It is ironic that 1950, the year this very romantic movie came out, marked the passing of Walter Huston and the critical reception he received for his final film, "The Furies". Paramount, which released both "September Affair" and "The Furies", wisely integrated the song "September Song" in this Joan Fontaine/Joseph Cotten romance where two strangers meet in Italy while waiting for a plane back to New York City and spontaneously decide to take a few extra days to explore local islands and coastal cities they hadn't had the chance to visit. She's a single concert pianist, and he's a married businessman separated from his wife (Jessica Tandy). Their romance really begins when they visit an Italian eatery where the proprietor gives them a selection of American records to play. Their favorite of the group? Huston's "September Song", which he made famous years ago in the Kurt Weill Broadway musical "Knickerbocker Holiday".
At first, these attractive people are just strangers sharing an experience, but when you're surrounded by the Isle of Capri, Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, you're bound to fall in love, if not with the scenery, then with the companion you're sharing them with. Before even a few days go by, they learn that the plane they were on crashed and that they are presumed dead. Temptation wins, and the two decide to "play dead" for real, with Cotten putting money down on a house and Fontaine bringing in her "adopted aunt" Françoise Rosay for guidance, receiving advice that in reality she really doesn't want to hear.
But this is a doomed affair to remember and once the wife discovers that Cotten wrote a check out to a woman she's never even heard of, the table is set for their discovery. Tandy, who played a lot of vindictive wives during the early part of her career on film, takes a different turn here. She's softer, wiser, and more accepting, even if their growing son (Robert Arthur) isn't. What will the confrontation bring? September is the exit of summer and entrance into fall, so changes are inevitable.
With echoes of Kurt Weill's beautiful melody echoing in your ears, "September Affair" is an engrossing love story that certainly must rank amongst the top. You know there's no way in severe post-code Hollywood that adultery would be allowed or that the perpetrators could escape the consequences. In addition to Weill's classic showtune, there's also a Golden Globe winning score (by the equally legendary Victor Young) which enhances the romantic settings. The doomed affair is already foretold in Fontaine's eyes the moment she learns that the wife has arrived, and even if it continues for a while after, she still has that knowing look that a love like this is definitely not going to be long-term. Still, you can't help but root for these nice people, even if he has neglected a wife and son for a woman he just met. That's what makes this love story such a classic, every element of it (under the direction of William Dieterle) engrossing.
At first, these attractive people are just strangers sharing an experience, but when you're surrounded by the Isle of Capri, Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, you're bound to fall in love, if not with the scenery, then with the companion you're sharing them with. Before even a few days go by, they learn that the plane they were on crashed and that they are presumed dead. Temptation wins, and the two decide to "play dead" for real, with Cotten putting money down on a house and Fontaine bringing in her "adopted aunt" Françoise Rosay for guidance, receiving advice that in reality she really doesn't want to hear.
But this is a doomed affair to remember and once the wife discovers that Cotten wrote a check out to a woman she's never even heard of, the table is set for their discovery. Tandy, who played a lot of vindictive wives during the early part of her career on film, takes a different turn here. She's softer, wiser, and more accepting, even if their growing son (Robert Arthur) isn't. What will the confrontation bring? September is the exit of summer and entrance into fall, so changes are inevitable.
With echoes of Kurt Weill's beautiful melody echoing in your ears, "September Affair" is an engrossing love story that certainly must rank amongst the top. You know there's no way in severe post-code Hollywood that adultery would be allowed or that the perpetrators could escape the consequences. In addition to Weill's classic showtune, there's also a Golden Globe winning score (by the equally legendary Victor Young) which enhances the romantic settings. The doomed affair is already foretold in Fontaine's eyes the moment she learns that the wife has arrived, and even if it continues for a while after, she still has that knowing look that a love like this is definitely not going to be long-term. Still, you can't help but root for these nice people, even if he has neglected a wife and son for a woman he just met. That's what makes this love story such a classic, every element of it (under the direction of William Dieterle) engrossing.