An Affair to Remember (1957)

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers (WGA):

Delmer Daves (screenplay) and
Leo McCarey (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 July 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

On the Riviera...across the ocean...and all over New York!

Plot:

A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?

Plot Keywords:

Love | Playboy | Christmas | Paralytic | Painting

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. Nov. 26	4:00 PM	PBS
Sat. Nov. 28	11:00 PM	PBS

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Nickie Ferrante
Deborah Kerr	...	Terry McKay
Richard Denning	...	Kenneth Bradley
Neva Patterson	...	Lois Clark
Cathleen Nesbitt	...	Grandmother Janou
Robert Q. Lewis	...	Himself - Announcer
Charles Watts	...	Ned Hathaway
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Courbet

Also Known As:

Leo McCarey's An Affair to Remember (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | Australia:G | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:G | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Peru:PT | USA:Approved (certificate #18547) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Jerry Wald Productions

Trivia:

A Bollywood film with the title Mann (1999) starring Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala was inspired by this movie.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Nicky enters Terri's (Debra Kerr's) apartment, he calls her "Debbie".

Quotes:

Nickie Ferrante: Tell me. Did you write the song "I'll Never Smile Again"?
Terry McKay: [laughs] No. But I'm thinking of writing one called "Moon Over La Gabriella." Do you think it will ever take the place of night baseball?
[Shakes her head]
Terry McKay: .

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Spin City: An Affair to Remember (#1.17)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Continué

Rusalka's eighteenth film review: A pearl in Pink Champagne

This film has to be the best romantic film that I've ever seen, even above Gone With the Wind, and Casablanca, but on the same level as The English Patient (my favorite film of all time). After I saw Sleepless in Seattle when I was in high school and caught the many references to this film, I decided to check it out for myself. Needless to say, with the whole "shipboard romance" aspect of it, and the promise to meet again in six months atop the Empire State Building of all places, I quickly became hooked. The scene that takes place on the French Riviera with Nickie's grandmother playing the piano, oh God is it beautiful! Cary Grant is so debonair and suave and Deborah Kerr is so ravishing and stunningly beautiful, that it always demands repeated viewings from me (at least twice a year).

Seeing this film always makes me wonder if something like the kind of relationship describes within this film would actually BE possible in real life. Would and could someone actually leave the person they were engaged to in order to marry a complete and total stranger they just met days ago? I'd like to think that it could, but then again I am nothing but a hopeless romantic. The final scene always tears my heart out no matter how many times I've seen it. I'm always sobbing. Watching this film around the fourteenth day of February (even if you are single) is always a treat. It allows our fantasies to take wing so that we may think we are actually the one meeting our beloved atop the Empire State Building in a thunderstorm.

Watch this film with a box of industrial-strength kleenex nearby.

My rating: 4 stars