irenne dunne

I agree. LOVE AFFAIR is a masterpiece and soooooo much better than the remake. There was magic in the chemistry between Dunne, Boyer and the director Leo McCarey.

I agree completely with the sentiment of the thread. I was only marginally aware of Irene Dunne before I saw this movie last week, and was stunned by her performance. It was just the way she carried herself. Such elegance and poise. And those who point to her facial expressions are right on target. I feel like I've found a rare treasure. The only choice I have now is to see all her available movies.

Oh, I love this post! Miss Dunne had impeccable comedic timing and seems so at ease in front of the camera. It's a shame she isn't better known today. I think she is one of the finest actresses to never win an Oscar--though she was nominated several times. I also think that her somewhat unknown legacy is due to the fact that she never acted like a spoiled star or pursued fame. She was a great lady--both on screen and off.

I admire Irene Dunne very much but I have to say some of her "facial expressions and reactions" in this film come perilously close to tics and seem a little too affected. I think this is director Leo McCarey's fault as there are several scenes that are a little too cutesy in their playing: the bit with the laughing landlady, Scotty Beckett as the slightly bratty kid on the ship, and definitely Irene's reactions to a few of Charles Boyer's comments. And her bedridden scene immediately after being hit by the car seems uncomfortably close to satire to modern tastes with a near halo effect as she valiantly looks away. I think Irene is a wonderful actress but this movie is really the first time I can see what the well-regarded film historian William K. Everson was talking about when he labeled some of Irene's work which "at the time (was) totally sincere" but is now "camp" "due to it being so rigidly locked in to styles and attitudes of the period" in his book on her contemporary Claudette Colbert. It's still a very good performance - and I loved her scenes in the Maria Ouspenskaya segment - but I wish both her performances and the film had been a little more subtle at times.