Good spy movies are often associated with tense drama, but they can be funny too. Case in point: Sneakers, the 1992 comedy with an all-star cast of Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, River Phoenix, and Dan Aykroyd. The film, about a group of hackers who become involved in a government scheme, weaves intrigue in with its easy-breezy tone.
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The movie became a surprise hit of 1939, showing McCarey's versatility after a long career of comedic films, and launching the surprising team-up of Dunne and Boyer. Academy Award nominations include Best Actress for Dunne, Best Supporting Actress for Ouspenskaya, Best Original Song, Best Writing (Original), and Best Picture. Its popularity was later dwarfed by McCarey's 1957 remake An Affair to Remember, which spawned its own remakes with 1994's Love Affair and a few Indian adaptations.
Despite the popularity of his romantic and screwball comedies, Leo McCarey had become tired of directing them.[5] His wife suggested they should go on a cruising vacation around Europe to combat his writer's block, and when they returned to the United States, they watched the Statue of Liberty pass. McCarey immediately told her his idea about two passengers who fall in love on a cruise, but realize they are both "obligated to somebody else."[6] With the premise created, Mildred Cramco-developed the rest of the story under the working title Memory of Love,[Note 1] then later Love Match,[9][10] as Delmer Daves created the screenplay and Donald Ogden Stewart helped McCarey with the comedy.[11][12] James Anderson stood as assistant director,[4] Edward Dmytryk and George Hively were the movie's editors, and Roy Webb composed the film score.[13] Filming took place in the fall of 1938.[14] The rough cut was screened in January 1939.[15]
McCarey reused and retooled the line "According to you, everything I like to do is either illegal, immoral or fattening," from his 1934 movie Six of a Kind, and gave it to Terry;[26] W. C. Fields (who ad-libbed the retort in the original film) approved but critics hated the reference, McCarey later revealed.[27] Boyer was allowed input in Michel's characterization; he suggested that Michel visiting his grandmother should have a prominent appearance so Terry's accident would not create a tonal shift.[12] The champagne industry used the film to promote pink champagne to the audience, which caused a sales boost.[28]
Maria Ouspenskaya described working on the film as "an atmosphere of work that is inspirational. [...] Actor, electricians, and cameramen loved their work and did not want to break away from that atmosphere."[30] Boyer would later praise McCarey's filmmaking for the movie's success; he was described in an interview years later as "still speak[ing] of Mr. McCarey with sincere awe."[31]
Initially a period piece set in the 1850s about the tragic romance of a French ambassador,[35][25] the final draft of the script was complete and filming was announced to begin September 15,[36] but it was later pushed back a month.[37] Due to concerns of a potential war in Europe, the French embassy wanted stronger allyship with the United States and had concerns about a movie about a French diplomat and an American woman having an affair.[25][35] McCarey and Daves reworked the story as a modern tale,[35] with Terry's characterization now based on a woman Daves met on a cruise who was rumored to be returning to the United States after hiding in Europe for being caught as the mistress of a small-town government official.[35]
The praise for Love Affair among film critics was reflected in Clark Wales' quip: "Recommending a Leo McCarey production is something like recommending a million dollars or beauty or a long and happy life. Any of these is a very fine thing to have and the only trouble is that there are not enough of them."[42] Liberty magazine wrote "a pleasant little seriocomedy,"[43] New York World-Telegram called the film "the most absorbing and delightful entertainment of its kind [in] a long time"[44] and New York Daily News called the film "tender, poignant [and] sentimental without being gooey".[45] "Put this one down among the contenders of the Academy Awards of 1939," declared Associated Press, "and [one] of the most satisfactory movie endings."[46]
"The screenplay is an exceptionally intelligent effort," wrote the Box Office Digest, "[and] McCarey's skill in handling individual scenes with the old [Hal] Roach technique carries through this tough spot and on to a grand climax,"[47] but the review added: "It must be unfortunately recorded that there is a let down in interest for a half reel when [Michel and Terry] are separated."[47] Meanwhile, The Charlotte Observer found the movie refreshing, describing it as "outdoing" other romances that are "slap-happy wherein boy spanks girl or shoves her into the fish pond by way of displaying his affections."[48] Pare Lorentz described the film as "a mood, rather than a story" as McCarey effortlessly balanced the conflicting tones of comedy and melodrama, "[keeping] it alive by expert interpolations."[49] Stage also praised the direction: "McCarey is the man responsible for shifting, with no detectable trickery, from the brittle comedy of the early sequences to the genuine emotionalism of the later. It is superior entertainment all the way through."[50]
However, the release of its remake, An Affair to Remember, spawned comparisons. An Affair to Remember became better-known in popular culture, later placed at number 5 on AFI's 100 Passions list,[66] and was frequently parodied, referenced, and alluded to in other media, causing Love Affair to become lost in time.[Note 3] Screenwriter Nora Ephron, first introduced to the movie when she was a child,[68] referenced it heavily in Sleepless in Seattle,[69][70] allegedly causing rentals of the film to increase.[citation needed] Irene Dunne and Deborah Kerr's Terry performances did not receive as much comparison as Charles Boyer's Michel and Cary Grant's Nicky, whose characters divided critics and analysts per review. Larry Swindell called Boyer's portrayal/performance chaste which overshadows the dialog's frequent references to Michel's womanizing,[12] whereas Megan McGurk argued Grant was too self-conscious and refused to make Nicky appropriately vulnerable, particularly in Nicky and Terry's reunion.[71]
Cary Grant first worked with McCarey on The Awful Truth and did not like McCarey's improvisational strategy, but after eventually warming to it, he wished that he had starred in Love Affair, and he often visited the set during production.[6] He enjoyed the film when it was released and convinced McCarey years later to remake it starring Grant in Boyer's role.[7] McCarey later commented: "Hollywood films all seem to be trying to find a trick way of saying 'I love you.' What are they trying to prove? Love is the oldest and noblest emotion."[8] An Affair to Remember was almost identical to the original on a scene-to-scene basis.[6][9] McCarey used the same screenplay as was employed for the original film, written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart,[10] but Stewart was not included in the credits because he had been blacklisted. Filming took place between February and April 1957.[11]
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times found the early part of the film fairly enjoyable, with "plenty of humorous conversation that is handled crisply" by the leads, but concluded that the picture goes wrong after the couple disembarks, writing: "The marriage pact seems ridiculously childish for a couple of adult people to make. The lady's failure to notify her fiancé of her accident seems absurd. The fact that the man does not hear of it in some way is beyond belief. And the slowness with which he grasps the obvious when he calls upon the lady is just too thick."[12] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post agreed, writing that the film "boasts early amusing reels that ultimately become unbelievably foolish in the quest for audience tears."[13] Variety disagreed, calling the romance "never maudlin" and "wholly believable" in a positive review of what it called "a winning film" with "all the ingredients that should make it an ideal women's picture."[14] Harrison's Reports was also positive, calling it "more enchanting and delightful than the original" and "so powerful in the closing scenes that one is unable to fight back the tears."[15] John McCarten of The New Yorker was dismissive, writing that the actors were "tolerable, but the movie is really awfully maudlin."[16] A generally positive review in The Monthly Film Bulletin called the film "a lush slice of Hollywood romanticism, unashamedly following most of the familiar conventions of glossy magazine fiction. To judge it on a higher level would normally seem unfair if it were not that here the script does succeed in cutting rather deeper. The relationship between Ferrante and Terry McKay is briskly developed, with an attractive, often touching humor."[17]
As Donner had become unavailable because he was promoting Superman in Europe, the Salkinds approached Guy Hamilton to take over directional reins for Superman II since Lester was filming Cuba (1979) at the time. However, Hamilton was unavailable, but by the time Superman II was ready to begin filming, Lester had completed Cuba and was available to direct.[23] Eventually, on March 15, 1979, the Salkinds decided to replace Donner with Richard Lester. Donner recalled, "One day, I got a telegram from them saying my services are no longer needed and that my dear friend Richard Lester would take over. To this day, I have not heard from them." Ilya Salkind countered, "Dick Donner said, 'I will do the second movie on my terms and without [Pierre] Spengler' ... Spengler was my friend since childhood and my father and I were very loyal guys. We said no, and it really boiled down to that."[24] 2ff7e9595c
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