An Affair to Remember

This is, of course, the 1957 tearjerker that gained renewed pop culture cachet as the movie referenced throughout the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan hit Sleepless in Seattle. It begins as a sparkling and witty romantic comedy with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr as strangers who meet and fall in love aboard a New York-bound ocean liner, making a date to later rendezvous atop the Empire State Building ("the closest thing we have to heaven in New York," Kerr gushes). But tragedy conspires to keep our heroine from keeping the appointment, and the film--which also features gratuitous musical numbers--degenerates into saccharine soap opera histrionics. Presented in a sharp non-anamorphic widescreen transfer, this "Studio Classics" DVD contains an entertaining episode of the AMC series Backstory chronicling the production of this remake of the 1939 melodrama, Love Affair, (which would also inspire Warren Beatty's ill-fated 1994 remake). Viewers will learn that Cary Grant was living out his own tale of forbidden love off screen with Sophia Loren! The very model of what Tom Hanks derisively called "a chick flick," this is recommended only for the film's weepy fans. (K. Lee Benson)[DVD Review—Jan. 22, 2007—Fox, 2 discs, 115 min., not rated, $19.98—Making its second appearance on DVD, 1957's An Affair to Remember (50th Anniversary Edition) boasts a fine transfer. DVD extras ported over from the 2002 release include audio commentary by singer Marni Nixon (who dubbed for Deborah Kerr on the soundtrack) and film historian Joseph McBride, an AMC Backstory episode on the film (25 min.), the brief Fox Movietone news segment “Shipboard Premiere Attracts Celebrities,” poster and stills galleries, lobby cards, and trailers. What's new are a handful of production featurettes—“Directed by Leo McCarey” (23 min.), “A Producer to Remember: Jerry Wald” (16 min.), “Affairs to Remember: Cary Grant” (10 min.), “The Look” (9 min.), and “Affairs to Remember: Deborah Kerr” (5 min.). Bottom line: with an extra hour-plus worth of material, this re-release is worth picking up, especially for those who don't have the first DVD.][Blu-ray Review—Feb. 15, 2011—Fox, 115 min., not rated, $34.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1957's An Affair to Remember features a great transfer and a DTS-HD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by dubbing singer Marni Nixon and film historian Joseph McBride, an AMC Backstory segment (25 min.), featurettes on director Leo McCarey (23 min.), producer Jerry Wald (16 min.), and costars Cary Grant (10 min.) and Deborah Kerr (6 min.), a production design featurette (9 min.), a brief “Fox Movietone News” segment on the premiere, and trailers, packaged in a 24-page digi-book case. Bottom line: a popular classic makes a solid debut on Blu-ray.]