"An Affair To Remember" might be a good name for the story, but as a movie, it's one I'll likely soon forget. With no disrespect to the principals, it's nothing I was expecting with Cary Grant in the cast. No stranger to romantic comedies, Grant was a blast in "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) and "His Girl Friday" from the same year; he even managed great comedic timing in the adventure story, "Gunga Din" (1939). So I'll have to assume that director Leo McCarey consciously stayed away from a more lively and spirited presentation. The result came off (for me at least) as a humorless relationship in which Nick Ferrante (Grant) and Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) didn't seem to be having any fun at all. In fact, neither seemed to be having any fun in the romances they swap for their new one; and what was with that golf ball size knot on Grant's forehead at the beginning of the story?
I say all this in retrospect, as I had some hope for the film as Nickie and Terry debarked from their cruise in Italy to visit with Grandmother Janou (Cathleen Nesbit). The locale of the Mediterranean home was nothing short of gorgeous, and Janou's response to Terry on wishing she could live there was deeply introspective - Terry was too young and would have to live long enough to create her own memories. That was probably my best takeaway from the film.
The accident disrupting the Empire State Building rendezvous was indeed tragic, but I felt the aftermath played out in less than a realistic manner. Would a real person hide from their lover because of a tragedy like that, or would one seek them out to explain and hopefully continue a relationship? Terry couldn't locate Nick, (the most famous eligible bachelor it seemed in the world at the time), but didn't have any trouble sending a letter half way around the world to Grandmother. When Nick unexpectedly shows up at Terry's apartment, wouldn't one's impulse be to gesture upwards even if they couldn't walk? Instead, Kerr's character remains as lifeless as she had for the earlier part of the film. I don't know, maybe I'm being too critical, but the reactions of these two people didn't seem to be based in real life.
So, "An Affair To Remember"? Sorry hopeless romantics, I think not.
I say all this in retrospect, as I had some hope for the film as Nickie and Terry debarked from their cruise in Italy to visit with Grandmother Janou (Cathleen Nesbit). The locale of the Mediterranean home was nothing short of gorgeous, and Janou's response to Terry on wishing she could live there was deeply introspective - Terry was too young and would have to live long enough to create her own memories. That was probably my best takeaway from the film.
The accident disrupting the Empire State Building rendezvous was indeed tragic, but I felt the aftermath played out in less than a realistic manner. Would a real person hide from their lover because of a tragedy like that, or would one seek them out to explain and hopefully continue a relationship? Terry couldn't locate Nick, (the most famous eligible bachelor it seemed in the world at the time), but didn't have any trouble sending a letter half way around the world to Grandmother. When Nick unexpectedly shows up at Terry's apartment, wouldn't one's impulse be to gesture upwards even if they couldn't walk? Instead, Kerr's character remains as lifeless as she had for the earlier part of the film. I don't know, maybe I'm being too critical, but the reactions of these two people didn't seem to be based in real life.
So, "An Affair To Remember"? Sorry hopeless romantics, I think not.