a-z movie project: intro and A

I have often wanted to work my way through something—book, wine, movies—starting with the letter A and following through to its natural conclusion. Recently, I stood in front of the movie section at a local branch of the library, just browsing, and found myself pulling a number of movies off the shelf. From the A section.

Now it's officially a project. A project with no rules, only a few guidelines. Start with A, only work forward. No more than 5 movies in a group, which is really the library’s limit, not mine. Simple, doable. Ideally, I will avoid movies that I’ve already seen but if it’s a classic or favorite, I may make an exception. Really, it's all about what strikes my fancy as I'm browsing the shelves. Along the way, I may offer commentary. As always, I’ll post the movies in my sidebar.

So far, I have watched A and B, thus have some catching up to do here. Plus, I've checked out a small stack for C. It bears noting that the following movies were “background” noise while I worked on my final project for studio so they were viewed with less than half an eye.

A

An Affair to Remember (1957)

I first became aware of this movie when I saw Sleepless in Seattle in the early 1990s. Meg Ryan’s character idealizes the main relationship in An Affair to Remember, though the connection wasn’t so clear to me when I finally saw the classic 17 years later. 

Here is IMBD’s synopsis (remember, I only half watched the movie): 

Handsome playboy Nicky Ferrante and beautiful night club singer Terry McKay have a romance while on a cruise from Europe to New York. Despite being engaged to other people, both agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months. However, an unfortunate accident keeps Terry from the reunion, and Nicky fears that she has married or does not love him anymore. Will he discover the truth behind her absence and reunite with his one true love, or has fate and destiny passed them by?

Cary Grant, charming as always, and Deborah Kerr star; Leo McCarey directed.

The Apartment (1960)
 
C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) tries to get ahead in his company by lending his apartment to coworkers for romantic trysts. When Sheldrake, his boss (Fred McMurray) catches wind, the boss arranges to use the apartment rather than firing Baxter. Sheldrake’s girlfriend Fran Kubelik (Shirley Maclaine) wants more from the relationship than he’s willing to give. Predictably, Baxter rescues Fran. Baxter was a pretty despicable character, which made cheering for our hero difficult, though I enjoyed the cinemagraphic splendor of the 1960s b/w.