September Affair 1950

Marianne “Manina” Stuart, Joan Fontaine, a prominent concert pianist, meets David Lawrence, Joseph Cotten, a businessman, on a flight from Rome to New York. When the plane is diverted to Naples for engine repairs, they decide to pass the time by sightseeing. Over lunch, a recording of the Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson song September Song, sung by Walter Huston, plays in the cabin, setting a mood of quiet enchantment. Manina is single, and David is unhappily married with a teenage son. They talk longer than planned, miss their flight, and choose to stay a few days, letting their connection deepen into something more than a fleeting fling.

They soon face a life-changing twist: the plane they were due to board crashes into the ocean, and all aboard are presumed dead. A clerical mixup places them on the list of victims, and a newspaper prints the casualty roll. Believing their absences will matter little to the world, they resolve to “stay dead” and begin a new life together in Florence, with no contact to their families or friends. Catherine Lawrence, Jessica Tandy, and David Lawrence Jr., Robert Arthur, are among those left behind, unaware that both Manina and David are very much alive.

Manina had been planning to play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in New York, and she keeps up her practice while the couple quietly builds a life in Florence. She maintains contact with piano teacher Maria Salvatini, Françoise Rosay, who agrees not to reveal that Manina is alive but continues to tutor her. David transfers a large sum of money to Salvatini by issuing a check dated prior to the flight, providing a nest egg for their secret life.

Catherine and her son travel to Florence after learning of the transfer to press for answers, and David Jr. quickly pieces together that his father is alive when he recognizes Manina’s face from the published list. After his note to David and a brief farewell, the truth is out. Realizing their ruse cannot endure, Manina returns to her art and prepares to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto as planned in New York. Yet the romance cannot survive the weight of the past, and, after the concert, she accepts that they must part. She bids David goodbye at the airport, accepting that their attempt to escape the world’s judgment has finally caught up with them.