Paul Kydd 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)

JohnHowardReid 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.

Pierre_D Our Classic Film Fridays reconvened after a vacation layoff and we have been doing Cary Grant movies of late. Fans of the legendary screen presence will not be disappointed as he is his usual bounder self, devouring the screen even when implausibly playing the righteous son or the converted future husband to Ms. Kerr's Ms. McKay.The film starts quite well, with news agencies around the world telling us that international playboy Nicky Ferrante is finally getting married to a rich wife. He is currently on a cruise back to America by detour of France. We see Ferrante's dashing womanizing quite early as he flirts nonstop with a variety of youngish women while rebuffing the more senior passengers on the ship. Eventually, Nicky meets Terry and they understand they both have partners on the mainland but...a fortuitous stop in France to meet Nicky's grandmother pushes them together, at almost cliché speed.Problems arise here as we can believe Ferrante's dashing cad could be stricken by Terry McKay's humble but forthright countenance, but the push to marriage by the grandmother seems forced. They arrange for a meeting at the Empire State Building in a few months to see if they still love each other and...Terry gets run over by a car on the way there, leaving Nicky waiting until the wee hours. At this point the film takes a sad turn toward the maudlin and heart-tugging. We see Terry in the hospital, her legs broken. We see Terry teaching disadvantaged youth and, sadly, we hear said disadvantaged youth sing in an effort to add unneeded levity and heart to the equation. Meanwhile, Ferrante nad his fiancée are on T.V. Terry's husband suspects everything. We move on...The ending was decent enough, they finally catch up and admit they are attracted to each other before parting with a gift from Nicky and the discovery an oil of his grandmother and Vicky that Nicky had painted from memory.No more than a 6 out of 10 for this one folks. Grant is much better in North by Northwest or Bringing Up Baby or His Gal Friday and Kerr? I can't speak on her career but she gave a good performance and her singing inspired. Not a great film, but see it if you are a completionist.

Marcin Kukuczka Among the most sentimental and the most unforgettable romances of old Hollywood, Leo McCarey's AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is a top notch production. It is full of intense sentiment, irresistible charm, emotional musical pieces and, foremost, an aspect it is probably most remembered for, the great leading couple: Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant.In an interview, Ms Kerr said interesting words about one of the most cherished leading men on screen, labeling him as "a great believer in keeping a kind of image he has built up." Yet, no matter what we consider as a Cary Grant characterization, one thing is certain, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is a mutual work of both Mr Grant as Nickie Ferrante and Ms Kerr as Terry Mc Kay. Their affair, childish and sentimental as it may seem, especially being touched by the test of time, is what emerges from this charming film. But two words or even (I dare say this) realities evoke here: MEMORY and LOVE.Bosley Crowther of New York Times called their marriage pact as "ridiculously childish for a couple of adult people to make" but this critical instance is transformed in Variety review that labels their romance as "never maudlin but a wholly believable relationship." Among all these movie scholars who always manifest slightly radical viewpoints on classic productions, Helen Fredericks is perhaps closest to the truth hailing the movie as a "wonderful and witty tale of a true Love." She adds that this LOVE changed them and conquered their fears." Mind you this word 'Love' written in capital letter. No wonder there is Love because it is, after all, a romance. But memory? In one of the most beautiful film's sequences, Nickie's grandmother (Cathleen Nesbitt) who lives in an idyllic, blissful place somewhere in the Mediterranean, utters a truly remarkable line: "You are young, you have to create memories." She combines the experience of the old generation with the understanding of the young one. The quintessential aspect of the film is therein incorporated. When Nickie revisits the place, her words echo in his mind (supposedly, she is dead but her advice of wisdom lives on).The film's a typical romance in the sentimental mode and that is what you may expect from the start. The musical pieces, including the line "Close your eyes, make a wish and you're there" is the essence of fantasy. Yet, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and the true chemistry between them make for a really remarkable love affair depiction. It lacks today's irony and offers yesterday's feeling.Pauline Kael once pointed out that the film can boast "timing and nonchalance" This observation, which appears particularly right in the context of the protagonists, proves an almost flawless viewing experience for both the viewers' of the film's period and the viewers of today.AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is a wondrous romance you will rejoice remembering long after viewing it. 9/10