Editing Love Affair (1939 film) (section)

== Development ==
Despite the popularity of his [[romantic comedy|romantic]] and [[screwball comedies]], Leo McCarey had become tired of directing them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Creelman |first1=Eileen |title=Leo McCarey Tells of Directing Irene Dunne in a New Comedy "The Awful Truth" |work=New York Sun |date=November 3, 1937 |quote=However the public may feel about charmingly insane people on screen, Leo McCarey is fed up with them.}}</ref> His wife suggested they should go on a cruising vacation around Europe to combat his [[writer's block]], and when they returned to the United States, they watched the [[Statue of Liberty]] pass. McCarey immediately told her his idea about two passengers who fall in love on a cruise, but realize they are both "obligated to somebody else."<ref name="Bogdanovich">{{cite book |last1=Bogdanovich |first1=Peter |title=Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors |date=1997 |publisher=Bellantine Books |location=New York |pages=417–418}}</ref> With the [[Premise (narrative)|premise]] created, [[Mildred Cram]]
co-developed the rest of the story under the working title ''Memory of Love'',{{refn|group="Note"|RKO bought the filming rights of a novel of the same name by [[Bessie Breuer]] to use the title, but then decided they would prefer using Breuer's story for a potential movie starring [[Claudette Colbert]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Sheilah |title=Clipped From The Atlanta Constitution |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70316456/ |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=18 August 1938 |page=18}}</ref> It would later be adapted as ''[[In Name Only]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nugent |first1=Frank S. |author1-link=Frank S. Nugent |title=[''In Name Only'' review] |url=http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/24512/In-Name-Only/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927101251/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/24512/In-Name-Only/overview |archive-date=2015-09-27 |url-status=dead |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2015 |quote=Based on ''Memory of Love'', a novel by [[Bessie Breuer]], ''In Name Only'' is soap opera par excellence, blessed with a peerless cast.}}</ref>}} then later ''Love Match'',<ref>{{cite news |title=In the Cutting Room |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher133unse/page/n33/ |work=Motion Picture Herald |publisher=Quigley Publishing Co. |date=November 5, 1938 |page=27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Hollywood Scene |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher1321unse/page/n513/mode/2up?q=love+match |work=Motion Picture Herald |publisher=Quigley Publishing Co. |date=1938-10-08 |page=31}}</ref> as [[Delmer Daves]] created the screenplay and [[Donald Ogden Stewart]] helped McCarey with the comedy.<ref>{{cite news |title=Stewart Borrowed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70326490/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=10 November 1938 |page=14}}</ref>{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=143}} James Anderson stood as assistant director,<ref name="crew"/> Edward Dmytryk and George Hively were the movie's editors, and Roy Webb composed the film score.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Cumulative Copyright Catalog|url=https://archive.org/details/Motionpict19121939librrich0010/page/n503/|journal=Motion Picture 1912-1939|year=1951 |pages=490|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Filming took place in the fall of 1938.{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|page=140}} The rough cut was screened in January 1939.{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=144}}

Actresses such as [[Helen Hayes]] and [[Greta Garbo]] developed interest in starring, but the McCarey couple preferred Irene Dunne, who had previously appeared in McCarey's ''[[The Awful Truth]]'' and was a close family friend;{{sfnp |Gehring|2003|pages=100–103}} Terry's occupation as nightclub singer intended to display Dunne's singing talents.{{sfnp |Gehring|2005|page=159}} Charles Boyer's reputation as a romantic actor (from starring in ''[[History Is Made at Night (1937 film)|History is Made at Night]]'' and ''[[Algiers (1938 film)|Algiers]]'') made him McCarey's first choice.{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|pages=100–103}} Concurrently, Boyer rejected [[Harry Cohn]]'s offer of the leading role in ''[[Good Girls Go to Paris]]'' to do ''Love Affair'', instead.{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|page=130}} He and McCarey were acquaintances and Boyer believed McCarey was an underestimated director,{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|page=139}} so he canceled many acting plans for the rest of 1938 to work with McCarey and Dunne.{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|page=140}} "Any picture that Leo McCarey directs is its own guarantee[;] he can't make a bad picture," he later explained.<ref>{{cite interview|first=Charles|last=Boyer|title=Hollywood|interviewer=[[Ed Sullivan]]|date=1938-10-11|work=The Tampa Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70324399/}}</ref>

Irene Dunne later noted that the dialog changed frequently, and the cast received pieces of paper between filming; McCarey's common directing tactic of [[improvisation]] also continued throughout.<ref>{{cite interview|first=Irene|last=Dunne|interviewer=[[John Kobal]]|year=1972|title=Interview with John Kobal|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] (January 1, 1986)|work=People Will Talk}}</ref> Both he and Boyer were unimpressed with the final draft, despite Boyer being used to memorizing his dialog very quickly.{{sfnp|Flannery|1990|page=132}} News columnists visiting the set observed the actors waiting around for their dialog as scenes would be rewritten moments before shooting:<ref>{{cite news |last1=Skolsky |first1=Sidney |author1-link=Sidney Skolsky |title=Sidney Skolsky Presents... Watching Them Make Pictures |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70329425/ |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=5 October 1938 |page=11}}</ref> "'I've been here doing nothing since 8 o'clock this morning,' [Boyer tells] me (it is now 4 in the afternoon)," reported [[Sheilah Graham]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Sheilah |author1-link=Sheilah Graham |title=De Mille Bans Slacks and Red Fingernails |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70330068/st-louis-globe-democrat/ |work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat |date=24 October 1938 |page=4C}}</ref> Delays and rewrites caused the film to go over its budget of $800,000 by about $600,000.<ref name="france"/>

McCarey reused and retooled the line "According to you, everything I like to do is either illegal, immoral or fattening," from his 1934 movie ''[[Six of a Kind]]'', and gave it to Terry;{{sfnp |Gehring |2005 |page=107}} [[W. C. Fields]] (who [[ad-lib]]bed the retort in the original film) approved but critics hated the reference, McCarey later revealed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=James |title=W.C. Fields: A Biography |date=2004 |publisher=Watson-Guptill |location=New York |isbn=978-0823084425 |pages=280–281}}</ref> Boyer was allowed input in Michel's characterization; he suggested that Michel visiting his grandmother should have a prominent appearance so Terry's accident would not create a tonal shift.{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=143}} The champagne industry used the film to promote [[Pink Champagne (wine)|pink champagne]] to the audience, which caused a sales boost.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Andrea Foshee |title=Love Affair (1939) - Love Affair |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3938/love-affair#articles-reviews?articleId=18752 |website=Turner Classic Movies |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129085526/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3938/love-affair#articles-reviews?articleId=18752 |date=January 21, 2003|archive-date=2020-11-29}}</ref>

McCarey gave Dunne the opportunity to choose the signature song for the movie: she decided upon "Wishing",{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|pages=100–103}} which became one of the most popular songs of 1939;{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=144}} the orphans were dubbed by Robert Mitchell's Boys Choir.{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=144}} Other songs performed are "[[Sing My Heart]]" and "[[Plaisir d'Amour]]", performed by Terry in a Philadelphian night-club and at Michel's grandmother's home, respectively.{{sfnp|Flannery|1990|page=133}}

Maria Ouspenskaya described working on the film as "an atmosphere of work that is inspirational. [...] Actor, electricians, and cameramen loved their work and did not want to break away from that atmosphere."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crewe |first1=Regina |title=Mme Ouspenskaya, back from Coast, Offers Helping Hand to Fledglings |work=New York Journal |date=1939-03-19}}</ref> Boyer would later praise McCarey's filmmaking for the movie's success; he was described in an interview years later as "still speak[ing] of Mr. McCarey with sincere awe."<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Liam |first1=Dugal |title=Boyer's Double Life! |url=https://archive.org/details/screenland46unse/page/n445/ |work=Screenland |volume=XLVI |issue=5 |publisher=Screenland Magazine, inc. |date=March 1943 |page=88}}</ref>