It is a classic in the sense that Cary Grant stars in it and timeless in that it is about love and not sex. An Affair to Remember is part romance, part comedy, part drama, but mostly it is pure soap opera.

Grant and Kerr meet onboard a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Both are heading to New York and to people who love them. Grant and Kerr play gold diggers who are each in relationships with people who are rich and can take care of them. They fall in love with each other like nothing they have ever felt.

As the ship pulls into New York, they make a promise to meet on top of the Empire State building in 6 months if each is able to make their own financial way in life. Grant takes up painting again and Kerr returns to singing. The movie has plenty of songs, and is practically a musical as well. On the day of their reunion, Kerr gets hit by a car as she walks to the Empire State building. Grant, of course, thinks he has been stood up.

The ending is, of course, foreseeable from a mile away. But then most love stories are. The dialogue is often a bit flowery; "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories." Kerr says to Grant at one point. Some of the comedy works very well though. While aboard ship, they try to avoid being recognized as a couple. They think they are fooling the other passengers but everyone knows they are in love and actually end up laughing at them as they try to avoid each other at dinner.

Tom Hanks, in Sleepless in Seattle, called An Affair to Remember a "chick flick." It is a good description, but to be more accurate I will call it an extremely sentimental chick flick.

Did you enjoy Eric's review? +5 -1

Nickie and Terry fool absolutely no one by dining at separate tables.

Could a movie titled An Affair to Remember be anything but pure soap opera? Actually this is a fairly faithful remake of the 1939 classic, Love Affair, starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne as the pink champagne swilling, shipboard lovers. That movie was also directed by Leo McCarey. It would be remade yet again in 1994 under its original title and starring real life couple Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. This latest version would be memorable mostly for being the last screen appearance of Katharine Hepburn.

I agree that this movies’ legacy is greater than it deserves due to the many references made to it in Sleepless in Seattle. In the years immediately following the release of that movie some two million VHS tapes of An Affair to Remember were sold. When the AFI made a list of the 100 Greatest Movie Romances a few years back it came in at number five and was the highest ranked movie where the lovers end up together.

Cary Grant was at the height of his dashing charm, debonair good looks and incredible popularity in 1957. As Nickie Ferrante he is the epitome of what a Movie Star should be. Deborah Kerr is excellent as Terry McKay as well. She excelled at playing classy ladies with just a touch of earthiness in her demeanor. In this, their second of three movies together, they make a beautiful and very sophisticated screen pair.

Although their romance aboard ship is kept lighthearted and played mostly for laughs the second half of the movie turns tragic. The final scene will melt your heart if you are affected by highly romantic endings. Eric’s right, it can be seen coming from a mile away.

The original version runs just 88 minutes while this one is padded out to nearly two hours. Several songs are sung including two by the group of children Kerr gets a job teaching after her accident. These could easily have been cut since they slow the story down unnecessarily. Still An Affair to Remember is one of those quintessential classic films that every movie buff should see at least once.
 

Did you enjoy Patrick's review? +5 -0