Love Affair (1939)

French painter and renowned playboy Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) is on his way to America to meet with his fiance heiress Lois Clarke (Astrid Allwyn). He meets American singer Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) who is involved with a rich man herself, Kenneth Bradley (Lee Bowman). Since Michel’s escapades are always newsworthy, Terry tries to avoid him on the ship but when they stop at Madeira, she agrees to go with Michel to visit his grandmother Janou (Maria Ouspenskaya). Janou approves highly of Terry, she reveals that Michel is a great artist and needs the right kind of woman to lead him in the right direction.

As they resume their cruise, Michel and Terry, through clandestine meeting aboard, eventually fall in love. Michel and Terry agree on a six month time limit to prove to themselves and one another that they can make it on their own. They make an appointment to meet six months later on top of the Empire State Building. Michel goes on to become a great painter and Terry works in a nightclub as a singer.

Six months later, as Terry is hurrying to get to her destination, she is struck by a car and informed that she may not be able to walk again, that the doctors won’t know for certain for several months. Not wanting to be a burden to Michel, she does not contact him, preferring to let him think the worst.

Meanwhile, Michel goes back to Madeira to find that Janou has passed away but left a beautiful lace shawl for Terry. The same shawl that Michel painted her in from his memory of that day in Madeira with Terry. Back in America six months later, he meets Terry by accident at the theater. Though he does not really speak to her, he finds out where she lives and confronts her. Through their conversation it is revealed that the painting of her was given to a woman who had little money and was crippled. Finally putting two and two together, Michel goes into the next room and finds the painting on the wall. He then assures Terry that no matter what the diagnosis, he will be by her side.

I will have to compare it against McCarey's later version An Affair to Remember however, I thought Love Affair was mildly entertaining. There are some very interesting cinematographic shots in the film and Dunne even stepped outside of her realm of operatic singing and to perform Sing My Heart, a wonderfully modern song for it's time. Other than that, I wasn't really moved by any of the performances or even the story.

Oscar Trivia:

Irene Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Cimarron, Theodora Goes Wild, The Awful Truth, Love Affair, and I Remember Mama.


Charles Boyer received four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his performances in Conquest, Algiers, Gaslight, and Fanny. However during WW II he became active in encouraging French-American relations and established the French Research Foundation, for which he was awarded a special Academy Award for "progressive cultural achievement".

Maria Ouspenskaya was nominated for Best Supporting Actress twice in her career for her performances in Dodsworth and Love Affair.

Leo McCarey was nominated seven times in his career for various categories: Best Music, Best Writing, Best Original Story, and Best Director. He won twice for Best Director for the films The Awful Truth and Going My Way.

Rally 'Round the Flag Boys! (1958)

In a pleasant little community called Putnam’s Landing, Harry Bannerman (Paul Newman) is fed up with his wife Grace's (Joanne Woodward) involvement in every civic committee Putnam comes up with. However, when the government chooses Putnam’s Landing as the location for a top secret mission, Grace not only joins a committee to halt the mission, she volunteers Harry to go to Washington to speak on Putnam’s behalf, forgoing their agreement that she would be less involved and that they would spend quality time together…alone. Instead of putting his heart into the being the spokesperson for Putnam, Harry, a Naval reservist, is re-enlisted and expected to be the government's liaison for the new base. Adding to his troubles is disappointed housewife and neighbor Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins), who decides to Harry is just as unsatisfied as she is with her marriage and takes it upon herself to spice up both their lives until one misunderstanding after another lands Harry in the dog house.

Mix in satirical barbs aimed at military stupidity- Captain Hoxie (Jack Carson) is quite the joke and the current teenaged "beat" craze and you have material for standard Leo McCarey fare. Unfortunately, McCarey's successful films were behind him and Rally ‘Round the Flag Boys, his second to last film, had nothing to go on beyond the star power of Newman-Woodward. The dialogue seemed improvised and more immature than witty and the film’s plot is incomplete with Putnam fighting against the military and then suddenly capitulating for no apparent reason. In addition, Tuesday Weld as Comfort Goodpasture the scream crazy fan to Tom Gilson’s song “You’re my Boojum!” and Dwayne Hickman’s best Marlon Brando impression did little for me. As a modern viewer who’s already coming in with a pre-conditioned hatred of all things “beat” and who considers the fifties the beginning of the low point of classic films it was no surprise that I didn’t much like Rally ‘Round the Flag Boys. However, it starred Paul Newman... um, I don’t think I need to say anything more on that point.
This is in no way to get down on Leo McCarey who did such wonderful pieces as The Awful Truth (a favorite), Going My Way (which, according to Crosby, was very much improvised), and The Bells of St. Mary's. Not every director is perfect despite having star players. You can look at Once Upon a Honeymoon (the worst Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant film I have seen as yet) for further proof.

Sidenote:

I am still looking for the origin of that heinous word, Boojum which means girlfriend or an attractive young woman. Any input? Upon looking into the origin I did find a morbid tidbit on Tom Gilson who sings "You're My Boojum!" in the film. His wife, actress Sandra (Saundra) Edwards killed him with a shotgun to the heart after Gilson broke into her sister's house where she was residing after she left him for beating her. She shot him in self-defense after he threatened to kill her and her children.