For nearly three quarters of this film, the viewer is transformed into a world of shear heaven, a gorgeous romantic mixture of comedy and pathos, starting off with Vic Damone's beautiful rendition of the Academy Award nominated title song. It focuses on the revelation of aging playboy Cary Grant's engagement to a rather cold socialite (Neva Patterson), and his sudden accidental introduction to concert singer Deborah Kerr (once again dubbed by Marni Nixon, a perfect match of actress and songstress), bumping into each other at the oddest times and getting everybody's attention around them because of the obvious love at first sight that they refuse to admit. While quite the lady, Ms. Kerr doesn't want to be just a last shipboard fling for Grant and keeps reminding them that they have to stop meeting like this, whether it is their mutual desire for a pink champagne cocktail or their sitting back to back alone at dinner as everybody stares and laughs. Is this a romantic screwball comedy a la William Powell and Myrna Loy? Or is it a romantic tearjerker where only the last minute of the film can bring the two star-crossed lovers together?
This definitely mixes both themes, especially the first half of the film, noticeable especially when the ship's photographer takes their photo together without their permission and Grant distracts him while Kerr removes the film. But the photographer sneaks a few more photos without their knowledge, and it is sure to make gossip columns around the world with his reputation and her supposed fame. Their love affair truly takes flight when Grant convinces Kerr to visit his beloved grandmother (a truly lovable Cathleen Nesbitt) on the French Riviera, and that sequence alone can get you through a box of handkerchiefs. Nesbitt, who had just scored a smashing success on Broadway as Mrs. Higgins in "My Fair Lady", will win your heart the moment she comes out of her own chapel, an elderly lady of such dignity and loveliness that you know she was once as beautiful as Kerr. In fact, along with the movie Mrs. Higgins (Gladys Cooper, whom she appeared with in "Separate Tables"), Nesbitt was indeed considered one of England's great stage beauties. The urge to hug her without hurting her obvious fragile body takes over the viewer's emotions, especially when she hears the second boat whistle which means that it is time for Grant and Kerr to leave, a sign for her that this is the last time she'll ever see him.
The rest of the shipboard sequence is filled with romance as they truly come to admit that they have fallen deeply, irrevocably in love, and their plan to meet in six months as soon as they take care of their personal issues standing in their way of being together. Kerr must barge through Grant and fiancee Patterson ("Excuse me", she says brusquely, "I must get to an appointment"), blocking her way. We see Grant return to his high society world, Kerr return to the stage, and how they graciously end their commitments before moving on to meet at the Empire State Building. But fate intervenes leaving Kerr injured, only able to teach music rather than sing on stage, and for a short period, the film loses its steam as Kerr hides her condition out of self pity. A maudlin musical number featuring her students becomes the film's sappiest scene and the urge to fast-forward takes over for the only time in the film.
But there is a good hearted structure to this film that will leave the viewer completely satisfied with a well written, directed and acted confrontation. Leo McCarey proves that remaking your own movie (like both DeMille with "The Ten Commandments" and Hitchcock with "The Man Who Knew Too Much") will keep the integrity of the original, and the 18 years between the first ("Love Affair") and this version shows that the material hasn't aged. The two films are also tied by the fact that Grant had appeared with the original female star Irene Dunne in several films and Kerr had starred with Charles Boyer in "Thunder in the East". In addition to this, Kerr also played another one of Irene Dunne's famous roles just the previous year as Anna Leonowens in "The King & I", the musical version of "Anna & the King of Siam".
Technically, this film is completely dazzling with every color superb and every set glorious, especially Nesbitt's home. I love both versions of this equally, but I find the sequence on the French Riviera here more touching because of the way Nesbitt plays the role compared to the less attractive Maria Ouspenskaya. Nesbitt utilizes an accent here unlike Ouspenskaya who actually spoke with one, and there is something in the way she delivers her lines that makes you feel as if you have known her in a past life. When Grant gives her a portrait of her late husband that he painted from memory, her eyes speak more than her words just as they do when she plays the title song on the piano, glancing hopefully at both Kerr and Grant hoping that they'll see the love that is obviously taking over their souls. This certainly could have been a lot sappier and thanks to McCarey's adapting his own script and directing it with great sensitivity, it ends up being a practically perfect film. The 1994 remake has its charms and is certainly a decent film, but you can't beat the magic that this and its 1939 predecessor contain.
This definitely mixes both themes, especially the first half of the film, noticeable especially when the ship's photographer takes their photo together without their permission and Grant distracts him while Kerr removes the film. But the photographer sneaks a few more photos without their knowledge, and it is sure to make gossip columns around the world with his reputation and her supposed fame. Their love affair truly takes flight when Grant convinces Kerr to visit his beloved grandmother (a truly lovable Cathleen Nesbitt) on the French Riviera, and that sequence alone can get you through a box of handkerchiefs. Nesbitt, who had just scored a smashing success on Broadway as Mrs. Higgins in "My Fair Lady", will win your heart the moment she comes out of her own chapel, an elderly lady of such dignity and loveliness that you know she was once as beautiful as Kerr. In fact, along with the movie Mrs. Higgins (Gladys Cooper, whom she appeared with in "Separate Tables"), Nesbitt was indeed considered one of England's great stage beauties. The urge to hug her without hurting her obvious fragile body takes over the viewer's emotions, especially when she hears the second boat whistle which means that it is time for Grant and Kerr to leave, a sign for her that this is the last time she'll ever see him.
The rest of the shipboard sequence is filled with romance as they truly come to admit that they have fallen deeply, irrevocably in love, and their plan to meet in six months as soon as they take care of their personal issues standing in their way of being together. Kerr must barge through Grant and fiancee Patterson ("Excuse me", she says brusquely, "I must get to an appointment"), blocking her way. We see Grant return to his high society world, Kerr return to the stage, and how they graciously end their commitments before moving on to meet at the Empire State Building. But fate intervenes leaving Kerr injured, only able to teach music rather than sing on stage, and for a short period, the film loses its steam as Kerr hides her condition out of self pity. A maudlin musical number featuring her students becomes the film's sappiest scene and the urge to fast-forward takes over for the only time in the film.
But there is a good hearted structure to this film that will leave the viewer completely satisfied with a well written, directed and acted confrontation. Leo McCarey proves that remaking your own movie (like both DeMille with "The Ten Commandments" and Hitchcock with "The Man Who Knew Too Much") will keep the integrity of the original, and the 18 years between the first ("Love Affair") and this version shows that the material hasn't aged. The two films are also tied by the fact that Grant had appeared with the original female star Irene Dunne in several films and Kerr had starred with Charles Boyer in "Thunder in the East". In addition to this, Kerr also played another one of Irene Dunne's famous roles just the previous year as Anna Leonowens in "The King & I", the musical version of "Anna & the King of Siam".
Technically, this film is completely dazzling with every color superb and every set glorious, especially Nesbitt's home. I love both versions of this equally, but I find the sequence on the French Riviera here more touching because of the way Nesbitt plays the role compared to the less attractive Maria Ouspenskaya. Nesbitt utilizes an accent here unlike Ouspenskaya who actually spoke with one, and there is something in the way she delivers her lines that makes you feel as if you have known her in a past life. When Grant gives her a portrait of her late husband that he painted from memory, her eyes speak more than her words just as they do when she plays the title song on the piano, glancing hopefully at both Kerr and Grant hoping that they'll see the love that is obviously taking over their souls. This certainly could have been a lot sappier and thanks to McCarey's adapting his own script and directing it with great sensitivity, it ends up being a practically perfect film. The 1994 remake has its charms and is certainly a decent film, but you can't beat the magic that this and its 1939 predecessor contain.