Love in the Afternoon (1957) [Blu-ray]

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!!!

As everybody would agree, Cooper at 56 looked more like 70. The screen lovers look quite mismatched. However, in real like there must be many such couples of young women and old and rich men, and the latter not necessarily such a charmer like Gary Cooper.Apart from the age disparity this is a quite enjoyable film. Unmissable for the still-young Hepburn and very charming Maurice Chevalier.

L♡ve in the Afternoon is a classic movie! Audrey Hepburn is a phenomenal actress!I purchased this movie, because I was a young girl when it started on t.v. I watched the movie with my mom and sisters.What a love story!I am so thrilled to have found this movie during a search on AMAZON. I was able to purchase several of the movies she starred in.Thank you Amazon for having the classic love stories♡♡♡

It was directed by Billy Wilder. It starred Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper, and Maurice Chevalier. What else can I say?This is a film about a May - December romance that is witty, charming, humorous, and cute. Everything about this movie just clicks.The Blu-ray Disc is very good. The picture quality and the audio are both perfect. Warner Archive Collection doesn't mess around. Their Blu-ray Discs are always top-notch as is this BD.

I’m a big fan of the Golden Age, and also of Audrey Hepburn. This film does not disappoint. A wonderful romance.

Absolutely Enjoyed this film, with a stellar cast.The great billy wilder really knows how to assemble greatness and story telling.Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn are just fabulous together.

This is a gorgeous B&W DVD as far as image quality goes. The rest is hit and miss according to taste.The thin plot concerns the fascination of a young music student (Hepburn at her most innocent looking) for the exploits of an old roue (Cooper at his most decrepit). One night, the young lass has to step in and save the Lothario’s hide from an irate husband. She then ends up piquing the ageing Romeo’s interest, by pretending that she’s even more promiscuous than he. Her objective: to snatch the playboy all to herself. You have to ask yourself is this old fart really her only option? Well, this is clearly the fantasy of middle age film makers of that era, so most folks today may find this rough going.When this movie came out I was not a teen yet, but I remember grownups finding it charming and romantic. Well, I don’t think time and mores have been kind to this sort of material.This is strictly Hepburn’s vehicle all the way. The gents are simply miscast by today’s standards: Maurice Chevalier plays Audrey’s father, when he’s clearly old enough to be her great grandfather. And Cooper, who was a contemporary of Chevalier back in the 30s, is playing the romantic lead, and he looks like he could easily be Audrey’s grandfather!What was Billy Wilder thinking? He’s one of my favorite directors, but sometimes his choices are bewildering (like Barbara’s Stanwyck’s atrocious wig in “Double Indemnity”).I give this “comedy” 5 stars for visuals and panache. But the movie itself is strictly for staunch fans of Hepburn, Wilder and romance at any cost.

no cgi and real acting and emoting and story,story,story!!

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.