An Affair to Remember

I've been loving Netflix because I can browse for movie titles I'd like to see and I don't have to go wait in line. We've seen some pretty good movies this way that I'm not sure I normally would have rented (or even been able to find). Some good ones I've seen lately are "Motorcycle Diaries" about a South American med student on a journey to "find himself" and how it leads to him becoming a rebel and supporter of Castro. I also really enjoyed "City of God", which chronicled the life of a photographer for the paper in a very rough area and actually lived to tell his story. Last night's movie was "An Affair to Remember", which I chose because I figure that I need to diversify my movie-viewing/choosing habits and get acquainted with some of the classics. I remember taking a course in my first two years of college called "American Film Classics", so I was exposed to some films I normally would not have been interested in and learned to appreciate why they were considered good for their time.

"An Affair to Remember" was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. I was struck by the corny dialogue and how quickly the two main characters "fell head over heels" for each other (eye-roll). Also, keep in mind that, since this movie was made in the mid-50's, it is not very explicit. They don't even show you Nickie and Terry's first kiss! Also, it's interesting who they cast in these films. Apparently, the role for leading lady was originally supposed to go to Grace Kelly, but I think Deborah Kerr did a fine job and was appealing in her own way. A sign of the times really showed up in this film, which was the fact that, at several different points in the movie, different characters commented on the "niceness" of Deborah Kerr's character (even though they had only known her for a few moments). Because of the subject matter (two people meet on a cruise ship and fall in love, even though they are both promised to someone else), I think the film tried very hard to make the characters likable and the situation something that people could, if not identify with, at least empathize with. Even when the two planned to marry and broke it off with their respective partners, things remained very civil between the cheaters and the cheated on. That would never happen in a movie this day and age - we have movies like "Fatal Attraction", "A Perfect Murder", and countless others that seem to want us to think that it's okay to turn into a psycho-murdering bitch/bastard because you've been jilted. H pointed out something that I guess sums up my observations about the movie pretty succinctly - that some points of view and dialogue just don't translate well over time.

I would recommend this movie to people who want something light-hearted and need a breath of fresh air from the grit of today's films. I give this flick seven out of ten dancing feet.

Next in my queue? Reservoir Dogs, The Graduate, Annie Hall, Goodfellas, and Chinatown.