I’m dedicating this February to counting down the 100 greatest love stories of all time. I’ll be posting five films every day, Monday through Friday.
Disclaimer: Any film list is fairly subjective, but I think putting together one person’s idea of romances or love stories might be the most subjective list of all. What one person considers powerful, another considers depressing; what someone thinks is sigh-inducingly romantic, someone else thinks is tooth-decayingly sappy. Any interesting list is bound to create comment and controversy and that’s okay. This is my personal list of 100 films. I picked them from a larger list of 300 movies. Once I have completed the top 100, I’ll post the entire list of 300. Perhaps one of your favorites that didn’t make the final cut was there…or maybe not.
5. Romeo and Juliet (1968): Most cineastes point to one film that they claim changed their lives. This one is mine. I first saw it when I was ten years old and it left me with a lifelong love of Shakespeare. It was the first movie to shake me up and make me recognize it as something beyond a pleasant entertainment. The music of the score, as well as the lyricism of the poetry, wound its way into my heart in such a way that they’ve never left.
4. Casablanca (1942): Is there anything left to be said about this most famous of all movies? We all remember this, whether or not we’ve actually seen the movie – like Shakespeare’s Hamlet this is one of the most quoted works in our culture. Humphrey Bogart was never as romantic, Ingrid Bergman never so radiant. The characterizations ring so true that the movie seems timeless not dated. This was AFI’s pick for the most romantic movie of all time and it’s easy to see why.
3. Notorious (1946): It’s a hard decision, but I think this is Hitchcock’s most romantic film. It raised eyebrows at the time for the length of the love scene where Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kiss, mumble a few words, kiss some more, talk, lather, rinse and repeat. That’s a great scene, but for me the most memorable kiss is the one later when they are about to be discovered by Claude Rains. The kiss is to mask the fact that Bergman is actually reporting to Grant about Rains’s actions as a Nazi agent. The tension that has built up between these two estranged lovers pops in that scene. The most romantic scene, though, is at the end. Hitchcock masterfully draws out the tension in every scene whether it’s the dysfunctional romantic relationship between Grant and Bergman or Bergman’s investigations as a spy. (This film has been remade and copied many times, both in television and the movies. Mission Impossible 2 was a thinly veiled remake, but nowhere near as good.)
2. Bringing Up Baby (1938): This is one of my favorite movies of all time. As mentioned earlier it defines the term “screwball comedy” but in its day it was considered a complete failure, resulting in Katharine Hepburn being labeled “box office poison.” May we all make such mistakes! Grant and Hepburn, who made four films together, were never so wickedly comical as here and their chemistry was never so combustible. Both stars play against type with the dashing Grant portraying an absent-minded paleontologist and the intellectual Hepburn playing the ditzy mad-cap heiress. Sheer screwball perfection.
1. Shakespeare in Love (1999): It was very hard to choose what I thought number one on my list should be. Any of the top five have equal rights to be here, and Bringing Up Baby very nearly won.
The deciding factors were these:
1) There’s more Shakespeare. Obviously, I have a weak spot for Romeo and Juliet, but in this film we get several performances of that play.
2) The romantic lead was Shakespeare himself. This is irresistible for me.
3) It skillfully balances drama and comedy. This is a hilarious movie, but I’d hesitate to completely label it a comedy. There are many serious scenes, and it does not have a traditional “happy ever after” romantic comedy ending.
4) It’s inspirational. Many people might see the ending as being depressing, but I’ve never thought so. Every single time I watch this film, I walk away on a cloud. I’m filled to the brim with the desire to write, to create, to sing songs, to tell tales. The story is about the birth of inspiration and in turn it inspires.
So, that’s the end of my list. Next week, I will post the 300 films I chose this list from. I will also start getting back to my regular reviews with a delayed look at The Hurt Locker (and if the weather cooperates, perhaps a review of Shutter Island). Thanks for your interest!
