Top 5 Most Romantic Movies of All Time

Who doesn't love a great love story, whether we're reading it or watching it? I've been talking about "top five most romantic" lately, from real life couples to fictional couples. Now let's talk romantic movies. Here are my top five in no particular order.

Casablanca (1942) – This romantic drama, set during World War II, tells the story of embittered ex-patriot, Rick Blaine, and his former lover, Ilsa Lund. Rick, who owns an upscale club in Casablanca, finds his life is turned upside down when Ilsa and her husband Victor Laszlo, a renowned fugitive Czech Resistance leader walk into his club.

Laszlo and Ilsa are trying to escape to America so he can continue his work against the German occupation.

Rick and Ilsa rekindle their love affair, and Rick promises to help Laszlo escape while leading Ilsa to believe that she will stay behind with him. Rick finds he must choose between love and honor. In the end, Rick makes Ilsa escape with her husband, telling her she will regret it someday if she doesn’t, “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergmann’s performance brings tears to my eyes every time I see it. No wonder it’s the American Film Institute’s (AFI) number one most passionate film of all time.

Shakespeare in Love (1998) – This delightful romantic comedy depicts a fictional love story

between the great playwright, William Shakespeare, played by Joseph Fiennes, and his muse, Viola de Lesseps, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Rich with references to Shakespeare’s works, the film is amusing and the screenplay witty. Shakespeare is writing Romeo and Juliet at the time, but is suffering from writer’s block. Once he meets Viola, the words flow, the imagination soars and he finishes the play. Clearly, their secret love affair serves as the inspiration for Romeo and Juliet, especially since the lovers know their future is doomed. Shakespeare is married, and Viola is being sold off by her father to marry Lord Wessex (played by the yummy Colin Firth).

Viola marries Wessex, and Viola and Shakespeare part, resigned to their fates. The film ends with Shakespeare drafting the beginnings of Twelfth Night, Viola still his muse, as he imagines her washed up on the beach of a foreign land following a shipwreck, "For she will be my heroine for all time, and her name will be ... Viola.”

Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC Production) – Of course you knew this had to make the list, since Elizabeth and Darcy is my number one most romantic couple of all times. With the 200th Anniversary of Pride and Prejudice last month, I celebrated the momentous occasion by watching for the umpteenth time my DVD of the mini-series. Jennifer Ehl and Colin Firth will, in my mind, always be the Elizabeth and Darcy.

Emma (1996) – This is my favorite depiction of Jane Austen’s sparkling romantic comedy destined

some 150 years later for the silver screen. The cast is marvelous, including the snotty Mr. Elton, played with perfection by Alan Cumming. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a vivacious, sharp-witted Emma to Jeremy Northam’s gentle Mr. Knightley.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) – One of my mother’s favorite movies, I saw this the first time when I was a young girl, and have loved it ever since. A young widow, Lucy Muir, played by Gene Tierney, and her daughter, move into Gull Cottage, reputedly haunted by its former owner, sea captain Daniel Gregg, played by Rex Harrison. Gregg appears to her on her first night in the cottage. Lucy is not afraid of him and finds him handsome, in a harmlessly roguish sort of way. After Lucy’s income dries up, Gregg offers to dictate his life story to her for a book. Their connection grows during this time, and the ribald memoir becomes a bestseller.

In the meantime, she meets a real live man, Miles, and falls in love. After he proposes to her, Gregg decides to leave her to her life, telling her in her sleep that he was only a dream. She later learns that Miles is already married. She lives out her long life in peace in the cottage.

**Spoiler Alert** At the moment of her death, Captain Gregg appears. Reaching out, he lifts her young spirit free of her body and the two walk arm-in-arm out the front door and into the fog to spend all of eternity together. Gets me every time.

The Young Victoria (2009) ­– This beautifully crafted film starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend,

depicts the story of Queen Victoria, before she ascends the throne, through her early years as Queen, and her courtship and marriage of Prince Albert. If you read my June 11th blog post, you know the story of their great love affair, which is one of enduring passion, deep commitment, and touching remembrance.

Other romantic movies that deserve recognition include An Affair to Remember, Out of Africa, and Gone with the Wind.

Your turn. What are your favorite romantic movies?

Top 5 Most Romantic Fictional Couples of All Time

Last week I gave my top five most romantic real life couples of all time. This week, I thought I'd list my top five most romantic fictional couples of all time. Like last week, this was a tough list to create because there are so many wonderful choices. 

#5. Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers whose tragic story touches the hearts of romantics worldwide are often touted as the most romantic fictional couple of all time. In the beginning Romeo is in love with the idea of love, but with Juliet’s strength and determination, he realizes how profound and intense true love really is. For her part, Juliet does not blindly fall in love with Romeo. She sees him for who he is and is able to criticize his rash decisions and over romanticism. Her ability to see him in a critical light doesn’t decrease the intensity of her love for him.

In the end, it is the intensity of their love that results in their tragic suicides.

#4. Heathcliff and Cathy – Emily Bronte created a truly flawed couple when she created Heathcliff and Cathy. The two are self-centered and often ignore the needs, feelings, and claims of others. The only thing that matters to them is their own feelings and needs. So why, you ask should such a couple make my top 5 most romantic couples? Because they find meaning in their relationship to each other; they are two halves of a soul struggling to unite.

“... he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” Catherine, CH. 9.

#3. Jane Eyre and Rochester – Another of the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, also created a dark and complex couple in Jane and Rochester. The perfect example of the Byronic hero, Rochester is a passionate man, often guided by his senses rather than by his rational mind. Jane, on the other hand, is his moral compass. Raised an isolated and unloved orphan, Jane longs for love and identity. Like many heroines in modern-day romance novels, Jane is meant to tame the bad-boy Rochester. But, while Jane is the proper English governess in many ways, she is also a rebel when it comes to inequalities of class and gender.

In the end, she tames the wildly passionate, often brash Rochester. But in return, he gives her what she’s longed for — love, happiness, and independence.

#2. Emma and Knightley – Emma is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels. Emma’s willfulness is balanced by Knightley’s steady character and good sense. He is the only one strong enough to impress Emma, and his good opinion is important to her. Theirs is not the passionate, almost destructive love of Heathcliff and Cathy, nor the tumultuous love of Jane and Rochester, but it is a calm, quiet love based on a deep mutual respect that you can’t help but believe perseveres through thick and thin.

#1. Darcy and Elizabeth – Darcy and Elizabeth. I can’t think of a more romantic couple — that’s why they come in at #1 on my list. Her wit and vivacity, his smoldering good looks and aloof personality, make them the perfect combination of light and dark. I especially love their verbal sparring and the sexual tension between them. Lizzie gives as good as she gets during these decidedly heated moments. 

His comeuppance at the hands of Lizzie’s sharp tongue provides the impetus for him to become the man he was destined to be. Once shed of the bad qualities of an English gentleman, arrogance and self-importance, he matures into the ideal English gentleman. And to my mind, the ideal romantic hero.

Of all the couples in romantic literature, they are the one couple whose story I want to continue. I love to imagine their life after Pride and Prejudice, where Darcy can set his passions free and Lizzie can see the side of him I know exists only for her. Who would you include in your top five most romantic fictional couples list?

Top 5 Most Romantic Real Couples of All Time

Ahh, love.  When I write about happily ever after, I'm thinking long term. I'm thinking couples who were meant to be together for the remainder of their lives. What could be more romantic than real life couples dedicated to one another? There are so many wonderfully romantic couples from royalty to Hollywood, from politics to fashion, from ancient history to the present. Hollywood boasts quite a collection, including Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, Lawrence Olivier and Vivienne Leigh, and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. While this was a tough list to winnow down, without further ado, here's my Top 5 Most Romantic Real Couples of All Time.

1. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – This royal couple embodied the notions of romance. It was said that Queen Victoria was besotted by Albert, and he her. Queen Victoria ruled England for 63 years, and for 21 of those years she had Albert by her side as consort, advisor, and mediator. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning, withdrew from public view, and wore black in mourning for him for the rest of her long life. Even more touching, Albert's rooms in all his houses were kept as they had been, with hot water brought in the morning, and linen and towels changed daily.

Queen Victoria is buried in Frogmore Mausoleum, Windsor, next to her beloved husband, Prince Albert.

2. Abelard and Heloise – Theirs is one of the most beautiful and tragic true love stories of all time. Peter Abelard, a French Philosopher and one of the greatest thinkers of the 12^th century, persuaded Heloise’s uncle to let him teach Heloise. Heloise, a well-educated, beautiful woman, who was more than 20 years younger than Abelard, fell in love with him. Heloise became pregnant and gave birth to a son out of wedlock. Later the two married in secret.

Both prominent intellectuals in Medieval France, their love affair fell victim to Heloise’s vengeful uncle. 

When her uncle learned of the marriage, he hired a thug to attack and castrate Abelard. Abelard was exiled to Brittany, where he later became a monk, and Heloise entered a convent. During this separation, the two exchanged their now-famous letters, compiled in The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise. The letters are some of the most beautiful, most tragic, most moving of any I have ever read.

3. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard – One of Old Hollywood’s glamorous couples, the dashing Clark Gable and the beautiful, talented Carole Lombard, were only together a short time, but their great love is remembered today. Gable and Lombard, both of whom were married to other people at the time, worked with together on No Man of her Own in 1932. The two reconnected at a party in 1935. This time Carole was divorced, but Clark was still married.

Finally, they married in 1939, shortly after Clark’s divorce was final, and become one of Hollywood’s most famous couples. Despite their busy acting schedules, they spent as much time together as was possible, playfully referring to one another as Ma and Pa. Their love affair ended tragically in 1942, when the plane carrying Lombard crashed into a mountain near Las Vegas. Gable learned of the news on a radio station when he was on his way to pick her up.

Gable twice-remarried, and lived out his life until he died of a heart attack at age 61, but he was never the same man. His wife at the time of his death had him buried next to his beloved Carole.

4. Ronald and Nancy Reagan – Another of Hollywood’s glamorous couples, they made their way

all the way to the Whitehouse. Think what you will of Ronald Reagan’s politics and Nancy Reagan’s conspicuous consumption, there was never a doubt the two were devoted to one another. It is said that Reagan’s whole demeanor changed when she entered the room, and the loving gaze Nancy bestowed on her husband openly demonstrated her affection for him. The love letters they wrote to one another are on par with the letters of Abelard and Heloise, minus the tragedy, of course.

Nancy’s dedication to Reagan throughout his long illness touched those around the U.S. and around the world. As I watched President Reagan’s funeral on television, I cried for Nancy’s loss. Her grief was palpable and her broken heart made my own heart ache. With a last touching last goodbye as she caressed his coffin, I’m not ashamed to admit that tears ran down my face.

5. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall – Yes, another of Hollywood’s famous couples. Bogart and Bacall met in 1944 on the set of the film To Have and Have Not. Bogart was married at the time, but he was quite taken with Bacall’s youth (she was 25 years younger than he was), beauty, and outspokenness. The two had an affair, but in 1945, Bogey divorced his first wife, and the two were married several months later in a quiet ceremony.

Their onscreen chemistry, and what chemistry it was, carried over into their real life love affair. Their relatively short marriage ended with Bogey’s death in 1957.  In an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Bacall said of Bogey, “He was the love of my life.” Their names are forever linked, even making an appearance in the 1981 hit song “Key Largo” sung by Bertie Higgins.

These real life couples, whose love touched millions both during their lifetimes and after their deaths, are perfect inspiration to romance authors, film makers, and musicians. 

Who would make your top 5 most romantic real life couples list?  

Hollywood's Hottest Kisses

What can be more romantic than a kiss? As a romance writer, that is one of my favorite scenes to write, especially the first kiss. This started me wondering what makes for a memorable kiss? Is it a full-on, face-grabbing, lip-smashing passionate kiss? Or is it the sweet, lip-brushing kiss that turns startlingly hot? Or maybe it’s the anticipatory kiss, the kind where the hero and heroine stop a half-inch away, hesitating, before diving in?

Hollywood certainly has its fair share of memorable kisses, so I’ve listed just a few of Hollywood’s hottest kisses, in no particular order, along with some videos to whet your appetite:

From Here to Eternity (1953) boasts one of the most famous Hollywood kiss scenes. Often imitated, never duplicated, it’s often a favorite for parody. You can refresh your memory by checking out the video.

Ah, Casablanca, the American Film Institute’s (AFI) number one most romantic movie of all time. Ill-fated Rick and Ilsa, played by Bogart and Bergman, share a kiss of passion and longing and desperation, when Ilsa tells Rick she still loves him.

Number two on AFI’s list of the most romantic movies of all time, Gone with the Wind, has many memorable kiss scenes, but the one on the bridge just before Rhett leaves to enlist in the defeated Confederate Army, earns him a stinging slap at the end.

Here’s a soldier of the South who loves you, Scarlett. Wants to feel your arms around him, wants to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with him. Never mind about loving me, you’re a woman sending a soldier to his death with a beautiful memory. Scarlett! Kiss me! Kiss me … once … [he kisses her]. Sigh.

One of my favorite movies is the Thomas Crown Affair (1999) with Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan. You could cut the sexual tension between the two with a putty knife. At the Black and White Ball, Russo, in a sheer (and I mean sheer) black sheath, and sexy Brosnan, heat up the dance floor with a super-sizzling tango. The kiss at the end could combust the polar ice cap. And the following scene … holy hot flash … need I say more?

Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief wins the prize for the two-most-beautiful-people-who-share-a-kiss scene. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Could it get any more beautiful than that? I love this scene. It’s rife with innuendo, without sinking to campy, as only Hitchcock could achieve.

You can’t talk about romantic kiss scenes without talking about the famous kiss in the rain from The Notebook. Noah tells Allie that he wrote her every day for a year.

It isn’t over. It still isn’t over.

Then he grabs her and pulls her to him, the rain pouring over them. Sigh. And what happens next could steam the wrinkles out of a shar pei.

Bogie and Bacall — the classic Hollywood couple — give a memorable performance in To Have and Have Not.  They met and fell in love on this film, which also gave us the unforgettable lines:

You know how to whistle don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

Another Hitchcock film, Notorious, with the suave, sexy Cary Grant (again) and breathtaking Ingrid Bergman (again), has one long two-and-a-half minute kiss, filled with tasty nibbles and tender caresses. It was the longest kiss scenes of its time. Leave it to Hitchcock to push the envelope.

When talking about Hollywood’s hottest kisses, I can’t leave out Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, winners of MTV’s 2009 Award for Best Kiss in Twilight. Their first kiss in Bella’s bedroom starts out hesitant, Pattinson stopping just an inch shy of her lips, heightening the anticipation of the kiss, before it flares to an all-out passion-fest. That scene melted many a woman’s heart, young and old. It deserved to win.

While not a lip-lock, the final scene in Twilight, where Edward presses his vampire lips to the pulse in Bella’s throat, ranks right up there with other wickedly delicious kisses.

Other memorable kiss scenes include:

Titanic (1997), when Jack and Rose kiss on the bow of the doomed ocean-liner. Of course most people remember the steamier scene in the backseat of the car, when in the throes of passion, Kate Winslet’s hand slides down the fogged-up window.

The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds (cutie-pie), when they kiss at the very end. He drops his jacket, cradles her face, and they kiss in front of the entire office. Now that’s a happy ending.

In Witness, when John Book and Rachel Lapp (played by Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis) finally give in to their passion. You know when Rachel removes her bonnet what’s going to happen next.

The rain-soaked, lightning-storm kiss on the beach from Sweet Home Alabama with Josh Lucas and Reese Witherspoon.

Who can forget the gorgeous Hugh Jackman in Australia? Yum. Oh, I guess there was a gorgeous Nicole Kidman in that scene as well. Lady Sarah and Drover kiss in the rain surrounded by a crowd of people who may as well not exist.

Finally, how about when Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze make out over the potter’s wheel in Ghost with the Righteous Brothers’ "Unchained Melody" for background music? Be still my heart.

So many memorable Hollywood kisses, so little time. What’s your favorite Hollywood kiss?