Romance
"Alice's Festival Of Romance"
Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight, young (and older) love, unrequited love, obsessive love, sentimental love, spiritual love, forbidden love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love, explosive and destructive love, and tragic love. Romantic films serve as great escapes and fantasies for viewers, especially if the two people finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience life "happily ever after" - implied by a reunion and final kiss.
Here "Alice's Festival of Romance" has been assembled below as an aphabetical list. Should more precise scrolling be required, one should go to the specific genre, ie "Classic Romance", "Comedy Romance" , "Drama Romance" or even "Queer Cinema"
Right: Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid star in Todd Haynes'
"Far From Heaven"
The Flame Of New Orleans (1941)
6.6/10
Director: Rene Clair
Starring: Bruce Cabot, Marlene Dietrich, Roland Young
In old New Orleans, a beautiful adventuress juggles the attentions of a rich banker and a dashing sea captain. Director René Clair stated he and scree... Read more
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
8.1/10
Director: Preston Sturges
Starring: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest
Joel McCrea plays successful Hollywood director John L Sullivan, an idealist who believes you can't accurately direct a screen tragedy unless you live... Read more
The Lady Eve (1941)
8/10
Director: Preston Sturges
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, Martha O'Driscol...
A conniving father and daughter meet up with the heir to a brewery fortune - a wealthy but naive snake enthusiast - and attempt to bamboozle him at a... Read more
That Hamilton Woman (1941)
7.3/10
Director: Alexander Korda
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbray
AKA 'Lady Hamilton'. An excellent film about Nelson's lifelong relationship with Emma Hamilton that is somewhat glamorised and stiff but generally ex... Read more
All This And Heaven Too (1940)
7.6/10
Director: Anatole Litvak
Starring: Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Barbara O'Neil
Charles Boyer and Bette Davis in this story based upon Rachel Field's classic novel of a scandalous love affair between an aristocrat and servant, and... Read more
Seven Sinners (1940)
6.9/10
Director: Tay Garnett
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Anna Lee, Misch...
This classic romantic comedy stars Marlene Dietrich as a sexy cabaret singer whose reputation as a troublemaker has gotten her kicked out of one port... Read more
The Howards of Virginia (1940)
6.1/10
Director: Frank Lloyd
Starring: Cary Grant, Martha Scott, Cedric Hardwicke, Alan Marshal, Richard Carlson
Cary Grant stars as Matt Howard, a down-to-earth surveyor busy at work building the United States of America, who marries (for love) Jane, an aristocr... Read more
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
8/10
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Cary Grant
One of the most hilarious and captivating romantic comedies ever to grace the screen, with a splendid cast including Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and... Read more
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
7.4/10
Director: Robert Z Leonard
Starring: Greer Garson, Edna May Oliver, Laurence Olivier, Maureen O'Sullivan, Mary Boland...
An outstanding adaptation of Jane Austen's novel about five husband-hunting sisters in 19th Century England. Laurence Olivier stars as Mr Darcy (afte... Read more
Rebecca (1940)
8.1/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders
Hitchcock's first American film, based on a Du Maurier gothic romance. With Laurence Olivier and a fine performance by Joan Fontaine as a shy young wo... Read more