Five of My Favorite Romantic Films - Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day My Readers and Friends!  

To commemorate the day I thought I would revisit five of my favorite romantic movies of all time. 

A Room with a View (1985)

The first time I saw this film I wanted to find a time machine and go back to Florence in 1900 and be Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter). Of course these days I’m more like her chaperone Charlotte (Maggie Smith).  This is the ultimate romantic film full of magnificent performances by masterful veteran character actors like Maggie Smith and Judi Dench together with talented future stars of the screen like Daniel Day-Lewis and Helena Bonham Carter.  Top this with the gorgeous backdrop of Florence, Italy and beautiful locations in England and you just have to swoon at the love story of Lucy and George (Julian Sand).

Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991)

Imagine the feeling of loss if the love of your life dies suddenly and you become inconsolable in your grief unable to move on.  Imagine that he suddenly comes back into your life and home as a ghost.  What would you do? How would you feel?  Would you try to keep him there forever? Is the man you’ve idealized in your grief truly the particular person you lived with for years? One of the most beautiful and most funny films I’ve ever seen about love and loss. A heartbreaking and hilarious performance by Alan Rickman, and a sweet and sad performance by Juliet Stevenson.  

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Inspired by another favorite romantic film of mine, An Affair to Remember (1957) with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, this is the ultimate “meet cute” romantic comedy.  Tom Hanks plays Sam the perfect regular guy next door and a widower with an adorable son.  Oh yes, he lives in Seattle. One day lonely but adorable Baltimore reporter Annie, played by improbably cute Meg Ryan, listens to Sam’s love story with his late wife and his yearning for a new partner to spend his life with.  Much mayhem and travel ensues until the meeting scene between them in the Empire State Building (see An Affair to Remember).

Persuasion (1995) 

If only we could meet the love we let go in our youth again and persuade him to try again.  This 1995 version of Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion is my favorite of all.  Amanda Root as Anne Elliott and Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth are perfection in this film.  No matter how many times I watch it I feel the yearning of Anne and the pride of Wentworth and wonder why we so often neglect to follow our heart. 

How to Steal a Million (1966)

 A caper comedy/romance of the type they don’t make any more starring two movie legends, Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn.  Both are at their most charming and handsome in this tale of the art thief (or is he?) and the heiress (or is she?) and the greatest museum heist of all time.  

Happy Valentine's Day

More Voices

The second in my series about special voices and how unforgettable some actors are because of it. Below are  a few more examples of this essential of all actor's instrument, and some of my favorites:  Jeremy Irons, Peter O'Toole and Sian Phillips and Gregory Peck.

I fell in love with Jeremy Iron's voice when I first watched "Brideshead Revisited" on American Public Television (PBS).  I still think he has one of the most mesmerizing male voices of all time:




Peter O'Toole, one of my favorite actors of all time and the star of my favorite movie, "Lawrence of Arabia", and  Sian Phillips, wonderful in every role, but especially as Livia in "I, Claudius".   Here the two of them in
" Taming of the Shrew":



There was a time in the movies when handsome men played men of integrity and made us love and admire them for it.  One of the sexiest male voices of all time for me, Gregory Peck, and one of the great movie speeches of all time, in "To Kill a Mockingbird" :



For the previous post on special voices click HERE