Review of An Affair to Remember (1957) by Gregory S — 14 Aug 2009

It might seem odd to open a review for a Cary Grant film with quotes from the Clash but what the hell. In a interview with Tom Synder, they pointed out they didn't write love songs because they felt the subject was covered. Now of course I'm not suggesting that the film isn't about love but that McCarey knows how much has been said about it so the film avoids the explanatory dialogue abou love we see so often today, but more on that in a bit.

The picture goes as follows, Cary Grant is a well known playboy and painter who comes across singer Debra Karr on a boat trip and they fall in love despite each of them being involved with other people.The two come to a decsion to reunite six months later provided the two both feel the same way.

Now I'm a firm believer in "it's not what a film is about, its how it's about" as idea for the story is noy incredibly original(since its a re-make of a film also by MCcarey). The strength of the film lies in McCarey's approach, he was an interesting case because he was trained in silent comedy, but experienced in screwball/romantic comedy(which essentially was an invention of sound) and as he told Bogdanovich he didn't like basing humor on dialogue. This didn't mean his films were nothing but slapstick but that he was able to examine subtle bits of humor many would overlook, and when taking that approach Cary Grant may be one of the best actors there is after all many forget Cary Grant had a background in Vaudeville and also that it was McCarey who is often credited with crafting the Cary Grant character we all know.

With a film like An affair to Remember the idea of not relying on dialogue(and the dialogue that is there is often improvised) gives the film a sense of freedom and captures the spontaneous nature of falling in love, or as McCarey himself said 'walk in the clouds'. An excellent example of this played for laughs is in maybe the film's most famous shot in which Grant and Karr decide not have dinner together so that they dont attract attention; they sit in separate booths.... that happen to be back to back to scene is a series of attempts to carry on conversation unnoticed cut back every now and then to the rest of the dining rooms reactions (in a way the scene might even be poking fun at the absurdities of dialogue).

Now the film is not perfect, a few scenes go on too long and there is a few bits that seem like they are there to fill time, including a song by a cast of children. But in the end of the film I don�¢t think these faults overshadow how nuanced the film's perspective on love is. It may not be McCarey's best film it's not quite as moving as 'Make way for Tomorrow' or as flwaless as 'Duck Soup' but is on par with his best like 'The Awful Truth' and that's no small feat.