Charm," Warren Beatty attempted to remake Affair to Remember, again titled Love Affair, in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Leo McCarey's remake of his Love Affair (1939) is a classic tearjerker and a key reference of Sleepless in Seattle (1993). While shameless in its manipulation of emotion, the film avoids the worst excesses of the bathetic through the peerless performances of its two graceful leads. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star as the couple who, after meeting on a cruise ship, agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months time in order to test the strength of their love. The film suffers from a certain unevenness. After its engaging first act, the lengthy second act during which the lovers are waiting out the six months, which includes some subpar musical numbers by Kerr, is an exercise in tedium. The film's reputation is based upon the plotting chicanery of its third act and its lachrymose denouement. With a film like this, one is tempted to conjecture about the enduring appeal of something so patently false. But if one takes Kerr's accidental injury as a metaphor for her own sense of unworthiness or fear of loving and being loved, along with Grant's love for her in spite of her "fault," the source of its power seems much easier to accept. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Robert Q. Lewis - Announcer; Charles Watts - Hathaway; Fortunio Bonanova - Courbet; Matt Moore - Fr. McGrath; Louis Mercier - Mario; Geraldine Wall - Miss Webb; Nora Marlowe - Gladys; Sarah Selby - Miss Lane; Alberto Morin - Bartender; Genevieve Aumont - Gabriello; Dorothy Adams - Mother; Mary Carroll - Teacher; Brian Corcoran - Boy, age 5; Minta Durfee - Ship Passenger; Jesslyn Fax - Landlady; Priscilla Garcia - French child; Walter Woolf King - Doctor; Jack Lomas - Painter; Scotty Morrow - Orphan; Alena Murray - Airline stewardess; Marni Nixon - Terry McKay [singing voice]; Jack Raine - British TV commentator; Marc Snow - Ship's photographer; Tina Thompson - Orphan; Roger Til - French commentator; Tony DeMario - Waiter; Juney Ellis - Teacher; Helen Mayon - Nurse; Bert Stevens - Maitre D'; Richard Allen - Orphan [uncredited]; Paul Bradley - Man; Robert Lynn - Doctor
The film is considered one of the most romantic of all time, according to the American Film Institute.[1] The movie 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.[2] 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.
Nickie Ferrante (Grant), a well-known playboy and painter, meets Terry McKay (Kerr) aboard the SS Constitution. They fall in love with each other despite being involved with other people. They agree to reunite on top of the Empire State Building in six months time if Nickie is able to provide for her and if they still feel the same.
On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, rushing to the Empire State Building, doesn't look where she's going and is struck by a car. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Nickie waits on top of the building for her until closing, unaware of her accident and thinking that she's rejected him.
In reality, Terry has been so badly injured that she can no longer walk and uses a wheelchair. She doesn't want to burden Nickie with her injuries, so instead finds work as a teacher and never contacts him, knowing he will assume she decided to stay with her former lover. She doesn't see Nickie again until she encounters both him and his former girlfriend at the ballet a year later, while she herself is attending with her former lover. Nickie can only bring himself to say hello to her, not noticing her condition because she is seated. He is too proud to ask her why she never showed up, and she insists upon keeping her accident a secret from him.
Nickie decides to visit Terry. She never moves from the couch as he pours out his feelings of rejection, and tells her about a painting he had been working on when they met, and that had recently been sold to a woman in a wheelchair. Nickie suddenly makes a connection, and upon seeing the painting in Terry's bedroom, he realizes that she cannot walk. Subsequently, all is revealed about the fateful day that they were supposed to meet. In the final emotional scene, the two declare their love for one another.
A 1994 remake reverting to the original title of Love Affair was written, directed, and starred 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.
