This has a reputation (probably because of Sleepless in Seattle) of being the ultimate chick-flick/weepie. So I was a bit leery of it, despite the evident charm of the leads. But as it happens, it is the charm of the leads and the lightness of touch that lift this above the melodrama of its central premise. A couple of qualifiers on those leads: Deborah Kerr can come off a bit stiff (I find her so in The King and I), and does not make a convincing beloved-music-teacher-to-slum-kids in the second half of the film,
and Grant has by this point entered his shiny walnut era (perhaps he always was that way, you just couldn't tell in black and white) and it's reached distracting George Hamilton levels in this film. Still these are minor complaints, and Kerr also manages small touches like emotional glances and genuinely affecting crying (obviously vital in a weepie) perfectly. Do not like her hair in this, though - definitely dowdy.
Anyway: the plot. Grant is an internationally famous Lothario (or "Big Dame Hunter" as the humorous recurring American TV presenter has it) Nickie (sic) Ferrante who has finally agreed to marry an obscenely wealthy heiress. This betrothal is deemed so newsworthy that we see it being reported in the US, Italy and the UK (although the representation of British news is laughably stereotyped). Cut to a cruise ship where a cabin boy is running around shouting for Mr. Ferrante and exciting all the people on board who know who he is. He finds him and it's a phone call from a former lover (French, very glam) incensed at having found out he is about to be married. He gets off the phone from her and realizes (probably because she gave it to him) that he's lost his cigarette case. He is walking somewhere absent-mindedly when he spots someone carrying it (how he recognizes it, I don't know), and this, of course, is Kerr's Terry McKay. Grant immediately tries to hit on her, but she rebuffs him, which, as she notes, embarrasses him. She rebuffs him because she is involved with a millionaire called Kenneth Bradley, who has sent her off on a cruise while he takes care of some big deal. However, she agrees to have dinner with him. Well, as you can imagine, this leads to a slow-growing romance, helped immeasurably by Nickie (Nicolò) introducing her to his ancient (charming) French-speaking grandmother at some idyllic Mediterranean stop-off,
where she discovers that Nickie is actually a talented painter and musician but has given both up both because he is his own worst critic, and also because he can live the idle life of the beautiful. By the second half of the cruise they are actively trying to avoid each other for fear of gossip (there are several genuinely amusing incidents in this endeavor),
to no avail, because the ship's photographer has captures their every unguarded moment and is selling prints to the other passengers.
They make a pact, as they pull into New York, to disentangle themselves from their respective partners and meet in 6 months time (because Nickie has, by his own admission, never worked a day in his life, and now realizes he has to if he's going to hook up with a pauper) at a place she can name.
At that moment, the Empire State Building comes into view and they agree to meet on the viewing deck on the 122nd (or something) floor. Then, in perhaps the funniest moment in the film, they get to view each other's partner for the first time, and the other passengers get to watch them do it. Well, it turns out that, although rich, their respective partners (her Kenneth, his Lois) are very decent people, and take the disentanglement well (his even takes place on television, thanks to the aforementioned humorous TV host), although Kenneth never stops trying to win her back. She, however, goes back to her Boston Night Club Singing Career, where Kenneth first discovered her, until the agreed-upon day comes.
Meanwhile, his painting career is slow to take off, but an old friend of his in the art world does manage to sell one for $100 while he makes ends meet painting billboards. On the day, Terry is waylaid by Kenneth and has to run to get to the Empire State Building, and is looking up as she runs across the road... Up on the 122nd floor, we see Nickie waiting as we hear the wails of sirens from below. He waits from 6 PM till midnight before he gives up, assuming (of course) that she has got cold feet. Well she has, but only because she has lost the use of them, and, while Kenneth pays her hospital bills, she is determined to win her independence so that she can work back to Nickie. Kenneth (good egg that he is) begs her to let him tell Nickie, but she wants to be able to walk first, and besides, realizes that it will eat him up that Kenneth is supporting her, while she knows that he won't have the money. So she takes the job of teaching street urchins how to sing that the kindly priest offers her. Meanwhile, after a visit to the grandmother's magical estate, where it is clear she has died, and where he picks up a shawl that the grandmother wanted Terry to have (she always knew that Terry was the girl for Nickie, long before they did), he throws himself into his art and starts to make genuine progress. Then one night Lois takes him out to the ballet, and they run into Kenneth and Terry. Both assume that the others are couples, and Nickie doesn't realize that Terry can't walk.
Will they ever get together? Will Terry walk again? Will they just give up and end up with the very decent, very rich people who clearly love them?
So, as you can see, the whole accident business could very easily descend into mawkishness, but the two leads carry it off with aplomb. Grant, in particular, is a master of conveying a lot of internal turmoil very clearly (but subtly) on his face. And, in general, the film is very good at not hammering points home, but allowing the viewer to work things out. The dialogue is very subtle and allusive, and some important scenes are handled off-camera (perhaps most notably when, when the couple kiss for the first time, you can just see their legs because they are standing on ladder-like stairs aboard the cruise ship). And the final scene, when Nickie conveys to Terry how hurt he has been, he does it by appearing to let her off the hook by acting like he was apologizing to her for not being there, but you gradually realize that both of them are simply role-playing to reveal their true feelings. And when the penny finally drops about Terry's inability to walk, Grant is very convincingly almost physically stunned.
(The only bum note is when Nickie gives Terry the scarf and she doesn't convey enough sadness at the death of the grandmother or comfort him, knowing how close they were.)
In conclusion - very good stuff. A bit slow in places (the cruise part drags a little) and definitely perilously close to treacly, but leavened with witty writing and genuinely funny moments. 65% on Rotten Tomatoes my ass!
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