Love Affair (1939).

Review #1350: Love Affair.

Cast: 
Irene Dunne (Terry McKay), Charles Boyer (Michel Marnet), Maria Ouspenskaya (Grandmother Janou), Lee Bowman (Kenneth Bradley), Astrid Allwyn (Lois Clarke), Maurice Moscovitch (Maurice Cobert), Scotty Beckett (Boy on Ship), and Frank McGlynn Sr. (Orphanage Superintendent) Directed by Leo McCarey (#085 - Duck Soup)

Review: 
Sometimes, one just needs a quaint romance film. In that sense, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising to have it be from Leo McCarey. A graduate of USC Gould School of Law, he tried his hand at various professions from law to songwriting before being hired by Tod Browning as an assistant director in 1919, based on a referring by actor and future director David Butler. His subsequent work with Hal Roach at his studio helped with skills in humor for gags, such as with the Our Gang series or shorts with Charley Chase (who McCarey felt appreciation for helping him in his career). He started his feature career with Wild Company (1930) and had a career of four decades with numerous headline stars ranging from the Marx Brothers (Duck Soup) to Dunne and Cary Grant (The Awful Truth, 1937) to Bing Crosby (Going My Way, 1944), with his work resulting in three Academy Awards (twice for direction, once for story). This film was the work of five writers: Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart, S.N. Behrman for screenplay and director-producer McCarey and Mildred Cram for story.

I will admit that this film does succeed in working some of its charm on me to win me over. In lesser hands, this could have proven to be a mawkish and overly sentimental mess, particularly with its second half turn. However, a smooth duo and gentle direction makes this worth a look, particularly with a fair pace at 87 minutes. Dunne does a tremendous job here, pulling off an expressive and graceful performance that resonates with the charming and absorbing Boyer. The rest of the cast is decent enough, such as a warm but quick appearance from Ouspenskaya. Of course the turn with having one of the leads being run over nearly derails the experience. I suppose not telling your lover about the fact you couldn't walk to avoid being a burden could make sense (I favor brutal honesty), but McCarey manages to make the eyes focused on how these two will adjust apart rather than rolling over, where improvisation rules the day more than predictability. When it reaches its end, one will find satisfaction with how it served for entertainment, accomplishing what it sets out to do without too many troubles. At least one can say its main stars liked their experiences, since Dunne and Boyer both described it as their favorite in their careers, and the two would later star in two more films together. Interestingly enough, this film has been remade twice. The first was in 1957 with An Affair to Remember with Grant and Deborah Kerr directed by none other than McCarey again. It was then remade under the original title in 1994 with Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, and Katherine Hepburn with direction by Glenn Gordon Caron. In any case, one can find this in the public domain and not regret their decision, a film with some passion and effectiveness from its stars and director that go together nicely.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.