Customer Reviews

Love Affair

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Later remade multiple times, "Love Affair" is a semi-forgotten little romance movie from an earlier age of moviemaking. The plot is as simple and sweet as the title, with its tale of true love found, disrupted, and found again -- the sort of love affair we all wish we could have.

Playboy Michel (Charles Boyer) encounters nightclub singer Terry (Irene Dunne) and flirts with her, but backs away when she says that she's engaged. He is too. But they keep bumping into each other, and their friendship grows as their feelings do. As the voyage ends, they promise to meet in six months at the Empire State building, to see if Michel can be a responsible husband.

In the six months that follow, he does become a successful sign painter -- then a portrait artist. But on the day they're supposed to meet, Terry is run down by a car and may be crippled for life -- and the heartbroken Michel thinks she has dumped him. It will take another twist of fate to bring them back together.

"Love Affair" has been remade at least three times, including as the classic "Affair to Remember" and the blockbuster "Sleepless in Seattle." But though the original is the least known, it's still the most enchanting -- you can almost forget that you're watching a pair of actors doing their job. Most onscreen romances can't boast that.

The charm of their love affair is that it's so simple. They talk awkwardly, visit Michel's kindly old grandmother, and even pounce on a paparazzi who photographs them. The are obstacles, but director Leo McCarthy doesn't throw any strained artificial twists into the storyline. The whole crippled-by-a-car thing could have taken the movie into soapy-melodrama territory, but it's handled pretty matter-of-factly.

And Boyer and Dunne really make this movie. They actually act like a couple falling in love despite themselves -- awkward, a little chattery, thinking just of each other. As the movie wears on, they grow more comfortable with each, and it becomes clearer why the feisty American girl and the idle Frenchman are falling for each other. Both do an amazing job, especially Boyer in the final scene, when he realize.

It should be noted that there aren't currently ANY good prints of this movie available for purchase, and this is no exception. It desperately needs to be cleaned up, remastered and reissued, but until that happens, expect somewhat blurry pictures and slightly crackly sound. Iy's a credit to the movie that its enjoyability isn't affected by the bad copies.

"Love Affair" is one of those really magical love stories, with its simple story and amazing acting. Romantic, beautiful and sweet, this is definitely a must-see.

The quality of the DVD is good enough to be able to enjoy the movie. No white outs, black outs or pixalation. On the other hand it is not what you can call great. I noticed a sound problem for a few minutes but I could tolerate it. This DVD is adequate until someone puts out a restored version. I prefer movies on DVD even if the VHS version is better. The story and actors are just great. In short don't pay too much and don't expect too much and you can enjoy a great old movie. That said let's hope someone restores it.

This review is for "Love Affair" with Charles boyer and Irene Dunne. Studio: Alpha Video. Release Date: Sep 9 2003.

The DVD from Alpha is NOT good quality. I've bought Alpha released films before, and thought I'd take the chance to purchase from again. But it was a mistake. I recommend if there are other studio releases of this film, you take a chance on those. Alpha isn't a reliable source of classic movies.

The movie is sad and romantic. I saw "an affair to remember" first, but after watching this version, I prefer the original better. Both versions are really good. It's just my personal preference. I relate to this version better because I find that the singing scenes in the later version (with deborah Kerr) a little contrived. This is more natural, relatable, and enjoyable. You should definately take a chance and watch this movie.

Delta Entertainment didn't care much for restoring the movie. The quality of picture is bad, very grainy; sometimes picture frame moves over the whole screen; I have even seen noisy lines specific to VCR. I suspect, Delta just digitized the movie off a VHS tape, not off the master. Upsetting...
The movie itself is OK.

Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne star in this delightful romance movie, which opens with some brilliant dialogue, then devolves into a convoluted melodrama, as the screenwriters struggle to come up with *some* silly reason these two star-crossed lovers shouldn't get together. Both actors are splendid in their roles.

LOVE AFFAIR is one of many films whose theme is that love does not adhere to imposed schedule. What distinguishes this movie from other and similar ones is what the actors do and say after they realize this. Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) and Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) are each romantically involved with other people when they meet and fall in love on a sea voyage to New York. This sort of thing happens often enough in real life but their reaction to their new emotions reveals their basic decency and depth of feeling. They agree to meet months later on the top floor of the Empire State Building to cement their relation. Thus far, the tone is one of light, romantic comedy. However, LOVE AFFAIR takes an unexpected tragic detour as Terry is crippled in a car accident. Other movies have often dealt with issues in which one lover grows ill or crippled, but in this film, one of the lovers (Terry) makes things worse by hiding her condition by running away from Michel. For most of the second half, Terry and Michel are apart physically but connected emotionally. Each copes with the separation as best as they can. Michel's grief is probably the easier to cope with since he feels that he was unjustly jilted so what can he do about that except heal. Terry's grief is more multi-faceted since she has to live with a series of complicating factors, only one of which (her being confined to a wheelchair) is beyond her control. She must reconcile her present unhappiness with the unpleasant realization that she could have tossed away a life of bliss with a man who might not have been scared off by the prospect of a wheelchair bound wife. Miss Dunne was a deserved nominee for Best Actress as she manages to hide her misgivings about her decision to break off the relation beneath smile and song. Charles Boyer is convincing as a man who loses his love, does not know why, and then must face the consequences of factors totally beyond his control. LOVE AFFAIR is not your three hanky sobber. Rather it is an intelligent exploration of love gone astray, a condition exacerbated when one of them discovers that this love sometimes needs a healthy dose of honesty and confidence to keep it on track.

Irene Dunne glows in this movie. She delivers the jokes and poignant lines in an effortless, natural way way Kerr never could. Dunne is just funnier and Charles Boyer is much more expressive than Grant.

Normally I'm a die hard Cary Grant fan but "Love Affair" is the best version of this wonderful story. It inspires both laughs and tears. Five stars isn't enough. I keep a copy of this close at hand for those rainy days...

Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer star as a pair of sophisticates who meet and fall in love while on a cruise. They are both engaged to marry other people but are willing to cut off their respective engagements for each other. They decide that if they still feel the same about each other in six months time, they will end their engagements and pursue their romance further. Six months pass and they still feel the same about each other, but a heartbreaking tragedy strikes one of them and changes everything about their relationship. This is a first rate film and one of the best films from 1939 as well as from the decade itself. Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer are in top dramatic form and give excellent performances. Also stars Maria Ouspenskaya. This is definitely a must see!

This is a classic of romance with Charles Boyer. The main hero gently court a young woman on a transatlantic ship on its way to New York. The trip ends with a rendez-vous at the top of the Empire State Building in three months for an instant wedding. But the lady has an accident on her way to the rendez-vous, at the very foot of the Empire State Building, and remains a cripple. She does not have her lover know about it. So he waits in vain, he goes back to France and then comes back to New York and he finally discovers the truth. So he visits her on Christmas day and this last scene is the sweet and sour French touch. He accuses himself to have missed the rendez-vous. She plays the game. He offers her a present that represents their first transtlantic journey and the broken promise, broken by him he says. Till the very last minute we do not know which one of the sweet or the sour will take over, love reconquered or a final departure. The ending of course is happy, but the art of the film is in all the nuances and subtleties of the dialogue and of the situations. Charles Boyer obviously brought a French touch to very common romance films in the thirties.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This is an abominably engineered DVD of a great movie. It isn't worth one cent of its bargain-basement price. Don't buy it -- get this title on VHS instead. Overall, both picture and sound are worse than the VHS version. It appears to have been produced by simply copying a tape version onto a disc. The picture is frequently blurred, and the soundtrack contains what appear to be fragments of conversations and music in the studio where it was recorded. The soundtrack also is done in a "pseudo-surround" format, consisting of distributing the entire track (voices and music) equally over all five speakers. The dialogue is also frequently hard to make out. I would be doubtful about any DVD from this distributor, MADACY entertainment.