Editing Love Affair (1939 film) (section)

==Legacy==
Years after its release, ''Love Affair'' would continue to receive high praise. Tom Flannery's filmography book ''1939: The Year in Movies'' wrote that Dunne and Boyer "generated [the most] chemistry, charisma [and] sensuality" in Hollywood, despite 1939 producing the best couples in "[[Clark Gable]] and [[Vivien Leigh]] [in ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''], [[Laurence Olivier]] and [[Merle Oberon]] [in ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]''], [[Leslie Howard]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]] [in ''[[Intermezzo (1939 film)|Intermezzo]]'']."{{sfnp|Flannery|1990|page=129}} William K. Everson joined the critics of the past that praised McCarey balancing the comedy and drama perfectly, and noted Terry saying goodbye to Grandma Janou was realistically "tender and poignant[;] such moments all too rarely are in film."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Everson |first1=William K. |title=Love in the Film |date=1979 |publisher=Citadel Press |location=[[Secaucus, New Jersey]] |pages=151–154}}</ref> [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gave it a critics' score of 86% based on 7 reviews,<ref>{{cite web |title=Love Affair (1939) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_affair_1939 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |language=en}}</ref> and [[Metacritic]] gave it a critics' score of 91 on 8 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Love Affair |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/love-affair-1939/critic-reviews |website=Metacritic}}</ref>

However, the release of its remake, ''An Affair to Remember'', spawned comparisons. ''An Affair to Remember'' became better-known in popular culture, later placed at number 5 on [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions|AFI's 100 Passions]] list,<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 YEARS…100 PASSIONS |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-passions/ |website=American Film Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308150658/https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-passions/ |archive-date=2021-03-08 |url-status=live}}</ref> and was frequently parodied, referenced, and alluded to in other media, causing ''Love Affair'' to become lost in time.{{refn|group=Note|''Love Affair'' came back into circulation after 1975, when [[Filmex]] wanted to broadcast it at Irene Dunne's film tribute and paid for a [[film negative|negative]] to be removed from the [[Museum of Modern Art]]'s print.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schultz |first1=Margie |title=Irene Dunne : a bio-bibliography |date=1991 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=New York |isbn=9780313273995 |page=94}}</ref>}} Screenwriter [[Nora Ephron]], first introduced to the movie when she was a child,<ref>{{cite web |title=Things You Might Not Know About Sleepless In Seattle |url=https://www.fame10.com/entertainment/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-sleepless-in-seattle/ |website=Fame10 |date=9 February 2017}}</ref> referenced it heavily in ''[[Sleepless in Seattle]]'',<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rooney |first1=David |title=Why Nora Ephron's Films Made Such an Impact: A Critic's Take |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/nora-ephron-death-when-harry-met-sally-342629/ |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=June 27, 2012 |quote=The 1993 ''Sleepless in Seattle'' was directed by [Nora] Ephron from a script she co-wrote with [[David S. Ward]] and Jeff Arch, inspired by the 1957 Cary Grant–Deborah Kerr vehicle, ''An Affair to Remember''. It also drew a blah response from many major critics, who objected to its transparent emotional manipulation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=John Simon on Film: Criticism 1982-2001|last1=Simon|first1=John |author-link=John Simon (critic) |publisher=Applause Books |year=2005 |page=381|quote=[''Sleepless in Seattle''] is a collection of nauseating quotations and references to ''An Affair to Remember'', both visual and verbal[.]}}</ref> allegedly causing rentals of the film to increase.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} Irene Dunne and Deborah Kerr's Terry performances did not receive as much comparison as Charles Boyer's Michel and Cary Grant's Nicky, whose characters divided critics and analysts per review. Larry Swindell called Boyer's portrayal/performance chaste which overshadows the dialog's frequent references to Michel's womanizing,{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=143}} whereas Megan McGurk argued Grant was too self-conscious and refused to make Nicky appropriately vulnerable, particularly in Nicky and Terry's reunion.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McGurk |first1=Megan |title=Charles Boyer, Eyes Wide Open in Love Affair (1939) |url=https://sassmouthdames.com/2017/06/24/charles-boyer-eyes-wide-open-in-love-affair-39/ |website=Sass Mouth Dames |date=24 June 2017 |quote=Aggrieved and bitter, Grant's crabby demeanour casts a gloomy lover's reunion. He's sarcastic with those little huh-huh-huh exhalations that call the lady out as a liar, one who's not to be trusted. The old 'will he slap or kiss her?' tone from a spurned lover holds limited appeal in a woman's picture.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219121538/https://sassmouthdames.com/2017/06/24/charles-boyer-eyes-wide-open-in-love-affair-39/|archive-date=2021-12-19}}</ref>

=== Boyer and Dunne ===
[[File:Photoplay October 1939 contents page.jpg|thumb|Dunne and Boyer's essays listed in ''Photoplay''{{'}}s October issue's contents' page.]]
The partnership of Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne would be called the most romantic in Hollywood.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella O.|date=August 11, 1939|title=Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer Engaging in Romantic Film, "When Tomorrow Comes"|work=[[Los Angeles Examiner]]|quote=I don't know any more romantic pair on the screen than Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.}}</ref> With a positive reaction to the pairing, Hollywood developed them as the newest team-up,{{sfnp|Swindell|1983|p=147}} so the duo starred together twice more in ''[[When Tomorrow Comes (film)|When Tomorrow Comes]]'' (1939) and ''[[Together Again (film)|Together Again]]'' (1944). Critics judged the rest of the "trilogy" with the praised qualities of ''Love Affair'', with ''When Tomorrow Comes'' receiving the least positive reception.{{sfnp|Flannery|1990|page=133}}<ref>{{cite news |title=What's What in the Movies: A Big Week As Women Fans Promised in Coming Movies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71035485/ |work=[[The Kansas City Times]] |date=1939-09-28 |page=6 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |quote=[''When Tomorrow Comes''] does not have as much comedy in it as when Miss Dunne and Mr. Boyer presented last season when they co-starred in ''Love Affair''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fantasies Omitted |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71036810/  |work=[[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]] |date=1939-09-21 |quote=There is something missing in ''When Tomorrow Comes'' [...] Indeed, [director [[John M. Stahl]]] has woven together the elements for a romance that is as near to actuality and as far from affection as that of the ''Love Affair'' starring effort [...] There isn't the sparkling wit of ''Love Affair''...  }}</ref>

The two actors remained family friends after performing together.{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|pages=100–103}} To promote ''When Tomorrow Comes'', they were asked by ''Photoplay'' to describe each other in the style of a [[parlor game]] where a player who briefly left the room guesses the secret noun other contestants chose by asking questions like "If I were that person, what kind of car would I be?"{{sfnp|''Photoplay''|1939|p=24}} Their essays appeared in the October issue under the names "Irene: As Seen by Charles Boyer"<ref>{{harvp|''Irene'' by Charles Boyer|1939|p=24}}</ref> and "Charles: As Seen by Irene Dunne"{{sfnp|''Charles'' by Irene Dunne|1939|p=25}} with the editor noting: "Surely, working together as they do and have done, and being analytical, intelligent people, each would give a clear-limned portrait of the other; unbiased, colorful, exciting."{{sfnp|''Photoplay''|1939|p=24}} Boyer described Dunne in [[prose]],<ref>{{harvp|''Irene'' by Charles Boyer|1939|p=24}}: "Suppose we imagine a gracious house, designed by a master architect. It would sit atop a hill, and it would be beautifully furnished. Of course, the best room would be the music room, a cool place with great windows opening on a garden. Great music, and the best of good [[swing music|swing]], and things by [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]] would sound there always. The acoustics would be perfect. Guests in this house would be relaxed and happy but they would have to mind their manners. Irene Dunne is like that."</ref> while Dunne described Boyer under topical subtitles, but Wes D. Gehring pointed out both essays' frequent references to [[fine art]], as well as Dunne personifying Boyer through French [[impressionism]].{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|page=104}}

Dunne called Boyer one of her favorite screen partners, along with Cary Grant, and referred to him as the "perfect gentleman" at the [[American Film Institute]]'s retrospective screening.{{sfnp|Flannery|1990|page=133}}

=== Film remakes and adaptations ===
''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]'' aired two versions of ''Love Affair'' radio adaptations on April 1, 1940<ref>{{Cite episode|series=The Lux Radio Theatre|title=Love Affair|series-link=Lux Radio Theatre|date=April 1, 1940|number=257|network=[[CBS Radio]]}}</ref> and July 6, 1942.<ref>{{Cite episode|series=The Lux Radio Theatre|title=Love Affair|series-link=Lux Radio Theatre|date=1942-07-06|number=359|network=[[CBS Radio]]}}</ref> Irene Dunne reprised her role in both,<ref name="radio"/> whereas Charles Boyer co-starred in the 1942 version; [[William Powell]] starred alongside Dunne in the 1940 version.<ref name="radio">{{cite book |last1=Schultz |first1=Margie |title=Irene Dunne : a bio-bibliography |date=1991 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=New York |isbn=9780313273995 |pages=140–141}}</ref>

Plans for a ''Love Affair'' remake were first reported in 1952, which had [[Fernando Lamas]] and [[Arlene Dahl]] attached to the project.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hyams |first1=Joe |title=Entertainment in the News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/683846458/ |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=1952-11-05 |page=14}}</ref> Eventually, McCarey remade it in 1957 as ''[[An Affair to Remember]]''{{refn|group="Note"|Initially intended to have the same name as the predecessor, ''An Affair to Remember'' was produced under [[20th Century Fox]] and could not have the title because Columbia Pictures owned the title's copyright.<ref>{{cite web |title=An Affair to Remember - Notes |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/66847/an-affair-to-remember#notes |website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref>}} with [[Cary Grant]] and [[Deborah Kerr]] in the lead roles, using a very similar screenplay.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vermilye |first1=Jerry |title=Cary Grant |date=1973 |publisher=Galahad Books |location=New York |isbn=9780883652916 |page=123 |quote=The script, on which McCarey and Delmer Daves made some revisions...}}</ref> Despite agreeing to remake it in response to Hollywood's current romantic offerings, McCarey would still prefer his original work.{{sfnp|Gehring|2005|page=222}} [[Glenn Gordon Caron]] also remade the film in 1994 as ''[[Love Affair (1994)|Love Affair]]'',{{refn|group="Note"|The media reported it as a remake of ''An Affair to Remember'', however.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Gary |title=Beatty can act anything but his age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71001627/ |date=1994-10-21|quote=To succeed, he'll have to do better than "Love Affair," a through-the-motions remake of "An Affair to Remember."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Pearlman |first1=Cindy |title=A couple to remember |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71000843/ |work=The News and Observer |date=23 October 1994|quote=He is here to talk with reporters about "Love Affair", the remake of the 1957 tearjerker "An Affair to Remember"...}}</ref><ref name="hepburn">{{cite news |title=It's ''Love Affair'' for Hepburn, Beatty |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71006486/ |work=The Herald-News|location=[[Passaic, New Jersey]] |date=9 August 1994 |pages=2}}</ref>}} starring [[Warren Beatty]], [[Annette Bening]], and in her last feature film, [[Katharine Hepburn]].<ref name="hepburn"/><ref name="Love Affair 1994">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/18768/love-affair#credits|title=Love Affair 1994|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=May 22, 2016}}</ref> [[Bollywood cinema]] made two versions: 1965's ''[[Bheegi Raat]]''{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} and 1999's ''[[Mann (film)|Mann]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Verma |first1=Suparn |title=Easy on the eye |url=https://imsports.rediff.com/movies/1999/jul/09man.htm |website=imsports.rediff.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918222835/https://imsports.rediff.com/movies/1999/jul/09man.htm |archive-date=2020-09-18 |url-status=live|quote=''Mann'' starring Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala is a remake of ''An Affair To Remember'', the 1957 hit starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.}}</ref> which were both adaptations of ''An Affair to Remember''.