AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957) **1/2 The remake that became the mother of all remakes. Glib, heart warming story in a staid tradition somewhere between Harlequin and Vine. Which means, among other things, strange but interesting plot turns, admirable dialogue, and wildly affluent characters who open and close on a pedestal with never a hint of climbing down. Therein lies the danger; Cary Grant, for all of his brilliance in scenes of snap-snap dialogue, never appears the embodiment of human übergreatness that the writers contemplate; Deborah Kerr is much less adequate as the love interest to swing that greatness off the happy path of bachelordom and onto the straight and narrow and fulfilling. There's no denying the genuine warmth of the closing scenes, and the righteousness of all that stands for, but if you're only interested in catching one movie with this plot in your lifetime hold out for Love Affair.
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