Love Affair (1939)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Terry McKay	Irene Dunne
Michel Marnet	Charles Boyer	½
Grandmother Janou	Maria Ouspenskaya	½
Kenneth Bradley	Lee Bowman	-
Lois Clarke	Astrid Allwyn	-
Maurice Cobert, art dealer	Maurice Moscovitch	-
Boy on Ship	Scotty Beckett	-

Review

Irene Dunne's bubbly, cheeky and very much modern performance carries this iconic, but in many ways slight romantic film from start to finish. She's the reason the rather unremarkable dalliance on the ocean-liner works as well as it does, and she's the reason the film has stood the test of time quite well in terms of gender roles; her Terry McKay could hold her own against Charles Boyer's ex-womanizer Michel Marnet. And he clearly respected her autonomy. What hasn't stood the test of time equally well are the studio sets. The film feels a lot more boxed-in than it should have, seeing as it's mostly set on the high seas and in New York City. Anyone expecting to get a glimpse of life anno 1939, outside of the relationship between these two people and a grandmother on Madeira, will be disappointed. Maria Ouspenskaya, who played said grandmother, was incidentally only 23 years older than Boyer. Talk about quick breeding. Scotty Beckett makes a wonderful one-scene appearance as a random kid on the ship.