LOVE AFFAIR

WHEN GREAT ROMANCE CLASSICS ARE MENTIONED, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER ALWAYS MAKES THE CUT.BUT THE ORIGINAL OF THIS FILM, LEO McCAREY'S LOVE AFFAIR IS THE FAR SUPERIOR FILM IN EVERY WAY. McCAREY DIRECTED BOTH VERSIONS, AND HE HAD GREAT STARS IN EACH EDITION. BUT IN THE ORIGINAL HE HAD IRENE DUNNE ( WHO ALSO MADE THE FANTASTIC THE AWFUL TRUTH--DISCUSSED SEPARATELY HERE--WITH THE SAME DIRECTOR) AND CHARLES BOYER. THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN DUNNE AND BOYER CANNOT BE BOUGHT AND RADIATES IN EVERY FRAME OF THIS WONDERFUL FILM. THE SMALL SUPPORTING CAST IS ALSO VERY FINE, ESPECIALLY MARIA OUSPENSKAYA, WHO HAS ONLY ONE EXTENDED SCENE, BUT REALLY MAKES THE VERY MOST OF IT. AS A TRIVIA NOTE, DUNNE AND BOYER APPARENTLY BECAME LIFE LONG FRIENDS AND WORKED TOGETHER AGAIN; AND YEARS LATER, WHEN BOYER COMMITTED SUICIDE THE DAY AFTER HIS WIFE OF MANY YEARS DIED, DUNNE IS REPORTEDLY THE ONLY HOLLYWOOD TYPE WHO SHOWED UP AT HIS FUNERAL. INTERESTING THAT "THE GREAT LOVER" WAS DEVOTED TO ONLY ONE WOMAN IN HIS REAL LIFE AND COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT HER.LOVE AFFAIR IS A STRAIGHTFORWARD STORY ABOUT A COUPLE MEETING ON A SHIP, BUT INVOLVED WITH OTHERS. THEY FALL IN LOVE AND AGREE TO MEET AGAIN LATER WHEN THEY CAN UNTANGLE THEIR SEPARATE AFFAIRS, BUT--AS ALWAYS IN MOVIES AND IN LIFE--FATE INTERVENES AND THINGS RUN INTO MANY SNAGS BEFORE A HAPPY ENDING. CERTAINLY THIS MOVIE SUBSCRIBES TO THE PHILOSOPHY THAT LOVE CONQUERS ALL...AND THAT IS ALMOST ALWAYS TRUE...AT LEAST IN THE MOVIES.