One of my all time favourites was "An Affair to Remember". It had the most pathetic and sad storyline. A classic tearjerker. I am convinced that all those modern sappy Korean/Hong Kong dramas were inspired by this story.
The basic story is actually very simple: A man and a woman,who are engaged to other people, meet on a ship and quickly fall in love. They agree to meet six months later, but due to an accident one of them is not able to make it.
Like your typical drama, they spin the story out slowly into a looooong drawn out drama... but they certainly do it well! ( IMHO at least )
Most people find this movie to be very slow moving with too much talking. This is quite true. But it has such beautiful scenes. And I love the old grand style of talking that all the characters have. The sad sad music. And those dramatic one liners.
And oh the drama... why didn't she meet him at the top of the Empire State Building as she promised? Why didn't he try harder to contact her? Why didn't she go to him and explain everything? Why do they cry and miss each other so much yet refuse to unite only until the very end?
The main female character (played by Deborah Kerr) had an accident and was paralysed in both legs. She believed that her lover (played by the legendary Cary Grant) would never accept her crippled state (which is stupid, I know, but that's why they call it drama). And then the guy goes away and pines before he and the girl finally reunite at the very end. And she is reassured that he still loves her no matter what the circumstances.
I cried at the ending. I couldn't help it. It was just too sad and beautiful.
All this really sounds your typical Korean drama with the cliche sad storyline. Now you know the mother of all such tearjerker drama stories is in this movie.
Memorable quotes:
"Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories... And we've already missed the spring!"
"There must be something between us, even if it's only an ocean"
[voice shaking, ready to cry] "If you can paint I can walk- anything can happen, right?"
Other comments on this movie >>
Love Deborah Kerr. I remember that movie too - quite exasperating to see them miss each other. also love 'casablanca' They don't make movies like they do in those days - so much passion yet no vulgar scenes
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Casablanca... I remember that golden old song "You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss... As Time Goes By"
ReplyDelete