Love Affair

Love Affair (1939) is Leo McCarey's classic Hollywood melodrama, and you can watch online on iFILM. A grand ocean liner crosses the Atlantic toward New York, and two passengers fall into conversation — each of them already promised to someone waiting on shore.

She is Terry McKay, a former nightclub singer played by Irene Dunne. He is Michel Marnet, a charming French painter and a most eligible bachelor (Charles Boyer), sailing off to marry a wealthy heiress. A few days on deck, easy talk, a stop to visit Michel's wise grandmother on Madeira — and the two realize they've fallen for each other. Parting at the dock, they strike an odd bargain: meet again in six months at the top of the Empire State Building, if neither has changed course and both have set their lives straight.

McCarey would film the same story again in 1957 as An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant, and that remake became one of the most beloved screen romances ever made. The 1939 original drew six Academy Award nominations and is still cherished for its light touch and aching final act. Quiet, delicate filmmaking for lovers of old Hollywood. Stream Love Affair (1939) online on iFILM.