CMBA Movies of 1939 Blogathon: LOVE AFFAIR

This is my entry in the Classic Movie Blog Association's "Blogothon" about movies made in that incredible year of 1939. Click here for a complete listing of all entrants and turn back the setting on your time machine to 1939!

Just as the Empire State Building looms large in the background of this film, so, too, does the shadow of its remake, 1954's "An Affair to Remember" (both films directed by Leo McCarey). Everyone knows and loves that film, both for itself and it's inspiration for "Sleepless in Seattle" (not to mention the 1994 re-re-make starring Warren Beatty, Annette Bening and Katharine Hepburn). What could this neglected original possibly have to offer? In a word: EVERYTHING!

THE STARS

Let's talk about Irene Dunne. I am currently in the midst of a 2011 love affair with Ms. Dunne, so I was especially happy to review this movie. She is the essence of 1930s elegance, humor and sophistication. I ask you: did any woman ever wear satin gowns, jeweled bracelets and furs with such easy elegance? And I don't care what Pauline Kael said about her, I am mad about that little thing she does with her tongue or her teeth that makes her sound so completely and charmingly unique. She is lovely, of course, but she is always a mature woman; a gorgeous, appealing, wonderful mature woman. Deborah Kerr was a fine actress, but she was earth-bound and earnest. Irene Dunne was of the heavens. It's hard to compete with an angel.

Charles Boyer is a more complicated matter. When this film first premiered in 1939, he did not have to compete with the memory of Cary Grant in the same role. Because Cary (and that song) are seared in my brain, I was prepared to have a hard time accepting Boyer in Cary's role (even though Cary hadn't played it yet). In addition, my most lasting impression of Boyer was mainly as Ingrid Bergman's murderous husband in "Gaslight" ("Powla, where iz ze leetle peek-ture?"). After watching this film, I now know why Boyer was such a big star and such a heartthrob. He is the perfect continental charmer and the perfect leading man. He never steps on his leading lady's toes and he always makes sure she is seen to her best advantage. A true gentleman.

THE STORY

International playboy and soon-to-be married layabout Michel Marnet meets former nightclub singer and soon-to-be married Terry McKay on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic from Naples to New York. They flirt like mad. Irene Dunne is particularly delicious in these scenes, flirtatious but wary of this continental honey bee whose charms she finds irresistible. Boyer, however, is the revelation here. He is a cad looking for a casual dalliance and his body language suggests nothing short of a wolf on the hunt. He is the pursuer, she is the pursued (while Grant usually pursued with reluctance, Boyer does so with gusto).

After a little romantic hide and seek, they kiss and fall in love. They agree that their love affair should be light and bubbly, like the pink champagne cocktail they both adore. No dark clouds allowed. At a stop in Madeira, Michel takes Terry to meet his sweet grandmother (played by Maria Ouspenskaya) in her idyllic home. Grandmother approves of Terry for her wayward grandson and here Terry (and the audience) gets to see a tender side of Michel. Naturally, both she (and we) fall in love a little harder. Terry also learns that Michel is a talented painter, although he has chosen to live the life of a dilettante rather than that of a starving artist. Upon bidding her farewell, Terry admires Grandmother's lovely lace shawl. Both Terry and Michel agree it has been a magical day.

Back on the ship and pulling into New York harbor, both lovers agree to take six months to get their lives in order and then to meet at the top of the Empire State Building to begin their new life together. Terry picks the spot because it is the "nearest thing to heaven."

In the ensuing six months, both Terry and Michel ditch their fiancées and pursue honest work (Terry makes her decision standing on a balcony at night, the Empire State Building seen in reflection). She finds work in Philadelphia as a singer and he pursues his art (and paints billboards while he waits for someone to buy his paintings). They are on course for their rendezvous atop Manhattan when Terry, in her haste to meet her lover, carelessly rushes through a traffic-clogged city street and is struck (mercifully off screen) by a car. Naturally, she does not keep her appointment, but Michel waits and waits and waits (in a thunder storm, no less). Hope turns into disappointment; disappointment turns into despair.

Terry, now wheelchair bound, takes a position teaching children at an orphanage. Although her ex-fiancée urges her to tell Michel what has happened, she refuses. For all of her sacrifice, she does not have faith that he will be able to accept her as she is now. She does not believe in the depth of his character. If she is not all pink champagne and cloudless skies, she fears rejection.

On Christmas Eve, both Michel who now is bitterly pursuing the high life (but who continues to paint), and Terry meet by accident at a show. Both are with their former partners. They are cordial, but shaken. As Terry was seated, Michel could not see her condition.

On Christmas Day, Michel finally tracks terry down at her apartment. She is on her couch, legs covered with a blanket, so Michel still does not see her plight. His manner is brittle and angry, and it is clear that his heart has been broken. He comes bearing a gift - Grandmother's shawl, which she left to Terry upon her death. Terry, overcome with emotion, still refuses to tell Michel why she failed to keep their appointment. He tells Terry that he is going to sail to Europe that night, but then tells her a story about a painting he did of her in Grandmother's shawl. As he relates the story of how he had the painting given to a woman in a wheelchair who admired but could but afford it, he realizes that Terry was the woman in the wheelchair. Seeing the painting in her bedroom confirms his suspicion and at last he understands all that she has sacrificed for him. Michel proves his depth of character and love by vowing to stay with Terry no matter what the future holds. They are, indeed, the real deal.

WHY THIS FILM WORKS BETTER THAN THE RE-MAKE

The fact that this movie was made in 1939 is the reason it succeeds better than the 1954 version of this story. In 1954, this was just a love story (although a very affecting one that still touches the heart) and it was presented as a straight-forward romance. The original version has all kinds of background shadows and "noise" (including the noise in the hearts and minds of the audience).

1939 finds the United States on the brink of the unthinkable, determinedly in denial of how little furs, big bracelets and pink champagne will soon mean. The deco charm and elegant penthouse sophistication were fantasies with which movie audiences still connected, even as the threat of evil was on our doorstep. Soon, ships of a different kind would dominate the world's seas. How necessary, then, were those wonderful fantasies; how important they were to sweep the anxiety and cares away, if only for an evening. 

Boyer and Dunne are always play acting in their flirtations, never letting the other know the depth of their love or their fears. Just as a more serious tone would invade the free world, so did the realities of life eventually invade the make-believe love affair that became all too real for our hero and heroine. Heart break, loneliness, loss and paralysis were not part of the bargain. But Hollywood always personified the American spirit of optimism, even as those storm clouds gathered in the distance. Just as Terry and Michel vowed to face adversity together, Dorothy returned to Kansas, Scarlett faced her losses and the passengers of a western Stagecoach battled the evil in their path.

Despite insurmountable odds, there was never any doubt that all would triumph.

This was the world of 1939 and the story of "Love Affair,"  a tale that was more than a love story. Seen from a 2011 perspective, it is a film that is true to its time and one whose echoes are relevant to our own.