An Affair to Remember 金玉盟

An Affair to Remember(金玉盟)is a 1957 film directed by Leo McCarey. The film is considered one of the most romantic film. It was a remake of film Love Affair. McCarey used the same screenplay as the original film, which was written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart. Clips from An Affair to Remember were used as "reference points" throughout the 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle(西雅图不眠夜), which likewise concluded atop the Empire State Building. Contributing to the success of the 1957 film is its theme song "An Affair to Remember" composed by Harry Warren. The song is sung by Vic Damone during the opening credits and was dubbed by Marni Nixon.

Directed by: Leo McCarey

Produced by: Leo McCarey Jerry Wald

Written by: Leo McCarey Mildred Cram 

Cinematography: Milton Krasner

Editing by: David Bretherton

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Release date: July 2, 1957

Running time: 119 min.

Language: English

Color type: Color

Tone: Bittersweet Poignant Sentimental Warm Humorous

Genre: Comedy Drama Romance

Cary Grant as Nickie Ferrante

Richard Denning as Kenneth Bradley

Neva Patterson as Lois Clark

Cathleen Nesbitt as Grandmother Janou

Charles Watts as Ned Hathaway

Fortunio Bonanova as Courbet

Matt Moore as Fr. McGrath

Louis Mercier as Mario

 

Deborah Kerr as Terry McKay

Geraldine Wall as Miss Webb

Nora Marlowe as Gladys

Sarah Selby as Miss Lane

Alberto Morin as Bartender

Genevieve Aumont as Gabriello

Notorious playboy Nickie Ferrante(Grant)makes worldwide headlines when he becomes engaged to Lois Clark(Patterson), one of the richest heiresses in America. While sailing from France to New York to meet his intended, Nickie is intrigued when he sees fellow passenger Terry McKay(Kerr)carrying his misplaced cigarette case. After Terry returns the case, Nickie tries to flatter her, prompting her to comment sarcastically on his reputation. When Nickie follows Terry to her room, she points to the photograph of Kenneth(Denning), her fiancé. Although Terry steadfastly resists Nickie's charm, she accepts his dinner invitation.

The next day, as each receives a message from his or her sweetheart, Terry tells Nickie that she worked as a nightclub singer until meeting the wealthy Kenneth, who has been schooling her on how to be the perfect cultured wife. Concerned that their fellow passengers may gossip about their budding friendship, Terry insists that she and Nickie go their separate ways. That night, when they are seated back to back at different dining tables, the room breaks out into laughter at their charade. During a chance meeting in the swimming pool the next morning, Nickie invites Terry to meet his grandmother when the ship docks at Madeira. Terry is certain that he is taking her to visit another one of his conquests until she meets the gracious aging woman who inhabits the serene villa on the hill.

There, Terry and Nickie kneel in the chapel together, and Nickie is profoundly moved when Terry solemnly bows her head in prayer. Terry learns that Nickie is a talented artist, but that his restlessness has prevented him from developing his ability. His grandmother then confides that she hopes Terry may provide the anchor to Nickie's rootlessness. Later, as the grandmother plays a tune on the piano, Terry accompanies her in song. Their idyll ends when the ship's horn summons them back.

That night aboard the ship, Terry thanks Nickie for a memorable day, and after they kiss, Nickie comments that they have changed course. On the evening before docking in New York, Terry confesses that she no longer loves Kenneth. Realizing that they have both finally found happiness, Nickie proposes and

asks Terry to wait for him six months so that he can prove himself worthy of supporting her. Terry promises to give him her answer in the morning. The next day, as they sail into the New York harbor, Terry makes a date to meet Nickie in six months, on July 1, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and Nickie suggests that they reunite at the Empire State Building, the nearest thing to heaven in New York. When the ship docks, Nickie and Terry half-heartedly greet their intendeds, and as Kenneth hugs Terry with his back to Nickie, Nickie pauses and tenderly places a kiss on Terry's hand.

At Lois' estate, Nickie is about to break his engagement when a television reporter arrives to interview the couple whose "romance has captured the imagination of the whole world". Kenneth and Terry watch the interview, and when Terry reacts emotionally to Nickie's statement that he plans to marry in six months, Kenneth realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Three months of hard work later,

Nickie takes a series of paintings to Courbet, the art dealer. Although Courbet advises Nickie to trade on his notoriety, Nickie insists on painting under a pseudonym. Terry, meanwhile, has resumed her singing career in Boston. Desperate for money, Nickie takes a job as a billboard painter until he finally sells his first canvas. At the end of six months, Terry flies to New York. In anticipation of her wedding, she stops at her favorite dress shop to buy an  frock. When the clerk notifies Kenneth that Terry is there, he hurries to meet her. Protesting that she is late, Terry rushes out the door.

 

After hailing a cab to the Empire State Building, Terry jumps out at her destination and with her eyes focused skyward, she is struck by an oncoming car. High atop the Empire State Building, meanwhile, Nickie anxiously awaits Terry's arrival, impervious to the ambulance sirens below. As midnight approaches, a torrential rainstorm breaks over the city and Nickie, despondent, ends his vigil. Meanwhile, in a nearby hospital, an incoherent Terry calls for Nickie, and her doctor informs Kenneth that she may never walk again. Stubbornly refusing to contact Nickie until she is able to walk, the convalescing Terry takes a job teaching music to orphaned children. Upon his grandmother's death, Nickie makes a final pilgrimage to her villa and wistfully recalls the blissful night he spent there with Terry.

At Christmastime, Nickie returns to New York for a showing of his work, and is invited by Lois to attend the theater. After the performance, Nickie is stunned to see Terry seated on the aisle with Kenneth. On Christmas Eve, Nickie, unaware of Terry's condition, appears at her door and finds her reclining on the couch. After bitterly reproaching her for failing to keep their rendezvous, Nickie presents her with his grandmother's shawl. As Terry drapes the shawl across her shoulders, Nickie sardonically remarks that he once painted her wearing that shawl. He continues that Courbet told him that a young, crippled woman admired the painting with such fervor that he instructed the art dealer to give it to her. Finally comprehending that Terry was that woman, Nickie flings open her bedroom door and, seeing the painting, is confronted with the painful truth of her condition. Finally he tearfully embraces her, and all is revealed about the fateful day they were supposed to meet.

Contributing to the success of the 1957 film is its theme song "An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)" composed by Harry Warren with lyrics by Leo McCarey and Harold Adamson. The song is sung by Vic Damone during the opening credits and then sung later by Deborah Kerr's character, a nightclub singer. Kerr's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon.

An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)

Music by: Harry Warren
Lyrics by: Harold Adamson and Leo McCarey
Sung by: Vic Damone over opening credits

Our love affair is a wondrous thing
That we'll rejoice in remembering
Our love was born with our first embrace
And a page was torn out of time and space

Our love affair, may it always be
A flame to burn through eternity
So take my hand with a fervent prayer
That we may live and we may share
A love affair to remember

An open water shot of the Constitution shows the wake from the camera boat.

Nickie's position when leaning on the piano changes.

A camera shadow falls on a man and a plant when Terry comes out of the dress shop.

Terri moved to a new apartment after becoming paraplegic, yet she chose an apartment where she has to descend two steps between the door and the living room.

Terry McKay: And all I could say was, "hello".

Terry McKay: Oh, it's nobody's fault but my own! I was looking up... it was the nearest thing to heaven! You were there.

Nickie: There must be something between us, even if it's only an ocean.

Terry McKay: If you can paint I can walk — anything can happen, right?

Terry McKay: The Empire State Building is the closest thing to heaven in this city.

Terry McKay: What makes life so difficult?
Nickie Ferrante: People.

The film suffers from a certain unevenness. After its engaging first act, the lengthy second act during which the lovers are waiting out the six months, which includes some subpar musical numbers by Kerr, is an exercise in tedium. The film's reputation is based upon its lachrymose denouement. With a film like this, one is tempted to conjecture about the enduring appeal of something so patently false. But if one takes Kerr's accidental injury as a metaphor for her own sense of unworthiness or fear of loving and being loved, along with Grant's love for her in spite of her "fault," the source of its power seems much easier to accept.

There is a reason why "An Affair to Remember" has remained a classic over the years. It contains all the elements the audience is looking for in an entertaining film. It has two marvelous stars, a timeless plot, and it transports the audience to a different world.

I love "An Affair to Remember" because it showcases the incomparable talents of my two favorite stars at their best. I know some people say that this movie is too sentimental and corny, but part of its allure is that it is not too realistic. It gives us an escape into the ideal world where everyone is good looking and charming. Nowadays, movies like to play on the realism of life. This movie is for all the romantics out there who are looking for a film to fall in love with.

Academy Awards

Best Cinematography, Milton R. Krasner
Best Costume Design, Charles Le Maire
Best Music, Original Song, Harry Warren (music) Harold Adamson (lyrics) Leo McCarey (lyrics)               Best Music, Scoring, Hugo Friedhofer

Directors Guild of America

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Leo McCarey

Laurel Awards

Top Music Composer, Hugo Friedhofer

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Best Cinematography Milton Krasner                                                                  Best Costume Design Charles LeMaire 
Best Score Hugo W. Friedhofer 
Best Song Harold Adamson, Leo McCarey, Harry Warren 

Directors Guild of America 

Best Director Leo McCarey

No.5 on the AFI list of America's greatest love stories. 

Cary Grant as No.2 on the AFI list of the greatest American screen legends among males

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