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"
Sons and Lovers (1960)
7.3/10
Director: Jack Cardiff
Starring: Dean Stockwell, Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller, Heather Sears, Sean Barrett
Showered with praise on its release, this adaptation of DH Lawrence's famous novel is perhaps a little dated now. Censorship laws of the time prevete... Read more
The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Quine
Starring: William Holden, Nancy Kwan, Sylvia Syms
Exotic Hong Kong is the setting for this classic melodrama of the love affair between American painter William Holden and bar girl Nancy Kwan. Read more
It Happened To Jane (1959)
6.6/10
Director: Richard Quine
Starring: Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs
When a shipment of lobsters arrives spoiled thanks to some careless railroad workers, feisty New England businesswoman Doris Day, and best friend Jack... Read more
Pillow Talk (1959)
7.5/10
Director: Michael Gordon
Starring: Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter
Rock Hudson and Doris Day are at their best in their first romantic comedy together. Doris is an uptight interior decorator forced to share a party li... Read more
Escadrille Lafayette (1958)
Director: William A Wellman
Starring: Tab Hunter, Etchika Choureau, Marcel Dalio, David Janssen, Clint Eastwood, Paul...
Thad Walker (Tab Hunter) is a young man from a good Boston family, but he's spoiled, rebellious, and always at odds with his strict father. When Thad... Read more
Une Parisienne (1958)
Director: Michel Boisrond
Starring: Brigitte Bardot, Charles Boyer, Henri Vidal
Brigitte Bardot is the daughter of the French Premier, and married to Henri Vidal, his chief aide. When Vidal shows signs of infidelity, Bardot fights... Read more
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
6.9/10
Director: Richard Quine
Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Janice Ru...
About-to-be-married publisher James Stewart finds himself smitten with Kim Novak, but is shocked to find out she's a witch! Jack Lemmon, Hermione Ging... Read more
The Wind Cannot Read (1958)
6.2/10
Director: Ralph Thomas
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Yoko Tani, Ronald Lewis, John Fraser
A tearful British star crossed romance effort set against the backdrop of World War II. RAF officer Dirk Bogarde is assigned to learn Japanese in orde... Read more
Houseboat (1958)
6.7/10
Director: Melville Shavelson
Starring: Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer
Widower Cary Grant signs aboard Sophia Loren to care for his two children, but the two find themselves in a shipboard romance in this bouncy, romantic... Read more
Island In The Sun (1957)
6.2/10
Director: Robert Rossen
Starring: Harry Belafonte, James Mason, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins
Set on a fictitious island in the Carribean during colonial British rule, it focuses on the life of a young charismatic and handsome black male with p... Read more