TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Romance (Splendor in the Grass / Love in the Afternoon / Mogambo / Now Voyager) [DVD]

I really love "Love in the Afternoon"! I had a big kick out of it and I don't understand why some people dislike it.To me, the film is a masterpiece. It succeeds in so many levels like no other romantic comedy. The story is wonderfully acted and told. Intelligent script explores human soul layer after layer- all the silly things we do when we are in love and all the illogical explanations which we make to justify our madness, it is all there. The underlying dramatic theme,that love often breaks our hearts is seasoned with the right dose of humor to provide a pleasant comic relief. The movie is beautifully shot and the music score is to die for. The two leads, Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn have tremendous on-screen chemistry and make a fantastic,fun to watch on-screen couple. The supporting cast and "The Gypsies" are pretty amazing too.Gary Cooper is Frank Flannagan, a handsome American, very wealthy, mature and confirmed bachelor. He likes women, champagne, everything luxurious and lives live to the full. He never gets serious about a relationship. His philosophy is "Don't get attached. People should always behave as though they were between planes". A fateful meeting with beautiful, young French Ariane changes his attitude. She saves his life and they spend together his last afternoon in Paris. He leaves for America and forgets her. She doesn't forget him, she is deeply in love. A year later they meet again and this time he falls for her, but she plays mysterious and elusive, and drives him crazy. Eventually they come together by the end of the film -a beautiful, romantic and memorable end!I really enjoyed the movie and laughed out loud at the many funny scenes. There is one particular scene, where Flannagan, totally obsessed with Ariane and jealous of "her past" falls into pieces. He drinks the whole night and listens to Ariane's voice message in which she tells him of her "itemized list of lovers". The Gypsies play his favorite music. There are trolleys loaded with alcohol literally "flying" forward &backward between Flannagan and the band, while his playing Ariane's message zillion times forward and backward, and the music starts and stops in the same manner. Hilarious!Gary Cooper's ability to maintain delicate balance between the dramatic and the funny side of the situation is unsurpassable! His age did not bother me the slightest. On the contrary, I thought, at 56 he is still a great actor and strikingly handsome man. His body is lean and well toned , he is wonderful to look at and worthy of love. And as a matter of fact the age difference between Flannagan and Ariane is a crucial point in the story.Gorgeous, classy and talented Audrey Hepburn is delightful to watch. I will never forget her in the final scene. She makes it so moving! Gary Cooper is amazing too. Actually, amazing is understatement. Flannagan is forced to make the toughest decision in his life and he must make it fast, now or never! Cooper has no lines, only a few words for the last five minutes screen time, but his tormented facial expression says it all. I felt his desperation and pain as though, I was on that departing train deciding "to be or not to be". The final could have easily become too syrupy but it isn't. There is no sugar-coated dialog and no excessive weeping, and it works magnificently.The message I got from the film is that true love has no age and conquers all. If you are among the few lucky ones who have found their match, surrender completely and enjoy your "life sentence"!I could keep on writing and marvel about the film but my review is long enough as it is. I hope, I gave you some idea what to expect and I am leaving you now to make your mind up. If you decide to go ahead and see "Love in the Afternoon" the chances are you will enjoy two very nice and memorable hours. Seriously, they don't make'em like that anymore!

Very good transfer from reasonably good source material. The close-ups and two-shots make the blu ray improvements in crispness show up well. Opticals and longer distance shots look a little soft. You'll get over it. This looks better than the DVD version in the 2-disc/4-movie romance classics set. No commentary track, no documentary or appreciation, just the trailer, subtitles and SDH option.Very entertaining movie. Great charm, if a little languid at 130 minutes. Maurice Chevalier almost steals the show, with a lovely and un-hammy performance. Yes, the age difference between Audrey and Gary is startling - not unlike her appearances with Bogart ("Sabrina") and Astaire ("Funny Face"). Audrey was 27 (fully believable as a 19-year old), Gary was 55 at the start of filming. You can either obsess about it or overlook it - I chose to overlook it after 5 minutes, given the wonderful performances of both. Two factoids (courtesy of "Some Like It Wilder" - Gene D. Phillips). (1) Wilder's first choice for Frank Flannagan was Cary Grant, who refused the part due to the age difference with Audrey. (He was three years younger than Cooper). (2) Wilder hoped that the use of careful make-up and lighting would obscure Cooper's apparent age, but the close-ups unfortunately make him look even older. Tragically, this was related in part to Cooper's diagnosis of incurable cancer, known to only a few of his intimates, to which he would succumb in 1961.Wilder claimed that this was his Lubitsch tribute, and this is definitely the case. There are many wonderful touches - often subtle, even devious, and easily missed. (These require multiple viewings to get.) Cooper rewarding "the Gypsies" (themselves a Lubitsch touch) with the drinks trolley is a tiny classic, just one of many. The use of "Fascination" (a classic chestnut from 1905) adds to the charm. My only quibble with the "Lubitsch-isms" is at the very beginning of the film, in its Paris montage. The street maintenance truck watering the sidewalks and street, AND drenching the embracing couple as well, would have stopped - left them dry - and resumed, if Lubitsch were directing - one difference between Lubitsch's more romantic touch and Wilder's spiky sense of humor.ENJOY!!!

Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper make an unlikely pair for a lot of reasons in this film but that does not stop the relationship from working. It sizzles.Audrey is a young Parisian girl, the daughter of a private investigator played by Maurice Chevalier. She is young, beautiful, innocent and plays the cello and is a bit bored. She treats herself to adventure by reading the case files of her father. A good proportion of these case files involve the character played by Gary Cooper. He is a rich American playboy who is always got women. Often, these women are married.Cooper is the single largest source of income for Chevalier and Chevalier cannot help be admire his style. Having gypsy musicians on call to serenade the mark day and night is just one example.When Hepburn learns that an outraged husband plans to kill Cooper, she secretly goes to warn the lovers. In doing so, she falls for Cooper herself and manages to arouse his interest. She knows that any sort of clinging will just turn him off so she tries to play his own strategy against him. She plays the mysterious playgirl with more beaux than she can count. She will not even give him her name.The strategy works. Cooper falls for her in a big way but still she remains silent. In desperation, Cooper hires a private investigator to learn more about her. Naturally, this would be her father.Things do not work out as expected but they do work out well. Hepburn portrays beauty and innocence and not a little female cunning. She is a delight to behold. So are Cooper's fits of uncertainty. Chevalier lends the whole episode a degree of class and dignity. It's a first fate story all around.

One of the functions of a director is to act as a restraining influence on the writer, so when these are the same person there is a danger that the necessary control is lacking and the script becomes baggy. Billy Wilder avoids this problem in his two greatest films, Some Like it Hot and The Apartment. Unfortunately, he doesn’t in Love in the Afternoon, where he is writer, director and producer. As a result, after a sparkling first half, the film sags in the second, due to a protracted and unfunny drinking scene. Although it picks up after this, for me the damage is done.The film is set in Paris, and mostly in the Ritz Hotel, where an American lothario, Frank Flanagan (Cooper) is staying. His dalliance with a married woman is suspected by her husband (played by John McGiver, best known for his cameo as a salesman in Breakfast at Tiffanys). When the private detective he has hired, (Maurice Chevalier), confirms this, he sets off for the Ritz, determined to kill his rival. The detective’s daughter Ariane, a music student played by Audrey Hepburn, also sets off for the Ritz, equally determined to warn Frank.She takes the place of the wife so that, when her husband bursts into the room, he finds the detective was apparently mistaken. She is persuaded to remain, and falls under the spell of Frank. Having to avoid questions by her father, she insists that she can only visit him in the afternoon (hence the title of the film). Wilder, like Hitchcock, realised that the strictures of the Hayes Code could only be avoided by ambiguity, so the term love in the film may or may not also include sex.Nowadays the pairing of an older man with a much younger woman seems distasteful, but it was the standard in the 1950s. Hepburn also appeared opposite several other actors of an older generation, such as Bogart in Sabrina, Fred Astaire in Funny Face, and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. Cary Grant refused to act with her in Roman Holiday, as she was an unknown, but did so later in CharadeIt has to be said that, while Cooper was excellent in a serious role in High Noon, he doesn’t really convince as a man so irresistible that he leaves a trail of broken hearts behind him. Hepburn is her usual herself, lighting up the screen, and Chevalier twinkles away as her father. Other parts are mainly filled by French actors.As this is a relatively little known Wilder film I wish I could give it a wholehearted recommendation, but the flaws I have mentioned have to count against it, hence the four star rating.

Amazing film, really enjoyed it! The DVD came in excellent condition and very nicely packaged, the quality of the sound and picture is great considering the date of when this film was made, highly recommend to anyone interested in buying this.

Well sent

I loved this movie. I first saw it on TCM and couldn't wait to get my own copy. I think I've watched it over half a dozen times. It has romance slowly growing , Audrey's gorgeous eyes and acting,Gary Cooper tall,lanky frame and his carefree bachelor style soon begins to fall for Audrey. I loved It and I wasn't sure of the ending until it ended.

VERY GOOD ESPECIALLY NOW THAT WE CAN NOT GO OUT HAVING A LOT OF TIME TO WATCH GOOD OLD MOVIES THANK YOU HAVE A NICE DAY.