Valentine's Day is several days away, and with COVID restrictions still in place, many people will be spending the holiday differently this year — at home! Most of us will be enjoying a romantic night in with our significant other or spending it on our own. What better way to enjoy the night than by watching and discovering a classic romantic film? Here are five classic romantic movies to watch to celebrate Valentine's Day:
"Brief Encounter" (1945) is my favorite classic film, but make sure you have plenty of tissues on hand. This quiet British film takes place just as World War II is ending. There's little action, but it is a simple love story at the heart of the film. Bored and unsatisfied housewife Laura Jesson meets Dr. Alec Harvey while waiting in the railway station's refreshment room. Over the next several days, they inadvertently run into each other, and although they are both already married, they gradually fall in love. They continue to meet at the same café every Thursday, even though they know their love is impossible. After a major turn of events, they realize that a future together is impossible, and they're not only hurting each other but their families as well. The ending is as heartbreaking as their impossible love affair.
In general, film fans may recognize this film but under a different name; it was remade four decades later and called "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993). In "An Affair to Remember" (1957), despite both being engaged to others, playboy Nick Ferrante and night club singer Terry McKay begin an affair when they meet on an ocean liner, taking them from Europe to New York. They fall deeply and passionately in love and agree to meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building. However, tragedy strikes Terry keeping her from their reunion and leaving Nick wondering if she doesn't love him anymore or if she married someone else. Will Nick discover the truth before it is too late and reunite with his true love, Terry, after all, or will it have passed him by?
Here's another film that requires tissues! World War I veteran Charles Rainier has returned home after losing all of his memory of life before the war. Eventually, he meets showgirl Paula; they fall deeply in love, become happily married and begin to settle into a nice, humble life. One day, Rainier decides to travel out of town, and on his way home, he gets hit by a car. This, however, ends up erasing all memories of his life with Paula but restores his memories of his life before the war. When Rainier returns home and no longer recognizes his devoted wife, Paula begins trying to find a way to be reunited with her husband.
I am sure you have heard of this one, though perhaps not the 1940 version starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennett and Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy. After a group of wealthy bachelors arrive in the English village of Meryton, families with single daughters begin to seek engagements for their daughters, including the Bennett family. But pride, prejudice and misunderstandings all combine to thwart their relationships and make happiness difficult.
Alfred Kralik is the senior salesman in a gift shop around the corner called Matuschek and Company in Budapest, Hungary. One day, Klara Novak comes in seeking a job, and though they aren't hiring, Mr. Matuschek is so impressed with her skills that he immediately hires her. Kralik and Novak instantly cannot stand each other. They both end up disagreeing, arguing and butting heads over every little thing. However, unbeknownst to either of them, they have been corresponding with each other as anonymous pen pals the entire time and, despite the outward differences, have unknowingly fallen in love with each other through their letters.
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