If you have a girlfriend, wife, mom, sister, grandma, or any other significant female figure in your life and do not own this film already, you need to get it immediately.  This is not to say that you gents are not going to find this movie just as astounding as millions of ladies have for the last 45+ years, but understand that this is *the* example of "love story".  Women adore it, men should study it.  It's timeless.  Classic.  Never to be bested.  An Affair To Remember has always belonged in your collection of films, and if it has yet to find a home there, 20th Century Fox has given you the perfect edition to call your own.

Nicky Ferrante (Grant) is about to make the biggest move in his otherwise flighty life.  He is about to marry what very well may be the most loaded woman in America, heiress Lois Clark (Patterson).  Only a short sail across the Atlantic stands between himself and marital bliss, yet fate may have other plans for this journey.  Also on board the same ship is former lounge singer Terry McKay (Kerr) who is also on her way to the states to reunite with her fiance, Kenneth Bradley (Denning), who has used his considerable wealth to pamper the songbird and "save" her from her former life.

No more unlikely pair could have been found, but things, as they have a tendency to do, go awry; and through a chance meeting on board, a spark flies.  Former playboy, Nicky, could not possibly be what the ready-to-settle Terry is looking for, but it is only a cruise after all, and a little fun never hurt anyone.  But soon it becomes clear that the playful coyness between the two is only hiding deeper feelings that are growing and soon, those feeling take over.  Falling desperately in love, the pair is unsure of their next move.  How can Terry find security in the spoiled and historically shallow, Nicky?  And how can he provide the lifestyle to which she is accustomed?  

It is decided that they will meet again in six months, on top of the Empire State Building, after having time enough to clear their heads and settle their affairs.  But fate in this film is not only kind, but spiteful as well it would seem.  Before the two can meet, an accident prohibits one of the lovers from making the promised appointment, and things begin a tragic downward spiral.  Can each in turn make it past the heart rending turn of events, or will it spell the end of trust and cause hopes to die?

An Affair To Remember was up for 4 Academy Awards in 1958 and won a Gold Medal in 1957's Photoplay Awards (the first awards in film), but was destined for immortality the second it flickered to life on the silver screen.  The familiar banter between stars Grant and Kerr (they had worked together in 1953's Dream Wife and would pair up again in 1961's The Grass Is Greener) brought an effortless familiarity to the screen and practically invited the audience to come along for the ride.  

Equal parts romance and comedy, there is one thing that this film is through and through, and that is the pinnacle of timing and spontaneous improvisation.  No amount of coaching or writing could have given these actors the amazing skills they display in the simple delivery of their lines.  Confidence, comfortability and class took over on the screen and led to laugh out loud moments of hilarity and tissue tearing moments of sincerity.  Truly inspired performances from two of the greatest actors of their time.  

Cary Grant was at the height of his career, having scored recent hits with To Catch A Thief and Monkey Business.  Author Ian Fleming had based a character for his new novel on Grant; a fellow you may have heard of...James Bond.  When that novel, Casino Royale, was turned into a movie the role was offered to Grant although he turned it down, but his career didn't suffer for it.  He was without a doubt an phenomenon, popular with both ladies and men.

But there are other reasons that both Cary and Kerr found such an easy home onscreen.  Cary was himself experiencing a remarkably similar situation in his own life to the one that he was portraying on screen. He himself had fallen head over heels for a co-star, Sophia Loren, while in an existing relationship.  Kerr, also, was being forced to rise to the occasion, as her relationship was on the rocks and she too, like her character, was facing a change of lifestyle.  But regardless of the reasons, the performances are now written in the hearts and minds of audiences forever.

Affair is deserving of merit for its technical work as well.  The cinematography (nominated for an Oscar) was spectacular, and never gives away that this was shot on a sound stage.  The choice of director, McCarey, to convey much of the story without the use of words was inspired.  More emotion is transferred from actor to audience through the use of sidelong glances and knowing looks than through all of the dialog combined.  And above all this is the terrific music (also nominated for an Oscar).  Mirroring the feeling of the film, the songs are both silly and captivating and Kerr gives some fantastic performances.

An Affair To Remember, destined to start a lifetime of remakes, was itself a remake.  Writer and director, McCarey was responsible for both the 1957 version and the earlier, almost scene-for-scene/word-for-word Love Affair (1939).  In 1994, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening starred in their own Love Affair, but perhaps the legacy that inspired audiences the most to relive the original was Sleepless In Seattle (1993).  SiS's numerous references to Affair, on-screen time of Affair playing, as well as the fact that it was inspired by and contained a similar plot (with the Space Needle filling in for the Empire State Building) made audiences hunt down the original film in droves.  But no matter how much it has been copied or imitated or remade, the work of Grant and Kerr has cemented this version in the books as the best.

So, for those rainy nights at home on the sofa, or for those times when you are REALLY in the doghouse...this is the film that needs to be spinning in your player.  Whether tugging on your funny bone or your heart-strings, An Affair To Remember will certainly be an affair that you will.

-aaron-