LOVE AFFAIR (1939) Irene Dunne & Charles Boyer | Romance, Drama | 4K UHD | B&W

Love Affair is a 1939 American romance film, co-starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, and featuring Maria Ouspenskaya. It was directed by Leo McCarey and written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart, based on a story by McCarey and Mildred Cram. Controversial on concept, the official screenplay was re-tooled and rewritten to appease Hollywood censorship and relied on actor input and improvisation, causing long delays and budget extensions.

The movie became a surprise hit of 1939, showing McCarey's versatility after a long career of comedic films, and launching the surprising team-up of Dunne and Boyer. Academy Award nominations include Best Actress for Dunne, Best Supporting Actress for Ouspenskaya, Best Original Song, Best Writing (Original), and Best Picture. Its popularity was later dwarfed by McCarey's 1957 remake An Affair to Remember, which spawned its own remakes with 1994's Love Affair and a few Indian adaptations.

SYNOPSIS
A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship.

One December, French painter (and famed womanizer) Michel Marnet meets American singer Terry McKay aboard a liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean. They are both already engaged, he to heiress Lois Clarke, she to Kenneth Bradley. They begin to flirt and to dine together on the ship, but his worldwide reputation makes them conscious that others are watching. Eventually, they decide that they should dine separately and not associate with each other. At a stop at Madeira, they visit Michel's grandmother Janou, who bonds with Terry and admits wanting Michel to settle down.

As the ship is ready to disembark at New York City, the two make an appointment to meet in the new year, six months later on top of the Empire State Building, giving Michel enough time to decide whether he can start making enough money to support a relationship with Terry. His paintings fail to sell, so he finds work designing advertising billboards around the city, while Terry breaks off her engagement to Kenneth and successfully negotiates a contract with a Philadelphia nightclub to perform through to June.

When the rendezvous date arrives, they both head to the Empire State Building. However, Terry is struck by a car on a nearby street and is told by doctors she may be paralyzed for the rest of her life, though that will not be known for certain for six months. Not wanting to be a burden to Michel, she does not contact him, preferring to let him think the worst. Meanwhile, Michel, who waits until closing time, travels to Madeira to discover his grandmother has recently died, and continues working in New York City. Terry is overheard singing in the garden of her physiotherapy by the owner of a children's orphanage, who hires her as a music teacher.

Six months pass by, and during Terry's first outing since the accident, she and Michel meet by accident at a theater on Christmas Eve, though since she is already seated, Terry is able to conceal her disability. The next morning on Christmas Day, after the children visit Terry at her apartment, Michel makes a surprise visit and finally learns the truth.

CAST & CREW
Irene Dunne as Terry McKay
Charles Boyer as Michel Marnet
Maria Ouspenskaya as Grandmother Janou
Lee Bowman as Kenneth Bradley
Astrid Allwyn as Lois Clarke
Maurice Moscovitch as Maurice Cobert, art dealer

Directed by Leo McCarey
Screenplay by Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart
Story by Leo McCarey, Mildred Cram
Produced by Leo McCarey
Cinematography Rudolph Maté
Edited by Edward Dmytryk, George Hively
Music by Roy Webb
Production company RKO Radio Pictures
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date April 7, 1939
Running time 87 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $860,000
Box office $1.8 million

NOTES
The initial screenplay was rejected by the Production Code Administration, accusing the story of endorsing adultery. Another related argument believed Terry had not been punished for her kept behavior, while Michel had been given redemption, so this led to Terry's paralysis. "You dissolved to her in a hospital with her realizing that God hadn't wanted her to meet [Michel] until she was sorry for what she had done before," explained Donald Ogden Stewart.

Initially a period piece set in the 1850s about the tragic romance of a French ambassador, the final draft of the script was complete and filming was announced to begin September 15, but it was later pushed back a month. Due to concerns of a potential war in Europe, the French embassy wanted stronger allyship with the United States and had concerns about a movie about a French diplomat and an American woman having an affair. McCarey and Daves reworked the story as a modern tale, with Terry's characterization now based on a woman Daves met on a cruise who was rumored to be returning to the United States after hiding in Europe for being caught as the mistress of a small-town government official.