September Affair

Two years before Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck tripped the light fantastic in Roman Holiday, Paramount was already exploring the possibilities of shooting in Italy with September Affair. One only wishes that Paramount had splurged for color the way 20th Century Fox did in Three Coins In A Fountain.

Using the Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson as a theme, a pair of mature individuals have a mid life fling in Italy. What Joseph Cotten and Joan Fontaine are handed is a one in a million chance to escape their lives and responsibilities when they miss an airplane flight going to the United States and their families and friends think they've died.

Cotten is an engineer who is going through his usual midlife crisis as his marriage to Jessica Tandy has grown stale. Fontaine is unmarried and has not seen America since 1938. She's devoted herself to preparing for a career as a concert pianist. I wish the film had devoted some explanation as to why she was stuck in an enemy country during World War II and what she did to survive. They meet on the plane, but don't reboard when it comes down in Naples for repairs that obviously were not successful.

In order to support them. Cotten pre-dates a check to Francoise Rosay who is Fontaine's mentor for a large palazzo in Florence. Pre-dates to before the crash and when the estate is being tallied up, Tandy notices it, but let's it slide through.

It's an idyllic setting for lovers, but pretty soon conscience calls and it practically shouts when Tandy and their son Robert Arthur visit Italy.

September Affair is a wonderful picture about mature people for mature people. Cotten and Fontaine have a wonderful chemistry and Jessica Tandy's performance is pure poignancy. It holds up very well after 60 years.

Just wish it was in color.