An Affair to Remember (1957)

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

11 July 1957 (USA)

Genre:

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:

Playboy | Night Club | Singer | Love | Cruise Ship

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Adams	...	Mother at Rehersal (uncredited)
Richard Allen	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Geneviève Aumont	...	Gabriella (uncredited)
Al Bain	...	(uncredited)
Butch Bernard	...	(uncredited)
Dino Bolognese	...	Italian TV Commentator (uncredited)
Paul Bradley	...	Man (uncredited)
Mary Carroll	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Norman Champion III	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Kathleen Charney	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Brian Corcoran	...	Boy - Age 5 (uncredited)
Tony De Mario	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Minta Durfee	...	Ship Passenger (uncredited)
Michka Egan	...	Waiter on Ship (uncredited)
Suzanne Ellers	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Juney Ellis	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Theresa Emerson	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Jesslyn Fax	...	Terry's Landlady (uncredited)
Priscilla Garcia	...	Marie - French Child (uncredited)
Ken Kane	...	(uncredited)
Terry Ross Kelman	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Walter Woolf King	...	Doctor in Hospital (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Ship's Dance Floor Extra (uncredited)
Jack Lomas	...	Sign Painter (uncredited)
Robert Lynn	...	Second Doctor (uncredited)
Nora Marlowe	...	Gladys - Terry's Maid (uncredited)
Nita Mathews	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Helen Mayon	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Anthony Mazzola	...	Page Boy (uncredited)
Louis Mercier	...	Mario (uncredited)
Matt Moore	...	Father McGrath (uncredited)
Alberto Morin	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Scotty Morrow	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Alena Murray	...	Airline Stewardess (uncredited)
Marni Nixon	...	Terry McKay (singing voice) (uncredited)
Tom Nolan	...	Redhead (uncredited)
Don Pietro	...	Page Boy (uncredited)
Patricia Powell	...	Blonde (uncredited)
Jack Raine	...	British TV Commentator (uncredited)
Sarah Selby	...	Miss Lane (uncredited)
Marc Snegoff	...	(uncredited)
Marc Snow	...	Ship's Photographer (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Maitre d' (uncredited)
Tina Thompson	...	Orphan (uncredited)
Roger Til	...	French Commentator (uncredited)
Geraldine Wall	...	Miss Webb (uncredited)

Directed by
Leo McCarey

Writing credits (WGA)
Delmer Daves		(screenplay) and
Donald Ogden Stewart		(screenplay) originally uncredited and
Leo McCarey		(screenplay)
Leo McCarey		(story) and
Mildred Cram		(story)

Produced by
Jerry Wald	....	producer

Original Music by
Hugo Friedhofer

Cinematography by
Milton R. Krasner		(director of photography) (as Milton Krasner)

Film Editing by
James B. Clark

Art Direction by
Jack Martin Smith
Lyle R. Wheeler

Set Decoration by
Paul S. Fox
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Gaston Glass	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gilbert Mandelik	....	assistant director
Jack Gertsman	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
Charles Peck	....	sound
James Loomis	....	recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	executive wardrobe designer
Joan Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)
Kay Reed	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Mickey Sherrard	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Leonard Doss	....	color consultant
Lyman Hallowell	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Ken Darby	....	vocal supervisor
Pete King	....	orchestrator
Lionel Newman	....	conductor
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator
Bernard Mayers	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Pat Miller	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
• Jerry Wald Productions

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1957) (France) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1963) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Fox Video (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Emerald (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Canada) (DVD) (4-film collection)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (4-film collection)
• Seven Films (2012) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Fox Video (????) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Winkler Film (2010) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Mi Casa Multimedia  restoration and preservation

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:

Argentina:13 | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Peru:PT | USA:Approved (certificate #18547) | West Germany:12 | Hong Kong:I | Australia:G | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:G | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

French Riviera, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In the "50th anniversary" DVD release, one of the bonus features is a Movietone News piece about the shipboard premiere of the movie aboard the S.S. Constitution, identified in the newsreel as the location for filming.

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Family Ties: Not an Affair to Remember (#2.5)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

The Tiny Scout (He Knows You Inside Out)

A pearl in Pink Champagne

This film has to be probably the best romantic film I've ever seen, even above Gone With The Wind, but on the same level as The English Patient (my favorite film of all time). I got intrigued by this film back in high school when my sister dragged me to see Sleepless in Seattle. I caught the references to this film that Meg Ryan made throughout that film and thought that I'd like to rent this film (Affair to Remember) to see what the commotion was about. 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 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 viewing from me (at least three times a year). Seeing this film always makes me wonder if something like the kind of relationship that Nickie had with Terry in the film would really be possible. Would and could someone actually leave the person they were engaged to to marry a complete and total stranger that they just met days ago? I'd like to think that it could, but then 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 Valentine's Day (even if you are single) is always a treat. It allows our fantasies to take flight so that we may think that we are actually the one meeting our beloved atop the Empire State Building in a thunderstorm. Watch with a box of Kleenex nearby. My rating: 4 stars