Love Affair, the film..... or was it 'Our Love Affair?"

Saturday night I watched this film on our PBS station (we have 'movie night' on Saturday), mainly because it was on. Why they did the remake, I do not know... I think I remember the first. This remake with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr was hysterically 'old fashioned' and rather silly. The main reason was because dear old 'upper-class' Deborah seemed to obviously feel that she should not be working with Archie Leach, a lower class type. Such amusing 'love' scenes, where as he seemed to be coming in for a kiss, she pulled her head to the side and he got a quick hug, with the look of disdain. Through the whole thing good old Deborah played like the posh upper-class English LADY, putting up with having to work with this dreadful 'Archie Leach' character. And oh, the scenes where she is 'directing' the children singing... waving her hands up and down... silly!

I LOVED Cary Grant. He was the George Clooney of his day... a gorgeous man who looked quite posh to me, and I suppose to most of the American public. He had lost all his low-class tumbler talk and attitude. He wore clothes well and acted like he was born to be aristocracy. But during this film, Deborah seemed to feel she was the elegant, intellectual, charming lady... so why on earth did they force her to put up with this rather minor peasant. There wasn't even a kiss at the end... just good old Debbie letting that man put his cheek next to her lovely, luscious cheek while she intoned the final lines of something like, "Well, if you can sing, I can walk, my darling" all eyes shiny with Hollywood tears.

How dare she... Cary Grant might have come to this country as part of a tumbling act, or something like it, but he turned into the most gorgeous, suave leading man in Hollywood... like a man born to be not only Hollywood aristocracy, but genuine aristocracy. When given the right leading lady (like Kate Hepburn) he was great and stayed that way until he tired of acting and went to work for a cosmetics company. I saw him years ago... an old man with white hair and he was still the most beautiful man I have ever seen. He saw me gasping and pointing and laughed and waved. Kind, too.