An Affair to Remember [50th Anniversary Edition] [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

An Affair to Remember, director Leo McCarey's scene-for-scene remake of his own 1939 film Love Affair, isn't really an improvement on the original, but it's equally as enjoyable. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, high-profile types both engaged to be married to other people, meet and fall in love during an ocean voyage. To test the depth of their commitment to each other, Grant and Kerr promise that, if they're still in love at the end of six months, they will meet again at the top of the Empire State Building. Clips from An Affair to Remember were used as "reference points" throughout the 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle, which likewise concluded atop the Empire State Building. Disproving the theory that "Third Time's the Charm," Warren Beatty attempted to remake Affair to Remember, again titled Love Affair, in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Features:
  • Disc One: Audio commentary by singer Marine Nixon and film historian Joseph McBride
  • Disc Two: Exclusive featurettes - Affairs to Remember: Deborah Kerr, Affairs to Remember: Cary Grant, directed by Leo McCarey, a producer to remember: Jerry Wald, the look of An Affair to Remember
  • AMC backstory: An Affair to Remember
  • Fox movietonews: Shipboard premiere attracts celebrities
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Poster gallery
  • Still gallery

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1957 (Milton Krasner)
•     Nominated Best Costume Design - 1957 (Charles LeMaire)
•     Nominated Best Score - 1957 (Hugo W. Friedhofer)
•     Nominated Best Song - 1957 (Harry Warren, Leo McCarey, Harold Adamson)

• Directors Guild of America

•     Nominated Best Director - 1957 (Leo McCarey)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Cary Grant - Nickie Ferrante
       Deborah Kerr - Terry McKay
       Richard Denning - Kenneth
       Neva Patterson - Lois Clarke
       Cathleen Nesbitt - Grandmother
       Robert Q. Lewis - Announcer
       Charles Watts - Hathaway
       Fortunio Bonanova - Courbet
       Matt Moore - Fr. McGrath
       Louis Mercier - Mario
       Geraldine Wall - Miss Webb
       Nora Marlowe - Gladys
       Sarah Selby - Miss Lane
       Alberto Morin - Bartender
       Genevieve Aumont - Gabriello
       Tina Thompson - Orphan
       Robert Lynn - Doctor
       Alena Murray - Airline stewardess
       Roger Til - French commentator
       Helen Mayon - Nurse
       Marc Snow - Ship's photographer
       Paul Bradley - Man
       Priscilla Garcia - French child
       Scotty Morrow - Orphan
       Walter Woolf King - Doctor
       Marni Nixon - Terry McKay [singing voice]
       Juney Ellis - Teacher
       Brian Corcoran - Boy, age 5
       Richard Allen - Orphan [uncredited]
       Jesslyn Fax - Landlady
       Dorothy Adams - Mother
       Tony DeMario - Waiter
       Mary Carroll - Teacher
       Jack Lomas - Painter
       Jack Raine - British TV commentator
       Bert Stevens - Maitre D'
       Minta Durfee - Ship Passenger

• Director:

  Leo McCarey

• Producer:

  Jerry Wald

• Screenwriter:

  Delmer Daves

• Screen Story:

  Leo McCarey

• Screenwriter:

  Leo McCarey, Donald Ogden Stewart

• Screen Story:

  Mildred Cram

• Cinematographer:

  Milton Krasner

• Composer (Music Score):

  Harold Adamson

• Songwriter:

  Harold Adamson

• Composer (Music Score):

  Hugo W. Friedhofer, Leo McCarey

• Songwriter:

  Leo McCarey

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Lionel Newman

• Composer (Music Score):

  Harry Warren

• Songwriter:

  Harry Warren

• Editor:

  James B. Clark

• Art Director:

  Jack Martin Smith, Lyle Wheeler

• Set Designer:

  Paul S. Fox, Walter Scott

• Costume Designer:

  Charles LeMaire

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Charles Peck, Harry M. Leonard

• Makeup:

  Ben Nye, Sr.

• Special Effects:

  L.B. Abbott

• Choreography:

  Robert Sidney

• Short Story Author:

  Mildred Gram

REVIEW:

• Leo McCarey's remake of his Love Affair (1939) is a classic tearjerker and a key reference of Sleepless in Seattle (1993). While shameless in its manipulation of emotion, the film avoids the worst excesses of the bathetic through the peerless performances of its two graceful leads. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star as the couple who, after meeting on a cruise ship, agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months time in order to test the strength of their love. The film suffers from a certain unevenness. After its engaging first act, the lengthy second act during which the lovers are waiting out the six months, which includes some subpar musical numbers by Kerr, is an exercise in tedium. The film's reputation is based upon the plotting chicanery of its third act and its lachrymose denouement. With a film like this, one is tempted to conjecture about the enduring appeal of something so patently false. But if one takes Kerr's accidental injury as a metaphor for her own sense of unworthiness or fear of loving and being loved, along with Grant's love for her in spite of her "fault," the source of its power seems much easier to accept. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi