at the end when he realizes Terry is the girl his art dealer gave the portrait too and that she had been disabled was heartbreaking. To see the knowledge come into his face about why she had been unable to make their Empire State date really brought the impact home to me.
The movie on the whole was a sweet, romantic thing but the climax with love conquering all made it memorable for me.
> at the end when he realizes Terry is the girl his art dealer gave the portrait too and that she had been disabled was heartbreaking.
Except what is so odd (albeit, perhaps appropriate for the time period), is he never says or even hints the word "disabled"! The quote is: "He told me she was poor... and that she was..." and he doesn't finish the sentence! That's how sensitive, how "horrible" it was to be disabled in the 1940s! The word for her condition can't even be uttered.
It's why she stays away from him. It's just "inconceivable" that she could live a life with him, that she could be wanted, if she were in that condition.
The movie ending itself wont even accept that she's disabled. It ends with her saying that if he can be a painter, she can walk. That is, it's only with the possibility of ableness that she can be united with him.
It's an incredibly stilted viewpoint, from the modern point of view.
Albeit, in a practical sense, it must have been a complete Hell to be disabled in 1940s New York: no public transit, no building access, inaccessable sidewalks, inaccessable stairways, no cars outfitted for handicapped use, etc. Not to mention the public prejudice and distaste that was probably shown by the abled public.