- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Rating: Not Rated
- Region: A (B? C?)
- Discs: 1
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: February 1, 2011
- List Price: $34.98
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004DTLKGC[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase An Affair to Remember on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
It is rare that a remake of a film surpasses the original, especially when that remake pretty much just mirrors its source, line-for-line, scene-for-scene, but in 1957, director Leo McCarey defied the odds, pulled out the old screenplay for his 1939 film Love Affair, and remade it as An Affair to Remember. The director cast Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in the lead roles and subsequently created one of the greatest romantic films of all time.
The story follows the illicit love affair between a singer (Kerr) and international businessman and playboy (Grant) who meet on a transatlantic cruise to New York. They are both engaged, but they fall in love anyway. Before they disembark, they make a pact to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months, but life gets in the way and it seems like destiny may be against the star-crossed lovers.
The film features beautiful cinematography from Milton Krasner and a lush and sentimental score by Hugo Friedhofer, all of which makes for a wonderfully moving, sad, and sugary sweet film that deserves its place as a cinematic classic. Not to be overlooked is the excellent chemistry and comedic banter between co-stars Grant and Kerr thanks to their obvious acting skills and the strong screenplay. Without that, An Affair to Remember might not have had the charm to make it the endearing and enduring classic that it is.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The 2.35:1 “Cinemescope” production arrives on this Blu-ray release in an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encoding from Fox. Although the film has been cleaned up a bit and colors are nicely saturated, the overall detail is a bit soft. Grain structure fluctuates, detail extension is a bit limited at times, with distance shots looking a little soft and blurred.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The sound has been given a minor spruce-up with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless mix. There is not much information beyond some very mild ambience in the surrounds, and stereo separation across the front channels is also minimal. The dialogue sounds clear and intelligible, but overall sound is a bit dull and muddled, especially noticeable in the lush strings of the film score.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The supplements provided with this release serve as a great source of background information on this classic film. The audio commentaries is one of the better ones I’ve heard in recent months and Fox has taken a page out of Warner’s playbook by providing the release in Blu-ray Book packaging, providing 24-pages of stills, profiles, and an essay on the film.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Commentary by Singer Marni Nixon and Film Historian Joseph McBride
- Affairs to Remember: Deborah Kerr (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:05.34) – A profile of the actress features her husband.
- Affairs to Remember: Cary Grant (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:09.48) – The profile of Cary grant features an interview with his widow.
- Directed by Leo McCarey (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:22.33) – The director’s career is discussed by film historians and authors.
- A Producer to Remember: Jerry Wald (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:16.06) – The producer’s colleagues and family discuss his life and career.
- The Look of An Affair to Remember (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:09.01) – The classic 1950’s look of the film is discussed.
- AMC Backstory: An Affair to Remember (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:24.27) – This AMC channel tells of the of-screen scandals surrounding the film’s production.
- Fox Movietone News: An Affair to Remember Shipboard Premiere Attracts Celebrities (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:00.56)
- Trailer (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:02.53)
- 24-page Blu-ray Book Packaging
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
Keep the Kleenex nearby for this tearjerker; it’s a classic of romantic cinema that has influenced the genre for decades that can be seen in films like Sleepless in Seattle, which borrowed scenes and music from the film, or even in the banter between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally . They don’t make them like this anymore, so this is one to purchase for certain. It makes an excellent, stay-at-home date night movie. Highly recommended.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004DTLKGC[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase An Affair to Remember on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
