Review of An Affair to Remember (1957) by Rodrigo S — 05 Feb 2011

5: Films don't get much more classic than this. It's hard for me to believe I hadn't seen it up until several years into my Columbia education. I can think of few other romances, or films in general for that matter, that tug on the heartstrings so effectively.

It is a luxurious and opulent romance, with production values, script, casting, direction, and music to boast about. Essentially, it does not get any better than this. Cary Grant is classic Cary Grant, as always, but he brings his A game here, which is to say he is terribly affable and charming, but slightly enigmatic and unreachable.

Kerr is incredibly down-to-earth and approachable, while remaining very refined and up on her pedestal, which is as it should be. Women don't get any more admirable than her character here. It always seems to rush by far too quickly, especially now that I know it so intimately.

The scenes with the old woman are especially poignant, but the real climax definitely arrives at the conclusion. One instinctively knows exactly what is coming, but McCarey knows exactly how to drag out the agony in order to make it maximally effective.

It's the kind of film that all future romances aspire to equal, but few, if any, have even the remotest chance of doing so. In other words, it feels like a classic for a reason: it is a film against which all others are measured and one that will forever live on in the memories of those that are under its spell.