It’s not often that one director makes two versions of the same movie—yet that’s just what Leo McCarey did. This Irish-American is perhaps best remembered for his two Catholic pictures starring Bing Crosby as a musical priest, “Going My Way” (1944) and “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945). In the 1930s, he was generally considered a comedy director. However, in 1939, he turned his hand to more serious fare after taking a cruise with his wife to combat writer’s block. The result was the tender romantic film “Love Affair” (1939), which would receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
A Timeless Love Story
The story needs only to be summarized once, since the films’ plots are identical. The leading man is a charming playboy, a Frenchman named Michel Marnay (Charles Boyer) in the original and an American named Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant) in the remake. The leading lady is a former nightclub singer named Terry McKay in both versions, played by Irene Dunne in 1939 and Deborah Kerr in 1957. They meet on a transatlantic cruise, which they are both taking before getting married to people they don’t really love. Although Terry advises that they avoid each other to fend off the attention they might get for being seen together, they can’t help running into one another. On a port stop in France, Michel/Nickie takes Terry with him to meet his elderly grandmother, whom he lovingly calls Janou (Maria Ouspenskaya/Cathleen Nesbitt). Visiting the reverent old lady impacts them both deeply, and they realize they have to be together.There are some serious obstacles between our pair and the altar. Both of them enjoy an extravagant lifestyle, which they can’t afford on their own incomes. Michel/Nickie has never really worked, and Terry comes from a poor family. Her fiancé (Lee Bowman/Richard Denning) took her out of the cheap nightclub where she sang years ago, and he has supported her ever since. While Nickie comes from some means, his financial state was soon to be greatly supplemented by marrying an heiress (Astrid Allwyn/Neva Patterson). Is their love for each other worth giving up lives of comfort?
Two Code Films
I usually compare movies made during the heyday of the Production Code Administration (PCA), 1934-1954, with films made before or after that Golden Era of clean entertainment. Why are productions from those twenty years special? During that time, Joseph I. Breen was the head of the PCA, and as such, he strongly enforced the Motion Picture Production Code. The result was clean, wholesome, and very entertaining movies the whole family could enjoy. Technically, the PCA remained in existence until 1968, when it was replaced with the Classification and Rating Administration, which wielded the modern rating system instead of the Code. However, I peg the death of the PCA as much earlier, when Joseph Breen retired in October 1954. Although the Code was technically still in place for the next 14 years, the PCA became increasingly lax under Geoffrey Shurlock’s leadership.
Technically, “Love Affair” is a Breen Era film, while “An Affair to Remember” is from the Shurlock Era. However, I would say that both are Code films, since the remake is just as Code-compliant as the original. Director Leo McCarey had no desire to take advantage of Shurlock’s relaxed Code enforcement to include objectionable content in the 1957 film. As a result, these movies are a rare phenomenon: two Code film versions of the same story.
Which Is Better?
Which of these two films is better? It’s entirely a matter of opinion and personal preference. The director preferred the original, according to a quote included in Wes D. Gehring’s “Leo McCarey: From Marx to McCarthy:” “The difference between ‘Love Affair’ and ‘An Affair to Remember’ is very simply the difference between Charles Boyer and Cary Grant. Grant could never really mask his sense of humor – which is extraordinary – and that’s why the second version is funnier. But I still prefer the first.” It’s interesting to note that Cary Grant easily could have been in the earlier film, since he made two films with Irene Dunne under Mr. McCarey’s direction around that time, “The Awful Truth” (1937) and “My Favorite Wife” (1940). As McCarey noted in that quote, Grant was much more comical in these films than he would be in his later performances. In fact, I would say he was regarded more as a comic actor in the 1930s than the suave leading man he would become in middle age. For that reason, McCarey immediately preferred the romantic Charles Boyer.
I’ve watched “An Affair to Remember” dozens of times throughout my life, but I’ve only seen “Love Affair” twice, both times in recent years. For that reason, I personally prefer the later film. The opposite could be true for someone who had seen the earlier first. The second one is just so romantic, beautiful, and sophisticated in its Technicolor splendor. A few scenes featured expanded dialogue, allowing for more story development, which contributed to a more relaxed pace, typical of the 1950s. It doesn’t seem excessive; it adds lushness to the story.
One of the most moving things about “An Affair to Remember” is the beautiful title song by Harry Warren with lyrics by Leo McCarey and Harold Adamson. It’s sung by Vic Damone in the opening credits, and Terry (overdubbed by Marni Nixon) sings it later as Janou plays the beautiful melody on the piano. When the song is later echoed in the score, it’s very powerful. The classical French song “Plaisir d’amour” by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini performs the same function in the original film, being played by Janou and sung by Terry at poignant moments. It’s equally beautiful, but in a much simpler way.
Why not watch both movies as a romantic double feature this St. Valentine’s Day and decide for yourself which is your favorite?
