#1114: McCAREY, Leo: Love Affair (1939)

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McCAREY, Leo (United States)
Love Affair [1939]
Spine #1114
Blu-ray


Golden-age Hollywood’s humanist master Leo McCarey brings his graceful touch and relaxed naturalism to this sublime romance, one of cinema’s most intoxicating tear-wringers. Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer are chic strangers who meet and fall in love aboard an ocean liner bound for New York. Though they are both involved with other people, they make a pact to reconnect six months later at the top of the Empire State Building—until the hand of fate throws their star-crossed affair tragically off course. Swooning passion and gentle comedy coexist in perfect harmony in the exquisitely tender Love Affair (nominated for six Oscars), a story so timeless that it has been remade by multiple filmmakers over the years—including McCarey himself, who updated it as the equally beloved An Affair to Remember.

88 minutes
Black and White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2022

Director/Writers

Story by Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey.
Screenplay by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart.
McCarey was 43 when he directed Love Affair.

Other McCarey films in the Collection:

#505: Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
#917: The Awful Truth (1937)

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by author Megan McGurk.

Commentary

None.

Interview 1

With film critic Farran Smith Nehme about the movie’s complicated production history.

Interview 2

With Serge Bromberg, founder of Lobster Films, about the restoration.

Two radio adaptations

Featuring actors Dunne, William Powell, and Boyer.

Two short films

By McCarey starring silent comedian Charley Chase: Looking for Sally (1925) and Mighty Like a Moose (1926).

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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