Showing posts with label Deborah Kerr. Show all posts

Images

| Published Friday, 13 March 2015

Deborah Kerr

24framesofdreaming.tumblr.com

Posted in Deborah Kerr, images, Old Hollywood |

Images

| Published Thursday, 29 May 2014

Deborah Kerr

pinterest.com/phoenixfire369/old-hollywood

Posted in Deborah Kerr, images, Old Hollywood, photo |

Quotes: Deborah Kerr

| Published Friday, 2 May 2014

I suppose the part nearest me is Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy. Of course playwright Bob Anderson didn’t know that, but he wrote Laura Reynolds and Laura Reynolds happened to be me. It was the coming together of a part and an actress - the same attitude to life, a certain shyness in life, a deep compassion for people who are being persecuted for anything.
-Deborah Kerr [x]

Posted in Deborah Kerr, quote, Tea and Sympathy |

Images: Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957)

Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum in Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957) [x]

One day, on set, when Deborah told Mitchum that she hurt her feet on the rocky ground, “he just kneeled down, unlaced her white sneakers, removed them and massaged her feet. It was lovely the way he did it. No show, no affection, just all feeling. Then he put her sneakers back on and said kind of brusquely, ‘Gotta keep you alive for my next scene.‘“Deborah was so touched her eyes were full of tears. [x]

Posted in Deborah Kerr, images, photo, quote, Robert Mitchum |

"Never kiss Cary Grant - he tickles!"

| Published Thursday, 17 April 2014

In my aimless roamings in the depths of Tumblr, I found the most deliciously funny story about the making of An Affair to Remember. I have to say, I didn't like it when I found out that the actors weren't really bawling as hard when making the love scenes as I was when watching them - but it's still too good not to share.

Don’t ever kiss Cary Grant. He tickles! During many of poignant love scenes in An Affair To Remember I had a terrible time keeping a straight face. Cary was supposed to hold me tenderly but each time he put his strong arms around me, he would give me a little tickle under the ribs. This would start me giggling like a school girl, but Cary kept it up until I was almost exhausted. We were the despair of the director and the cameraman.
Each time I’d screw up my face and take a deep breath because that would prevent me from laughing. Somehow we managed to get through all but the final love scene. Director Leo McCarey said, “Now in this one, Deborah, I want you to show all the tenderness you feel for this man. Okay,” he said to the crew, “roll ‘em”. I held my breath, but I could feel Cary put his arms around me tighter and then, in pure mischief, he started to slide his hand toward my ribs. Very slowly. I knew the tickle was coming. But when! It was a torture! But I held on so hard, that the tears came to my eyes. Finally, the director said, “Cut!” then he turned to me and said, “Deborah, that was wonderful.”
But I was so exasperated with my leading man that I didn’t realize I had just been paid a compliment. Instead, in a high shrill voice I said: “For heavens sakes, Cary, will you tickle me and get it over with?”
- Deborah Kerr [x]

Posted in An Affair to Remember, Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, quote |

Quote: Deborah Kerr

| Published Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Cary is the most professional person I’ve ever worked with. He knows more about the movie business than anybody I know. He knows how to do a double-taker better than anyone or to do a double entendre. He can tell you more about where to put each light or how to light himself. He could practically direct the whole scene. It’s too bad Cary’s never directed, because he would be marvelous. But it might be difficult for him in a way to work because very few people have that kind of sensitivity.
-Deborah Kerr on Cary Grant

Posted in Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, quote |

Images: An Affair to Remember

| Published Monday, 7 April 2014

Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in a promo shot for An Affair to Remember [x]

pinterest.com/phoenixfire369/old-hollywood

Posted in An Affair to Remember, Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, images, photo |

Images: An Affair to Remember (1957)

| Published Friday, 4 April 2014

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Posted in 1957, An Affair to Remember, Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, images, photo |

Film Review: An Affair to Remember (1957)

| Published Thursday, 3 April 2014

So a few days ago I watched An Affair to Remember (1957). I’d seen it before a number of times but oh what a joy it is to re-discover how much you love a great film! And An Affair to Remember is definitely one of the greats in romantic drama. It’s number five on the American Film Institute’s list of greatest love stories, and one of the best and greatest "chick flicks" ever. Call me a die-hard romantic, but it’s one of those films that always gives a giant yank on my heart-strings. Sure, the plot is pure, unadulterated tear-jerker stuff, but if you are in the mood for unabashed romance and a good old-fashioned cry, then oh boy, this is your film.

The plot is simple. A former night-club singer, Terry McKay, and Nicki Ferrante, an international playboy, meet on an ocean crossing. They fall in love – but they’re each already committed to other people. They agree that as a test of their love, they will wait to meet each other in six months’ time at the top of the Empire State Building. The ship docks and they go their separate ways – but will they both show up for that date six months later?

The actors in this film are what takes it from good to great. I love both lead actors. Deborah Kerr is never not fantastic, and she’s one of the female stars I personally admire the most. She is sometimes overlooked because of her type-casting as a saint-like character, but I love her. She is tremendously graceful – like Audrey Hepburn, another ballet-trained actress, she has incredible poise and physical presence. Her light, refined voice and delicate features belie a certain “steel magnolia” quality. Intelligent, passionate, and with an indestructible dignity about her, she is an exquisite screen personality. Kerr is one of the actresses I find the most perfect match for Grant – she is witty, sophisticated, has a faint wispy air of upper-class refinement but also a down-to-earth intelligence; like most of Grant’s best co-stars, she is ultra-feminine, with a certain elegant yet slightly repressed sensuality.

Grant and Kerr's chemistry is fantastic. Every time I see the film, I marvel at it – their passion is perfectly convincing, but they hardly kiss! This is a perfect example of what my friends wistfully refer to as “romance like it used to be” – and for me, it beats more explicit displays hands-down. It's also a good example of the mixed legacy of screen censorship. Under the Production Code, any kind of onscreen sex was totally off-limits, yet some films, the greatest films, managed to transcend the restrictions. And the best of them were usually the films where the actors have the greatest natural chemistry, communicated through look and gesture. Of course, onscreen chemistry is a combination of many things – acting skill, direction and editing, as well as the natural attraction between the actors. But most of the great actors of the Old Hollywood era could transmit that romantic charge through the smallest look or gesture. That, for me, is a sign of true acting greatness and authentic screen presence, and something I really, really miss in contemporary cinema.

I wouldn’t say this is one of my absolute favourite Cary Grant performances – nevertheless, he’s in top form as the charming man-about-town. Their initial ‘meet cute’ is one of the best scenes – the twinkle in his eye when he asks her ‘did you write the song I’ll Never Smile Again?’ – I laugh no matter how many times I see it. As always, Grant is pure class – he pulls off his character of a famous womaniser without seeming seedy or sleazy. Melodrama doesn’t suit Grant’s economical acting style – he’s often most eloquent when he doesn’t speak – and some of his best moments are when he just looks. Near the end of the film, there's a moment where he wordlessly kisses her hand. It reduces me to a puddle of tears every time. But telling you any more than that would risk spoiling the plot. Suffice it to say that Grant proves once more that he's the master of small romantic gestures.

An Affair to Remember has an interesting history of multiple remakes and spinoffs. It has even become something of a cultural icon in film romance. The 1957 version I'm reviewing here is actually a remake of directer Leo McCarey's original 1939 version starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. The story was re-remade in 1994 (rather unsuccessfully), and more successfully, in 1993 as Sleepless in Seattle. Sleepless is a loose knock-off of the original plot, and has numerous references to the Grant and Kerr version. In a very funny scene (containing major spoilers), one of the Sleepless characters tearfully describes the final scene of Affair to Remember. It's worth watching because it's probably the kind of thing you'd get if I was to give you the film review in person!

Like any good romance should be, An Affair to Remember is absolutely full of sob-inducingly romantic quotes. I'll post some of them shortly after this review goes up, with some big gorgeous promo shots from the film.

This is the perfect film to watch on a rainy night, with a friend or two, big hot chocolates and a big box of tissues. If one or more of you is unhappily single or going through a break-up, all the better. It just might rekindle your faith in romance. Movies can do that sometimes.

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Film info:
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Director: Leo McCarey
Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr

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Second image: http://seriesfilmesandluly.tumblr.com/