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Get out your
handkerchiefs. Leo McCarey's AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is one
of the sappiest movies ever made. And one of the most romantic.
And one of the most irresistible. Cary Grant stars as Nickie
Ferrante, a playboy who is not at all wealthy and is going
home to New York to marry his rich girlfriend. Terry McKay
(Deborah Kerr) is a sophisticated (but equally un-wealthy)
woman travelling on the same boat to reunite with her wealthy
fiance. They meet, and what ensues is one of the most beautiful
and charming ship-board romances to ever grace the screen.
When the boat docks in New York, they vow to break off with
their respective intendeds, make good in the world and meet
six months later at the top of the Empire State Building.
But a tragic accident keeps Terry from making it, and the
two of them must pick up the broken strands of the lives and
go on.
This movie,
which could've been hopelessly cloying (and threatens to cross
the line when it comes to the children's choir that Terry
ends up directing), has so much going for it that it's hard
to single any one thing out. Nickie and Terry are not only
beautiful to look at, they're very clever, and Grant and Kerr
are magnificent in the roles. They play these two sophisticates
as if they're clever without sounding as if they think they're
being clever (if you know what I mean). And the script is
romantic without being obvious. And Leo McCarey's direction
is perfect.
AN AFFAIR
TO REMEMBER is one of those rare films that you know is going
to make you cry, but doesn't make you feel like an idiot for
letting it succeed. And every time I see it, it leaves me
in a puddle.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The film
is presented in it's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
Unfortunately, it is non-anamorphic, but I have to tell you
that the picture is absolutely splendid. It is clear and sharp
without edge enhancement, the colors are deep and rich, and
the flesh tones are natural. Though made in 1957, it's not
showing its age at all: there's very little in the way of
blips. The only real flaw I noticed was that a couple of Kerr's
costumes had very tight designs on them (one white-knit outfit
in particular) that produced a bit of a shimmer. But this
is very, very minor. I did a side-by-side with the laserdisc,
and there really is no comparison. The picture is wonderful.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The audio
is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround, and is another
story entirely. Although the dialogue is clear throughout
the film, from time to time it had a tendency to lapse over
into the right speaker (or to favor the right speaker) for
no discernible reason. I'm not talking about a surround effect,
but at times when people were simply standing in the center
of the screen and not moving. It was worse during the several
musical numbers, in which the sound is piped into the surrounds
and produces a very hollow tone. I tried listening to the
problem sections with the surround turned off, but it really
didn't make any difference (if anything, it made matters worse:
the dialogue almost completely favored the right speaker).
Additionally, while the bass was fine the high frequency (particularly
during the music numbers) had a tendency to become very harsh,
particularly during musical numbers. I checked this against
the laserdisc (which is also in surround), and none of it
appeared there. On the laser, the dialogue all stayed in the
center, and the harshness was non-existent. Really, really
a shame.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? The disc
includes a gallery of four photos, the film's theatrical trailer,
as well as trailers for LOVE IS A MANY SPENDID THING, HOW
GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, and ALL ABOUT EVE.
Parting Thoughts
This is
a hard one, because the sound is so problematic while the
picture is so damned good! All I can say is that despite the
sound problem, I found the DVD infinitely preferable to the
LD.
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