Love Affair

Released Mar 16, 1939

1h 27m

Comedy

Drama

List

92%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

70%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Engaged ladies' man Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) encounters spoken-for singer Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) aboard a transatlantic cruise, where sparks fly and a romance ensues. Once they reach New York, Michel and Terry agree to go back to their significant others, then meet atop the Empire State Building in six months, when both are free to pursue their affair. Though a tragic accident forestalls their reunion, Terry and Michel still hold out hope for a chance to rekindle their true love.

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Derek Smith

Slant Magazine

Dunne and Boyer’s performances [have] a looseness and spontaneity that nicely complements Terry and Michel’s instant and powerful connection.

Mar 8, 2022

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

You find yourself screaming: “Just tell him the truth, Terry! He loves you! It’ll be fine!”

Rated: 5/5

Feb 28, 2022

Full Review

Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: 5/5

Oct 6, 2005

Full Review

Pare Lorentz

McCall's

The neatest and most expert movie of the spring is a light comedy, Love Affair, and as it was produced as well as directed by Leo McCarey, and as it shows a skill away and above anything we have had in a long time.

Dec 27, 2023

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

It’s a handsome, humorously inclined tragedy which plays like the blithe counterpart to something like David Lean’s Brief Encounter.

Mar 17, 2022

Full Review

Rob Aldam

Backseat Mafia

One of those beautiful romantic comedies which takes you in directions you would have never expected

Feb 21, 2022

Full Review

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Leaburn O

Superior to its more famed successor, An Affair to Remember, this one has more chemistry between the leads and a touching performance from the grandma. A lot to enjoy about this classic and pleased I got to watch it. Saw this one on BBC iPlayer.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/15/23

Full Review

isla s

As a classic black and white 'weepy' type film, this is quite good. Its a bit cheesy but it has some nice dialogue and decent performances and its quite watchable. It may not be entirely what you expect but I would suggest tissues aren't a bad idea if your particularly prone to crying when watching films. I'd recommend this film, yes.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

william k

Old-fashioned Hollywood tearjerker is finely directed in good taste and touches of slight humor with both Dunne and Boyer performing in good harmony, but it's slow-paced and especially sentimental toward the ending.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

jim b

Not a great movie, this romantic drama was later remade into An Affair To Remember. I have seen both of them - this one first, and now, after seeing An Affair To Remember (also directed by Leo McCarey), I have to say my initial impression of this stays the same; while Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer have a real chemistry that the remake's actors, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr lack - and Dunne does a far better acting job than Kerr, and the woman who plays the grandmother is better here as well - the remake is overall much more emotionally effective. The ending of An Affair to remember much, MUCH better. This one is quite anti-climactic. This whole movie is lacking something (and both movies actually lack of feeling of that they're really in love). I thought I would like this much more than before, this second time around, after seeing An Affair To Remember; I was wrong. Not a great movie in my opinion. Just not overall very good. See Dunne in The Awful Truth. See Boyer in History Is Made At Night (a REALLY romantic movie with Jean Arthur), or Gaslight. I recommend those if you want to see them in much better movies. (I get the attraction to this movie, but the actual movie itself is quite a letdown). An Affair To Remember reduced me to tears. This did nothing.....

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

mike v

Love Affair is a 1939 American romantic film, directed by Leo McCarey 🛳 Meh, it passed the time. Sort of. 😕

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Directed by Leo McCarey, this 1939 romantic classic is the first and best version of the old warhorse of a fateful shipboard romance between an aimless playboy and a nightclub singer, both engaged but appearing to be destined to reunite on the top floor of the Empire State Building. The elaborate, shot-for-shot 1957 remake again directed by McCarey with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr is much better known, and Warren Beatty even saw fit to remake it yet again with his wife Annette Bening for a 1994 update featuring an 87-year old Katharine Hepburn in her last film role. But it all started with this more modest film starring a smart, luminous Irene Dunne as Terry McKay and Charles Boyer all continental charm as Michel Marnet. The story is as contrived as ever, but the script co-written by McCarey, Mildred Cram, Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart is full of clever dialogue to go with the soap opera elements. It's too bad the print condition is so bad given that it has fallen into the public domain, but you can still get a strong sense of the craftsmanship behind the film, especially Rudolph Maté's soft-focus cinematography. Even though Maria Ouspenskaya gives her most sympathetic performance as Grandmother Janou (she was wonderfully malevolent in "The Wolf Man"), it's really the chemistry between the two stars which keeps this afloat, especially Dunne who was so dexterous in comedy and drama in her prime that she is far superior to either Kerr or Bening. She even gets to sing two songs most winningly, one a Harold Arlen gem called "Sing My Heart". Even though you are likely to know every scene by heart from the 1957 remake, it's still quite worthwhile to enjoy the antiquated charms of the original.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

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Leo McCarey

Director

Irene Dunne

Terry

Charles Boyer

Michel

Maria Ouspenskaya

Grandmother

Lee Bowman

Kenneth Bradley

Astrid Allwyn

Lois Clarke

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Synopsis

Engaged ladies' man Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) encounters spoken-for singer Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) aboard a transatlantic cruise, where sparks fly and a romance ensues. Once they reach New York, Michel and Terry agree to go back to their significant others, then meet atop the Empire State Building in six months, when both are free to pursue their affair. Though a tragic accident forestalls their reunion, Terry and Michel still hold out hope for a chance to rekindle their true love.

Director: Leo McCarey
Screenwriter: Mildred Cram, Leo McCarey, Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 16, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 27m

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