Reviews (71)

Finally An Affair To Remember is on DVD
In April of this year I bought this DVD. I love it so much. I remember when I was little and saw it . It brought tears to my eyes. I especially love the special features that are on this DVD. I have always loved The Extremely hansome an Debonair Cary Grant. He is a role model of what Male Actors Should Be.

Cary Grant, and Deborah Kerr meet on a Ocean Cruise well they meet and they fall in love. But one problem They are both already engaged to different people. Well as the Ocean Voyage goes on they get more and more romantic. Well when they get off the boat they make an agreement that 6 Months from that day they would meet at the top of the Empire State Building to see if they still love each other. Well that day comes and Cary Grant is on the top floor. But as Deborah Kerr is running to the Empire State Building she gets ran into by a car and is paralyzed. But at the end Cary Grant finds her and they Kiss and Get Married. Great Movie. The way that all movies are supposed to be.

Better than I anticipated....
"An Affair to Remember" with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr has a lot to offer. I was skeptical when my wife brought this video home for "us" to watch, but I decided to give it an honest try. Once the movie got underway, and the character development started to take place, I became interested. There was more to Grant than a womanizing cad (thought it took a while for him to shake that image in the movie), and Kerr came across as a world-wise, yet innocent (in a sense), former night club singer.

While they are both committed to other people, Grant and Kerr meet and fall in love on a ship cruising from Europe to America.

Some of the dialogue and situations appear to be somewhat contrived, but the acting and story line development stirs true emotion.

This is probably not a movie for the bump and grind Monday Night Football crowd, but it is both watchable and enjoyable. Maybe I was primed to watch it by seeing "Sleepless in Seattle" recently, a movie that my wife and I both enjoy.

Anyway, give this movie a chance...it's somewhat dated, but it's still got something to offer.

Overrated Tearjerker
The first part aboard the boat seems convenient & affected. The bit where she takes him to meet her relative is charming and pretty but pointless. The accident and her subsequent behavior bespeaks of underlying insecurities and purhaps subconcious concerns about his character. I didn't feel particularly sympathetic toward either character and, thus, the reunion doesn't touch me.

One of my favourite movies
While I haven't seen the remake of this film, I have seen the original, and this is by far one of my favourite movies ever. The picture is beautiful, the casting is flawless, and the story timeless. I would recommend this for chick-flick lovers and even those who aren't particularly fond of romantic-comedies.

Practically nobody, huh?
Amazon says "practically nobody" likes the 1994 remake with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, but actually I would prefer that one to this any day. However, if you have to see the original, amazon is where to get it. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A working girl's dream job!
I recently bought this tape again after I wore out my old one! The scenery in this film is truly beautiful as well as that of the many fountains. The movie starts off with three young ladies, one of which just arrives in Rome to start a new job taking over for another girl returning to America to be married. All three young ladies go through the trials and errors of finding love interests in the romantic city. One finds her handsome prince, one finds a hunky, floundering student and the third falls for her novelist older boss. All three ending up with their heart's desire. Guess those coins in the fountain paid off! Sure wish it was that easy these days!! Truly a delightful film.

One of the Most Romantic Beginnings in Any Hollywood Movie
I don't think you'll find much to top this opener, with the fountains of Rome being turned on one by one while Frank Sinatra croons an ulta-smooth rendition of the title song. Ohhhh!
This movie has a lot going for it after the opening song too, (unlike "Raintree County" for instance), so you'll be riveted to the screen. For starters, it's a wonderful travelogue of Rome, in glorious technicolor. And then, it boasts three of my favorite actors, none of whom ever gave a bad performance: Clifton Webb, Louis Jourdan, and Rosanno Brazzi.
These men each figure in a love story with one of three American secretaries living in Rome, respectively Dorothy McGuire, Maggie McNamara, and Jean Peters. In Webb's case, he is McGuire's boss, and has been totally unaware of her real feelings these past ten years. Jourdan is a wealthy playboy used to preying on innocent young girls who's having the tables turned on him by the very predatory McNamara. And lovelorn Rosanno Brazzi--who always makes my pulse flutter--has been pining after Peters, but afraid to tell her of his love, since he believes her engaged to another. How these unlikely scenarios resolve themselves is a delight for the viewer. Take my advice on this one: If you want to be swept away some night by romantic escapism, "Three Coins in the Fountain" is your best bet.

Great story, great cast and superb cinematography
I saw this movie when I was a child and liked it. Then saw it many times on TV and at a special screening in New York.The best thing about it I discovered is the dialog. It's smart and funny - of course, the script was written by a Pulitzer prize winner: John Patrick.
The film was nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture of 1954, and actually won for Best Cinematography and Best Song
The cast is marvelous - most outstanding are Jean Peters and Rossano Brazi (who are the best looking couple and also share the best story of the three featured in the film)and Clifton Webb, who delivers his lines full of sarcasm and innuendos with perfect timing.
The film's most valued asset is its photography by Milton Krasner. Although many will remember "Roman Holiday" as capturing the best of Rome, this film is much more superior visually - and in color and glorious wide screen Cinemascope.

romance is not that easy in Rome!
This movie tracks one month is the lives of 3 American secretaries working in Rome. It opens with the newest girl being picked up at the station and brought back to the apartment, where the other 2 fill her in on how hard romance is in the Eternal City. One even says she is returning to the USA to get married -- although there is actually no fiancee in question --- just to protect herself and her reputation.

There is to be no fraternizing with other employees -- after all, they are told, they are only secretaries -- but when one falls for a coworker she gets them both into trouble. Another has spent 15 years as the secretary to a great novelist who is obvlivious to her feelings for him. And another goes about being a "Rules Girl" (it IS the 1950s), learning everything about her Italian Prince Charming and pretending to like all the same things as he does, but then feeling horrible for misleading him.

Charming and beautifully filmed, this is a romantic film for audiences of all generations.

THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN
I LIKED THIS MOVIE BUT I THOUGHT THE REMAKE WITH LONI ANDERSON WAS MUCH BETTER. I'D LIKE TO BUY THAT VERSION BUT DONT SEE IT LISTED. ANY SUGGESTIONS? ... Read more

Amazon.com

The daughter of legendary British actor John Mills and novelist Mary Hayley Bell (as well as the sister of actress Juliet Mills), young Hayley Mills broke the surface of fame at the tender age of 12, starring opposite her father in the thriller Tiger Bay. That film, along with a Berlin Film Festival award, was enough to attract the attention of Walt Disney, who promptly signed her to a five-year contract and put her in the starring role of Pollyanna. After wringing hearts and nabbing a special Oscar, Mills segued into the comedy thing--for double the fun--in The Parent Trap, the 1961 farce in which she played twins, separated at birth, who scheme to reunite their biological parents (Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith, both surprisingly sexy for a Disney movie). On the brink of adolescence, Mills was a saucy role model for children of the Kennedy era: cute, endearing and, above all, wholesome despite her sneaky ways--everyone's meddlesome sister. Easily stepping into the Disney child-star gap as the original Mouseketeers were (literally) outgrowing their uniforms, Mills was the studio's live-action bread and butter for a brief moment in time, and The Parent Trap still remains her best vehicle, a classic now to adults who came of age during the early '60s. It also pioneered the processed split-screen technique, which while not seamless was revolutionary and exciting enough that, upon seeing the initial results, Uncle Walt asked the filmmakers to shoot more scenes in which Mills played opposite herself. --Mark Englehart ... Read more

Reviews (97)

A Fun, Spirited Adventure Starring Hayley Mills
In the original movie, The Parent Trap, Hayley Mills stars, twice! As twins, not knowing about each other's existence, who meet at a summer camp where they immedietly dislike eachother, until, of course, they discover that they are twins. In the course of all this, they switch places in attempt to reunite their parents, played by Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith. A fun movie to watch. Though perhaps not quite as colorful as the new version, it is a nice addition to your video collection, especially to compare to the new one. A must see movie that your whole family will enjoy.

"Let's Get Together,Yeah,Yeah,Yeah!"
"The Parent Trap" tells the story of two girls at summer camp: Sharon McKendrick and Susan Evers(both played by Hayley Mills). Their parents got divorced and took both of them separately. Maureen O'Hara plays Margaret McKendrick,and the late Brian Keith plays Mitchell Evers. The song that Hayley sings in the movie was a # 1 hit for her in 1961: "Let's Get Together" is written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman,who also wrote the title song sung by Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello. Hayley Mills also reprised the roles of Sharon and Susan in "The Parent Trap II" (1986),"The Parent Trap III"(1989),and "The Parent Trap Hawaaian Honeymoon"(1989). Lindsay Lohan took Mills' roles in the remake of "The Parent Trap"(1998).

Help, I'm seeing Double........
I love this movie. Both versions arwe great. The first one, with Haley Mills, has the song,"lets get together yeah yeah yeah, why don't you and I combine.." and the second one with Lindsay Lohan, has the song "There She Goes" And there are some other diffrences. Like in the new one, there is the lizard fiasco. I'm pretty sure that wasn't in the old one. But they are both good. if I wer you I wouldn't chose. I'd get both.:)

Hayley to the Rescue
This was the highest grossing box office success in America in 1961 and if there isn't a statue of Hayley Mills in Disneyland there oughta be. Her successive hits for Walter and Roy Disney bailed them out of a tight spot financially. Ms. Mills effortless adolescent charm is backed by two first rate performers in Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara and neither was ever better. The plot about separated twins is older than Shakespeare and doesn't bear too close examination, but the theme of a re-kindled love and re-united family is one very few of us can resist. Highly recommended.

Special features are wonderful
Of course this is a wonderful Disney family film. I'm in my twenties, and I can remember watching this movie since I was a toddler. Since I'm sure you know how great the movie is and can read other reviews for that, I'll concentrate on the special features of this DVD, some of which aren't even mentioned above.

• "Caught in the Act: The Making of the Parent Trap" is a good documentary (about 30 minutes), including interviews with Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara, director David Swift, Joanna Barnes, and more. It provides a lot of background details on how the idea for the film came about, selecting the cast, fine-tuning the screenplay, etc.

• "Disney Legend: Hayley Mills" is a 25-minute feature all about Hayley, and it's quite good. It includes photos and home movies from her childhood as well as interviews with Hayley, Maureen O'Hara, Dean Jones, Kevin Corcoran, David Swift, Nancy Olson, and others she worked with at Disney. Hayley talks about her family, her experiences at Disney, and her departure from that Disney image in the late '60s.

• "Seeing Double" is a short feature on the split-screen technology that allowed viewers to see two images of Hayley Mills side by side at once. This technology was quite innovative and experimental at the time, but it worked beautifully.

• The Sherman Brothers featurette is a short but interesting bit of facts and trivia on two men who wrote songs for many memorable Disney films, including "Mary Poppins" and "The Parent Trap."

• "Lost Treasures: Who's the Twin?" is an interesting feature about Susan Henning, the girl who played the double for Hayley Mills in the film (in scenes with the camera over her shoulder or to her back). Now that I know to look for her, I can plainly see in several profile shots that the other twin is NOT Hayley. Watch the fight scene at the dance closely too. Henning is a warm presence and gives some little-known facts about the film and about Walt Disney.

• "Let's Get Together" is a music video of the two Hayleys singing the song from the movie.

• The Donald Duck animated cartoon, "Donald's Double Trouble," is a Disney short filmed a few years before this movie, but it's a cute bonus.

• Other special features include theatrical trailers, TV spots, radio spots, a lengthy Parent Trap photo gallery, and a 1961 Disney studio album.

• The film's audio commentary by Hayley Mills and director David Swift is also a great feature. Hayley reveals many interesting tidbits about her experiences on the film, her relationships with her costars and Walt Disney, and how she views the film today. Swift offers his own recollections on Hayley's performance and other background information on the film. For example, the scene where Brian Keith finds the bra hanging on his shower was almost censored!

The widescreen transfer is wonderful. I'd never seen this film in its original aspect ratio, so this was a treat. The abundance of special features make this DVD edition truly wonderful. (I had no problems with it playing in my DVD player, either.) This is simply a fun family film that you can watch over and over. I know, because I have for the past 20 years. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Part of the late-'70s wave of films about strong women (as if none had existed before that), Julia starred Jane Fonda as writer Lillian Hellman in a story based on some of Hellman's own writings. The stronger woman here is the title character (Vanessa Redgrave), a socially active young woman who teaches Hellman the importance of sticking to her beliefs--even in the face of Nazi terror. The subplot focuses on Hellman's growth as a writer, under the supportive wing of lover Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards). Lushly photographed by Fred Zinnemann, it's one of the few films that projects a sense of how a writer writes; it also was unafraid to explore the dark consequences of conscience, when Resistance-fighter Julia is captured by the Germans. Robards and Redgrave both won Oscars (leading to Redgrave's Zionist hoodlums acceptance speech). Watch for Meryl Streep in a tiny role in her film debut. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (17)

JANE & VANESSA AT THEIR BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have seen this film many times and each time it's new. Jane is so real playing nervous when being searched on the train! Even though I know the outcome I
still squirm in my seat--thats a great proformance--

Julia
Based on a section of Lilian Hellman's PENTIMENTO, it tells about Hellman's gradual involvement in the resistance movement during WW II. Jane Fonda plays Hellman, Jason Robards is Dashiel Hammett in a bit role, and Vanessa Redgrave is Julia, a rich friend of Hellman's since childhood who is deeply involved in the German resistance. Hellman is asked to smuggle $50,000 into Germany on her way to Moscow; she does so under great risk, and then Julia is arrested and murdered. Julia is supposed to represent great courage, and Redgrave plays her with an angelic quality; Hellman is the initiate into all that Julia is. Done very artfully, though it's lacking in drama.

The Truth behind..."Julia"
Hellman had a childhood friend (Alice) that grew up and died in the Vienna riots, 1934. (An Unfinished Woman, chapter four). Obviously, this is what inspired the Chapter....Julia... in her later book. So the story is probably true to the point where they charged the students...and the newspaper headline that follows. Scenes at the hospital were probably made up as her friend, Alice, died in the riots. The train trip was probably made up , but she did go to Moscow.

The story of her life with Hammett is completely believable even though locations may have been changed. Her relationship with Dorothy Parker, and the trip to Paris....look to be true. The later part of the movie as to how she dealt with Julia's body could have well been true...but happened immediately after the Vienna riot.

The part where Hammett says...."You'd better tear that up.." happened later in her life in regards to the play..."The Autumn Garden" and not in relation to her first play.."The Children's Hour".

The movie, the story...very well done. Fonda, Redgrave, and Robarts...all excellent.

If you really want to enjoy this movie. I suggest you do the following reading. Hellman's three books....plus her play ..."The Children's Hour". Read about Dorothy Parker, I believe there is a book "The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker." I can not recall the title exactly. It's the times of the 30's that is really interesting to me and frames this story superbly.

Best Movie in the History of the World
Everything works in this beautiful period piece, especially the acting. The design and costuming are also spectacular, as is the powerful, poignant script. It's a hero's journey/road picture to outdo any other, as far as I'm concerned, with bravery against Nazis thrown in for good measure -- lovely work that happens to feature Meryl Streep's film debut.

Truth? Fiction?Or Just A Darned Good Story
Occasionally, when I'm dashing off a review for amazon.com, I will try to adopt a less subjective, somewhat more professional style.Sometimes this is little more than a kind of writing exercise: sometimes it may be just because I've looked at some of my other reviews and seen (much to my own embarrassment) how often the pronoun "I" comes up.Who needs that?

But then *I* think there really are some advantages to talking about film in a subjective mode.Perhaps more than any other art form (except maybe, popular music and--if you view it as an artform--television), the movies just about beg for a subjective analysis.It's what made reading Pauline Kael so much fun after all.Ultimately, movie criticism is about what you like, what moved you, whether or not you could relate to the action on the screen, whether or not you even WANTED to relate to the action on the screen.The whole schmier.

And another advantage to the subjective approach--so often, when I re-watch a movie, I respond to it completely differently from the last time.A film you loved twenty years ago has you scratching your head and saying, "WHAT was I thinking."And a film you detested can take on a positive new light for reasons that you can't even begin to put your finger on.You may even find that you go back and forth with a given film to the extent that you begin to realize that subjective commentary may be the ONLY truly honest commentary.

Case in point, Fred Zinneman's 1977 film JULIA.There was a time when I was very ambivalent (and really mostly negative) about this movie.It seemed to be an exercise in earnestness, kind of "special project" movie that the relatively recently politicized Jane Fonda undertook so frequently in the 1970s.Actually, though, I found that the political story worked pretty well.The subplot about Lillian's struggles to establish herself as a playwright nearly drove me up the wall, precisely for the reasons that others have detailed here.The scenes of her chainsmoking, tearing her hair--and actually throwing the typewriter out the window (try doing that with your computer these days) virtually SCREAMED "serious writer at work."When I watched this film in my 20s, I wasn't very patient with what I felt were cinematic cliches.

When I watched the film again recently, I found that these scenes didn't bother me half as much as they had back then.It may well be it's because I've seen hundreds of films in the interim and have come to realize that there is a kind of "cinematic shorthand" (a much friendlier term than "cinematic cliche, wouldn't you say?) that has always been employed (whether you're talking about images of the hands of clock speeding by--or calendar pages being torn off--or something as basic as a voiceover, a device central to the film JULIA).I seem to have grown a lot more patient with such cinematic conventions over the years.And in the case of JULIA, I have actually started to see the typewriter throwing as further possible evidence of a self-mythologizing tendency on the part of Lillian Hellman, the author of the film's source material, the "memoir" PENTIMENTO.

Mary McCarthy has been widely quoted as having said that every word that Lillian Hellman ever wrote was "a lie, including 'the' and 'and.' I don't know enough about Hellman or McCarthy to comment extensively. But the film, perhaps inadvertantly, raises a lot of interesting questions about the very nature of what a memoir is, or a film biography.If Lillian Hellman sought self-aggrandizement, which seems likely, does she also not touch on some very real truths about the nature of courage and heroism.And in the end, doesn't she (or maybe don't the filmmakers) tell a pretty good story?

Take it with a grain--or a shaker--of salt.Put some of it on your popcorn.And enjoy a remarkable story about two remarkable women.In this po-mo world, we're becoming used to taking every tale as a fiction.When it's told with good acting, good direction, good cinematography, and, yes, mostly good writing, it's pretty easy to take a few "lies" with the truth, the chaff with the wheat, and to still take a few lessons from the process.






... Read more

Book Description

The distinguished yet misanthropic and perhaps misogynistic linguist Henry Higgins teaches a common flower girl to speak and act like a lady and, to his own great surprise, falls in love with her. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Family Plot---- Not Hitchock's best but still enjoyable
As a child growing up I was consumed with a passion for film, which has continued to this day and one of my all time favorite directors of film is Alfred Hitchcock.

The film Family Plot came was released in 1976 and for a young teenager growing up in Southern California, this was my first and only opportunity to see a Hitchcock film in it's initial release.

The plot in this film is sort of silly in spots, it concerns a phony psychic who while working as a medium is hired to find a missing heir to her family's fortune. The only problem is that the missing heir is now a jewel thief who faked his own death years ago and wants no part of being located once again.

Bruce Dern plays a cabbie who is also a boyfriend to the psychic, played by Barbara Harris, the jewel thief is played by William Devane, and Karen Black plays his accomplice/love interest.

Mr Hitchcock on this film employed many of the people who had made his subsequent films so successful including screenwriter Ernest Lehman, who penned North By Northwest amongst others for Hitch, Edith Head multi Academy Award winning costume designer, as well as Henry Bumstead who handled the fabulous set designs.

This DVD release is quite impressive for one of the least impressive films of Alfred Hitchcock, but the features make this a worthy addition to your collection nonetheless.

The disc is released in anamorphically enhanced widescreen which is presented in it's original aspect ratio of 1:85.1 and looks vastly superior to the old LaserDisc and VHS copies of this film that I have viewed over the years.

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono and the composer is John Williams in a subdued but effective score.

There is a very nice documentary on this DVD as well entitled, "Plotting Family Plot which runs a little under 50 minutes and covers just about the whole production of the film and has interviews with assisstant director Howard Kazanjian, set designer Henry Bumstead, and actors Bruce Dern, Karen Black, William Devane.

There all also the standard addition of trailers two to be exact, as well as production photos and some behind the scenes photos as well.

Overall Alfred Hitchcocks 54th and final film is not something that film historians will be citing as a milestone in his career, however I think that anyone who is a film collector or Hitchock fan should add this to their DVD collection. I give this DVD release on a Bronze to Platinum rating scale.... a SILVER rating.

A fun finale
This was Alfred Hitchcock's final film, and he was already in his late seventies when he made it. I think that at this point in his career, after fifty years of movie-making, he KNEW he no longer had to prove himself; his place was already set in history. Therefore, instead of making a film along the lines of Psycho, Vertigo, or Rear Window, he made a fun, lighter film along the lines of To Catch A Theif or The Lady Vanishes. The script of Family Plot was written by the same guy who wrote North By Northwest, which means there is a lot of clever, witty dialogue. The California locations are also a typical Hitchcock touch, and the fun car chase scene in the California hills is a classic. People expecting a SUSPENSE film will be disappointed, but I always felt that the "Master of Suspense" was a misleading title for Hitchcock, because his films are about much more than just suspense. Even so, Family Plot is not a masterpiece, but a treat for Hitchcock buffs. Hitchcock didn't go out with a bang, he went out with a wink, and this a great final "slice of cake" from a director who never took himself as seriously as we take him now.

Has done better before.
Of course it is well woven. Of course there are some funny scenes. Of course the plot is simple and the qui pro quo is clear, for us. But the motivations are not very clear, and are not at all explored, be they those of the old rich lady, or those of the illegitimate son, or those of the would-be private eyes. So it is an easy entertaining film to watch, but neither frightening, nor hilarious, nor deeply disturbing, nor overpsychological. It is not one of Hitchcock's best films even if we have to reckon that the work is very clean and very professional and that the English is proper and in no way colloquial. It has all the qualities of a Hitchcock film but one : the soul-raking intricacy and depth, and the implacable logic of motivation and suspense : everything seems to be gratuitous and we know from the very start what is to happen in every single next scene. Just two pleasant odd hours.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

A lost gem
The last two films of Hitchcock are also his most underrated. 'Family Plot' is a joy to watch and so is 'Frenzy'. Very well acted and the master once again will tie you in his web of suspense.

Funny and suspenseful!
This movie is great in every way. There is nothing that this movie lacks. It has suspense, humor, and a great sense of style. This is a movie that I recommend to everyone. A great Hitchcock movie. Go see it! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Terence Rattigan's pair ofone-act plays are deftly woven together into this intelligent, handsome drama, a kindof somber Grand Hotel of lonely and repressed lives at a British seaside hotel inthe dreary off-season. David Niven and Wendy Hiller earned well-deserved Oscars fortheir subdued turns, as a blustery old warhorse hiding a guilty secret and the efficienthotel proprietress, respectively. Burt Lancaster is the alcoholic American whose secretaffair with Hiller is complicated when his former wife (Rita Hayworth) breezes in andreopens old emotional wounds, and Deborah Kerr is a mousy woman whose secret lovefor Niven is shattered by scandal. Director Daniel Mann (Marty) remains true tothe good manners and quiet desperation that keeps these sad souls isolated at separatetables. He gracefully floats between the two dramas and patiently allows his repressedcharacters to open up and reveal their true feelings in their own quiet fashion. --SeanAxmaker ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Top Billing for the Entire Cast!
When Separate Tables was released, the agents of Deborah Kerr and Rita Hayworth fought for top billing in the opening credits. It's easy to understand after viewing this powerful film. Separate Tables is a great study in human nature and relationships among people who are far from faultless.

Burt Lancaster displays both intense anger and hopeless longing as his former wife Rita Hayworth comes back into his life. David Niven (who won an Oscar for this role) is superb as the military man with a past. Watch Niven as he is confronted with the truth about himself and how he interacts with his friends and those who once were his friends. The strength of the film is in its casting. In the hands of lesser actors, the film would turn into a very sappy melodrama. I am anxious to view the film again just to catch all the subtle facial expressions that these wonderful actors use to make their characters even more believable. A great ensemble, a great film.

out of the madding crowd
These separate tables and that discreet hotel I think are the equivalent to the abbeys of the Middle Age in Europe. In effect, not all people are strong enough to affront usual, daily life, with his defying , and some found by then a quiet way of life professing religion, believers or not, escaping of wars, abuses of the noblesse, etc. The lodgers of this film aren't religious, but excepting the writer played by Burt Lancaster the mundane personage of Rita Hayworth and the proprietary of the hotel, all others are people with a weak ego, unable for common life and some practically touching the tragedy, as the pathetic retired major who truly never fought, living of pure fantasy played by David Niven who has to find sex in dark cinema halls, and the poor girl represented by Deborah Kerr, annulated by her malignant castrating mother.
This movie moves me as I think people as these are more common than Herculean, steel heroes as usual, and at last, in his way, they are heroes also.

Top Billing for the Entire Cast!
When Separate Tables was released, the agents of Deborah Kerr and Rita Hayworth fought for top billing in the opening credits. It's easy to understand after viewing this powerful film. Separate Tables is a great study in human nature and relationships among people who are far from faultless.

Burt Lancaster displays both intense anger and hopeless longing as his former wife Rita Hayworth comes back into his life. David Niven (who won an Oscar for this role) is superb as the military man with a past. Watch Niven as he is confronted with the truth about himself and how he interacts with his friends and those who once were his friends. The strength of the film is in its casting. In the hands of lesser actors, the film would turn into a very sappy melodrama. I am anxious to view the film again just to catch all the subtle facial expressions that these wonderful actors use to make their characters even more believable. A great ensemble, a great film.

One of the outstanding movies based on play
Delbert Mann's "Separate Tables" is a beautiful movie based on a stellar cast of David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancastar, Rita Hayworth, and Wendy Hiller. It is set on the seaside, "Beauregard Hotel" in England and shows the lives of different people in the hotel. David Niven plays a retired army man who lives a fictitious life of a person who has fought glamorous wars in the desert, while he has a double life of a person who has a scandalous time at a local theatre. Deborah Kerr plays the life of a shy and simple girl who is tortured by her mother, Gladys Cooper, and not given any freedom and constantly reminded of her position and the class distinctions. Burt Lancaster plays the life of a writer, John Malcolm, who wishes to forget his past in drink. His ex-wife, Rita Hayworth comes to check on him as she is getting old and does not wish to be alone. She feels that John is the only person whom she can turn to.

The screenplay in the movie is wonderful as are the roles of quite a few people in the movie. These include David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, and Burt Lancaster. The music, though low key is appropriate for the movie. The story shows the ebbing of the class distinctions of Britain. Though the Major commits the errors, only one person is dead against it and the others are either ambivalent or are neutral about it. Gladys Cooper tries to badger others to get the major evicted from the hotel due to his bad behavior. Though some of them agree to her, the way they relent in the end is unusual.

The romance between Mrs Shankland and John Malcolm is well portrayed without overdoing anything. I felt that Deborah Kerr's role was wonderful in this. It showed the breadth of her acting style, where she shows how she feels when her trust in the Major is betrayed and the innocence in the child-woman quality of her. Wendy Hiller is beautiful in her low key role of the proprietress of the hotel and how she handles all the people and the issues in the hotel. David Niven's role is fantastic, he shows his transformation from the confident army major to the frightened culprit about to be caught to the person admitting his fault to Deborrah Kerr superbly.

The direction of the movie is very thoughtful without melodrama. Though the movie almost 50 years old, it still maintains its grace and style, which shows its timelessness. The end of the movie is subtle and lovely.

Don't Miss This One!
A great film with perfect casting. The sound track was beautiful and particularly wonderful when Rita Hayworth is introduced to the viewer. The story is unique and has such a good message: The hateful mother is a warning to those who never see the plank in their own eye but see the splinter in their neighbor's. It was good to see that the majority of the characters were able to forgive the sins and bad choices the main character had made in his life. A truly fine film. ... Read more

Reviews (71)

Finally An Affair To Remember is on DVD
In April of this year I bought this DVD. I love it so much. I remember when I was little and saw it . It brought tears to my eyes. I especially love the special features that are on this DVD. I have always loved The Extremely hansome an Debonair Cary Grant. He is a role model of what Male Actors Should Be.

Cary Grant, and Deborah Kerr meet on a Ocean Cruise well they meet and they fall in love. But one problem They are both already engaged to different people. Well as the Ocean Voyage goes on they get more and more romantic. Well when they get off the boat they make an agreement that 6 Months from that day they would meet at the top of the Empire State Building to see if they still love each other. Well that day comes and Cary Grant is on the top floor. But as Deborah Kerr is running to the Empire State Building she gets ran into by a car and is paralyzed. But at the end Cary Grant finds her and they Kiss and Get Married. Great Movie. The way that all movies are supposed to be.

Better than I anticipated....
"An Affair to Remember" with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr has a lot to offer. I was skeptical when my wife brought this video home for "us" to watch, but I decided to give it an honest try. Once the movie got underway, and the character development started to take place, I became interested. There was more to Grant than a womanizing cad (thought it took a while for him to shake that image in the movie), and Kerr came across as a world-wise, yet innocent (in a sense), former night club singer.

While they are both committed to other people, Grant and Kerr meet and fall in love on a ship cruising from Europe to America.

Some of the dialogue and situations appear to be somewhat contrived, but the acting and story line development stirs true emotion.

This is probably not a movie for the bump and grind Monday Night Football crowd, but it is both watchable and enjoyable. Maybe I was primed to watch it by seeing "Sleepless in Seattle" recently, a movie that my wife and I both enjoy.

Anyway, give this movie a chance...it's somewhat dated, but it's still got something to offer.

Overrated Tearjerker
The first part aboard the boat seems convenient & affected. The bit where she takes him to meet her relative is charming and pretty but pointless. The accident and her subsequent behavior bespeaks of underlying insecurities and purhaps subconcious concerns about his character. I didn't feel particularly sympathetic toward either character and, thus, the reunion doesn't touch me.

One of my favourite movies
While I haven't seen the remake of this film, I have seen the original, and this is by far one of my favourite movies ever. The picture is beautiful, the casting is flawless, and the story timeless. I would recommend this for chick-flick lovers and even those who aren't particularly fond of romantic-comedies.

Practically nobody, huh?
Amazon says "practically nobody" likes the 1994 remake with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, but actually I would prefer that one to this any day. However, if you have to see the original, amazon is where to get it. ... Read more

Description

A blood-and-thunder horror yarn from the pen of Edgar Wallace, The Door With Seven Locks stars Leslie Banks as a mass murderer with a penchant for puzzles. He lures several heirs to a fortune to their deaths in his mazelike mansion, which is festooned with cryptic clues leading to the location of a valuable treasure. Banks goes too far when he abducts the lovely Lilli Palmer, whose handsome boyfriend invades the mystery house, rescues the girl, and puts an end to Banks' perfidy. Door with Seven Locks was released in the US as Chamber of Horrors. It has frequently been mis-shipped to local TV stations instead of the 1966 horror film of the same name. ... Read more