1. The African Queen (1951). Crusty Humphrey Bogart gives “skinny old maid” Katharine Hepburn a ride down a dangerous African river. By the time they encounter a German destroyer, these two people who can’t stand each other are in love.
2. Casablanca (1942). Bogey gives up the only woman he will ever love to beat the Nazis and hang out with a good buddy, Claude Rains.
3. Gone With the Wind (1939). Scarlett O’Hara realizes that the man of her dreams has always been in her hands. Rhett Butler realizes that living a life of charm and grace is more important than a woman who wants someone else.
4. Sense and Sensibility (1995). Whether you are a Jane Austen fan or not, she does know romantic intrigue and the pound-pound of a young person’s heart. These both bring on tears of joy upon successful union, if you let yourself be taken along. Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet are amazing.
5. West Side Story (1961). This grandly passionate and innovative musical version of Romeo and Juliet was No. 3 in the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 U.S. screen romances in 2002.
6. Romeo and Juliet (1968). Shakespeare purists scoffed at Franco Zeffirelli’s take on what became a celebrated film, with the lovely Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting playing the tragic couple from feuding families. It’s a little creepy to think that Miss Hussy was just 15 years old.
7. From Here to Eternity (1953). It would be hard not to include this just for the romantic scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the Hawaiian beach. The surf pounds, the music peaks, the screen burns.
8. I Know Where I’m Going (1945). Wendy Hiller heads to an island off Scotland to meet her wealthy intended in this wartime romance, but on the way she meets dashing naval officer Robert Livesey. Scotland has never looked more romantic.
9. An Affair to Remember (1957). Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star in this emotional remake of Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne’s 1939 Love Affair, about a playboy aboard ship. The silly 1993 offshoot, Sleepless in Seattle, is not as good.
10. Dr. Zhivago (1965). Lush cinematography, gorgeous music and the chemistry between Omar Sharif and Julie Christie have turned this romantic epic of a doctor-poet trapped by the Russian Revolution into a film classic.
Source: WashtingtonTimes.com
