Once upon a love affair (I)

LOVE AFFAIR
USA, 1942; 117m
McCarey was so fond of this story, written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart, that he filmed it twice. In this version, Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer are Terry and Michel, who meet on a transatlantic cruise, fall in love, and elect to ditch their respective fiancés. They give themselves six months to make good, and choose the observation tower of the Empire State Building as their rendezvous point. When one of them fails to appear, it takes a leap of faith to overcome the tragedies and misunderstandings that have kept them apart. This is probably the more soulful and intimate of the two versions — Boyer and Dunne are magical together, and Maria Ouspenskaya gives a performance of uncharacteristic warmth as Michel’s grandmother Janou. LOVE AFFAIR is the very essence of Hollywood romance.

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