Editing An Affair to Remember

{{short description|1957 film by Leo McCarey}}
{{use American English|date=November 2020}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = An Affair to Remember
| image          = AffairtoRemember.jpg
| director       = [[Leo McCarey]]
| producer       = Leo McCarey<br />[[Jerry Wald]]
| screenplay     = [[Delmer Daves]]<br />[[Donald Ogden Stewart]]<br />Leo McCarey
| story          = Leo McCarey<br />[[Mildred Cram]]
| starring       = [[Cary Grant]]<br />[[Deborah Kerr]]<br />[[Richard Denning]]
| music          = [[Hugo Friedhofer]]
| cinematography = [[Milton Krasner]]
| color_process  = [[DeLuxe Color]]
| editing        = [[James B. Clark (director)|James B. Clark]]
| studio         = Jerry Wald Productions
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{Film date|1957|7|19|ref1=<ref>{{cite web |url=http://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52082#3 |title=An Affair to Remember - Details |website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films |access-date=June 24, 2018 }}</ref>}}
| runtime        = 115 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $2.1 million<ref>{{cite book |last=Solomon |first=Aubrey |title=Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History |page=250 |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8108-4244-1}}</ref>
| gross          = $3.85 million (U.S./Canada rentals)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety209-1958-01/page/n85/mode/2up|title=Top Grossers of 1957|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|page=30|date=January 8, 1958|access-date=August 24, 2021|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
}}

'''''An Affair to Remember''''' is a 1957 American [[romance film]] directed by [[Leo McCarey]] and starring [[Cary Grant]] and [[Deborah Kerr]]. Filmed in [[CinemaScope]], it was distributed by [[20th Century Fox]]. It is considered among [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions|the most romantic films of all time]] according to the [[American Film Institute]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-passions/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050625071813/http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/passions.aspx |archive-date=2005-06-25 |access-date=2009-12-02 |website=American Film Institute}}</ref> The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film ''[[Love Affair (1939 film)|Love Affair]]'', starring [[Irene Dunne]] and [[Charles Boyer]].

==Plot==
Nickie Ferrante, a well-known [[Playboy lifestyle|playboy]], meets Terry McKay aboard the transatlantic ocean liner {{SS|Constitution}} en route from Europe to New York. Each is romantically involved with someone else. After a series of meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother Janou while the ship is anchored near her home at [[Villefranche-sur-Mer]] on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings become deeper. During their visit, Janou tells Terry that Nickie is a talented painter but destroys most of his paintings because they don't meet his standards. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the [[Empire State Building]] in six months' time if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.

On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, hurrying to reach the Empire State Building, is struck down by a car while crossing a street. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Nickie, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident and, after many hours, leaves at midnight, believing that she has rejected him.

After the accident, Terry, now unable to walk, refuses to contact Nickie because of her disability. Instead, she finds work as a music teacher. Nickie has pursued his painting and has his work displayed by Courbet, an art gallery owner. Six months after the accident, Terry sees Nickie with his former fiancée at the ballet. Nickie does not notice her condition because she is seated, and they both say hello.

Nickie learns Terry's address and on Christmas Eve pays her a surprise visit. Although he tries to coax her to explain her actions, Terry dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she lies. He gives Terry a shawl that Janou, who has died, left for her. As he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting on which he had been working when they first met, and that it was just given away to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been lying still on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees the painting hanging on the wall, realizing that she was the woman in the wheelchair. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace as Terry says, "If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don't you think?"

==Cast==
* [[Cary Grant]] as Nickie Ferrante
* [[Deborah Kerr]] as Terry McKay
* [[Richard Denning]] as Kenneth Bradley
* [[Neva Patterson]] as Lois Clark
* [[Cathleen Nesbitt]] as Janou (Nickie's grandmother)
* [[Robert Q. Lewis]] as himself (announcer)
* Charles Watts as Ned Hathaway
* [[Fortunio Bonanova]] as Courbet
* [[Marni Nixon]] as Terry McKay's singing voice

==Production==
The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film ''[[Love Affair (1939 film)|Love Affair]]'', starring [[Irene Dunne]] as Terry and [[Charles Boyer]] as the Gallic playboy Michel Marnet. Plans for a ''Love Affair'' remake were first reported in 1952, which had [[Fernando Lamas]] and [[Arlene Dahl]] attached to the project.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hyams |first1=Joe |title=Entertainment in the News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/683846458/ |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=1952-11-05 |page=14}}</ref>

Cary Grant first worked with McCarey on ''[[The Awful Truth]]'' and did not like McCarey's [[improvisation]]al strategy, but after eventually warming to it, he wished that he had starred in ''Love Affair'', and he often visited the set during production.<ref name="set">{{cite book |last1=Gehring |first1=Wes D. |title=Leo McCarey: From Marx to McCarthy |date=2005 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0810852632 |location=Lanham, Md. |page=221}}</ref> He enjoyed the film when it was released and convinced McCarey years later to remake it starring Grant in Boyer's role.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gehring |first1=Wes D. |title=Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood |date=2003 |isbn=978-0810858640 |pages=100–103|publisher=Scarecrow Press }}</ref> McCarey later commented: "[[Hollywood films]] all seem to be trying to find a trick way of saying 'I love you.' What are they trying to prove? Love is the oldest and noblest emotion."<ref>{{cite news |title=Comeback |work=New York Times |date=May 9, 1957}}</ref> ''An Affair to Remember'' was almost identical to the original on a scene-to-scene basis.<ref name="set"/><ref name="Jaynes-Trach">{{Cite web |last1=Jaynes |first1=Barbara Grant |last2=Trachtenberg |first2=Robert |date=2004 |title=Cary Grant: A Class Apart |url=http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=76185 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213200804/http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=76185 |archive-date=December 13, 2007 |website=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |publication-place=Burbank, California |quote=Grant believed that Love Affair was superior.}}</ref> McCarey used the same screenplay as was employed for the original film, written by [[Delmer Daves]] and [[Donald Ogden Stewart]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vermilye |first1=Jerry |title=Cary Grant |date=1973 |publisher=Galahad Books |location=New York |isbn=9780883652916 |page=123 |quote=The script, on which McCarey and Delmer Daves made some revisions...}}</ref> but Stewart was not included in the credits because he had been [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]]. Filming took place between February and April 1957.<ref name="grump"/>

Grant was reportedly grumpy during filming because his [[hypnotherapy]] with his wife caused him to dislike smoking.<ref name="grump">{{cite book |last1=Eastman |first1=John |url=https://archive.org/details/retakesbehindsce0000east/page/2 |title=Retakes: Behind the Scenes of 500 Classic Movies |date=1989 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=9780345353993 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=3–4}}</ref> He also underwent an operation during production to treat a lump on his forehead that resulted from a childhood injury.<ref name="grump"/>

The theme song "[[An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)]]," composed by [[Harry Warren]] and with lyrics by [[Leo McCarey]] and [[Harold Adamson]], was sung by [[Vic Damone]] over the opening credits and by [[Marni Nixon]] (who [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbed]] Kerr)<ref name="grump"/> during the film.

==Songs==
* ''[[An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)]]'' sung by [[Vic Damone]]
* "Continué," sung by [[Marni Nixon]] (dubbing for Deborah Kerr)
* "The Tiny Scout (He Knows You Inside Out)" sung by Marni Nixon (dubbing for Deborah Kerr)
* "Tomorrow Land" sung by Marni Nixon (dubbing for Deborah Kerr)
* "You Make It Easy to Be True"
All of the above;
* Music by [[Harry Warren]]
* Lyrics by [[Harold Adamson]] and [[Leo McCarey]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050105/soundtrack/?ref_=tt_trv_snd |title=An Affair to Remember Soundtracks |website=IMDb.com |access-date=August 27, 2024}}</ref>

==Novelization==
In anticipation of the film's release, [[Avon Books]] published a paperback novelization of the screenplay. The byline Owen Aherne was a pseudonym for American novelist [[R.V. Cassill]].

==Reception==
===Box office===
In October 1958 ''Variety'' estimated the film had earned $7 million worldwide.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety212-1958-10/page/n318/mode/1up?|title=Wald counts his b.o. blessings|date=29 October 1958|page=3}}</ref>
===Critical reaction===
[[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' found the early part of the film fairly enjoyable, with "plenty of humorous conversation that is handled crisply" by the leads, but concluded that the picture goes wrong after the couple disembarks, writing: "The marriage pact seems ridiculously childish for a couple of adult people to make. The lady's failure to notify her fiancé of her accident seems absurd. The fact that the man does not hear of it in some way is beyond belief. And the slowness with which he grasps the obvious when he calls upon the lady is just too thick."<ref>{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/07/20/archives/the-screen-an-affair-to-remember-stewart-granger-stars-in-gun-glory.html |date=July 20, 1957 |title=The Screen: 'An Affair to Remember' |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=8 }}</ref> [[Richard L. Coe]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' agreed, writing that the film "boasts early amusing reels that ultimately become unbelievably foolish in the quest for audience tears."<ref>{{cite news |last=Coe |first=Richard L. |date=July 27, 1957 |title=Love, Sweat — And Tears |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=D7 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' disagreed, calling the romance "never maudlin" and "wholly believable" in a positive review of what it called "a winning film" with "all the ingredients that should make it an ideal women's picture."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/variety207-1957-07/page/n203/mode/2up |date=July 17, 1957 |title=Film Reviews: An Affair to Remember |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=6 |via=Internet Archive }}</ref> ''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' was also positive, calling it "more enchanting and delightful than the original" and "so powerful in the closing scenes that one is unable to fight back the tears."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/harrisonsreports39harr/page/n135/mode/2up |date=July 13, 1957 |title='An Affair to Remember' with Cary Grant and Deborah Keer |magazine=[[Harrison's Reports]] |page=112 |via=Internet Archive }}</ref> [[John McCarten]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' was dismissive, writing that the actors were "tolerable, but the movie is really awfully maudlin."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=McCarten |first=John |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1957/08/03/1957-08-03-048-tny-cards-000058261 |date=August 3, 1957 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |page=48 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> A generally positive review in ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' called the film "a lush slice of Hollywood romanticism, unashamedly following most of the familiar conventions of glossy magazine fiction. To judge it on a higher level would normally seem unfair if it were not that here the script does succeed in cutting rather deeper. The relationship between Ferrante and Terry McKay is briskly developed, with an attractive, often touching humor."<ref>{{cite journal |date=October 1957 |title=An Affair to Remember |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=24 |issue=285 |page=122 }}</ref> The ''[[Philadelphia Inquirer]]'' review invoked the 1939 original: "18 years ago we wept and worried over the romantic pangs of Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer in 'Love Affair.' It seems distinctly unimportant now when misunderstandings disrupt the billing and cooing of Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant in 'An Affair to Remember,' Leo McCarey's interminably extended version of 'Love Affair'."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Mildred |date=4 August 1957 |title=Vintage Tales are Revived |work=[[Philadelphia Inquirer]] |page=13}}</ref>

The film holds a 67% rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 33 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Affair to Remember|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/affair_to_remember|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref> In 1998, [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies|AFI Top 100]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum |date=June 25, 1998 |title=List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619 |newspaper=[[Chicago Reader]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413120818/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619 |archive-date=April 13, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> It is one of the [[BFI]]'s "50 great Christmas films currently streaming".<ref>{{Cite web |title=50 great Christmas films currently streaming |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/50-great-christmas-films-currently-streaming |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref>

==Accolades==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[30th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]<ref name="Oscars1958">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1958 |title=The 30th Academy Awards (1958) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2011-08-21 |publisher=Oscars.org ([[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706094132/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/30th-winners.html |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| [[Milton Krasner]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]
| [[Charles LeMaire]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring]]
| [[Hugo Friedhofer]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Song]]
| "[[An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)|An Affair to Remember]]" <br /> Music by [[Harry Warren]]; <br /> Lyrics by [[Leo McCarey]] and [[Harold Adamson]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| Boxoffice Magazine Awards
| Best Picture of the Month for the Whole Family (August)
| rowspan="2" | [[Leo McCarey]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[10th Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1950s/1957.aspx?value=1957|title=10th DGA Awards |website=[[Directors Guild of America Awards]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Laurel Awards]]
| Top Music Composer
| Hugo Friedhofer
| {{draw|5th Place}}
|-
| [[Photoplay#The Photoplay Magazine Medal of Honor|Photoplay Awards]]
| colspan="2"| Gold Medal
| {{won}}
|}

* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions]] – #5<ref name=":0" />

== Legacy ==
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2018}}

* [[Nora Ephron]]'s 1993 film ''[[Sleepless in Seattle]]'', starring [[Tom Hanks]] and [[Meg Ryan]], was partly inspired by ''An Affair to Remember'', particularly the ending. References, clips and the theme song from the earlier film are used throughout.
* A [[Love Affair (1994 film)|1994 remake]], reverting to the original title of ''Love Affair'', starred [[Warren Beatty]] (who also wrote and produced) and his wife [[Annette Bening]]. The film featured [[Katharine Hepburn]] in her last screen appearance, portraying the male protagonist's aunt; this character replaces the grandmother from the original film.
* ''İlk Aşk'', a 1960 Turkish film, was an adaptation of the film.
* ''[[Bheegi Raat]]'', a 1965 [[Bollywood]] film starring [[Ashok Kumar]] and [[Meena Kumari]], was an adaptation of the film.
* ''Yağmur'', a 1971 Turkish film starring [[Hülya Koçyiğit]] and [[Ediz Hun]], was an adaptation of the film.
* ''[[Mann (film)|Mann]]'', a 1999 Bollywood film starring [[Aamir Khan]] and [[Manisha Koirala]] was almost a scene-by-scene copy of the film.
* The 1999 Indian [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-language film ''[[Ravoyi Chandamama]]'' was an adaptation of the film.
* In 2009, the HBO film ''[[Grey Gardens (2009 film)|Grey Gardens]]'' licensed an aerial shot of [[The Pierre]] hotel from this film.<ref>Grey Gardens DVD - 2009 - HBO - Audio commentary with executive producers Michael Sucsy, Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Rachael Horovitz</ref>
* The climax of the 1980 Bollywood film ''[[Ek Baar Kaho]]'' is inspired by this film's climax.
* A sound clip from the film was used on [[Basement (band)|Basement's]] 2011 album ''I Wish I Could Stay Here'' in the song "Fading."
* In a Season 3 episode of ''[[Gossip Girl (TV series)|Gossip Girl]]'', characters Chuck and Blair rekindle their love and agree to meet on top of the Empire State Building at 7:01&nbsp;p.m., as in the film.
* In the TV series ''[[30 Rock]]'', Tracy Jordan claims to have starred in a remake of ''An Affair to Remember'' titled ''A Blaffair to Rememblack''.
* In an episode of the TV series ''[[Family Guy]]'', there is a [[cutaway gag]] of what the film would be like in the age of cell phones. After being struck, Terry tells Nickie that she is paralyzed, and he abruptly ends the call and tosses the phone off the observation deck.
* In the episode "[[Meanwhile (Futurama)|Meanwhile]]" of the TV series ''[[Futurama]]'', after proposing to Leela, Fry invites her to meet him atop the Vampire State Building at 6:30 pm if she agrees to marry him. If she does not arrive, he will infer rejection.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|An Affair to Remember (film)}}
* {{AFI film|52082}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/an-affair-to-remember-am615 ''An Affair to Remember'' at AllMovie]
* {{IMDb title|0050105}}
* {{TCMDb title|66847}}
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|affair_to_remember}}

{{Leo McCarey}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Affair To Remember, An}}
[[Category:1957 films]]
[[Category:1957 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Remakes of American films]]
[[Category:American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Empire State Building in fiction]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films about people with paraplegia or tetraplegia]]
[[Category:Films directed by Leo McCarey]]
[[Category:Films produced by Jerry Wald]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films set in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Films set on ships]]
[[Category:Films about disability in the United States]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Donald Ogden Stewart]]
[[Category:Photoplay Awards film of the year winners]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Hugo Friedhofer]]
[[Category:CinemaScope films]]
[[Category:American Christmas films]]
[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]