Author Anna Campbell
Photo by Robyn Hills http://www.robyngraphs.com.au
Lights, Camera, Action!
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I hope your significant other gives you something, well, significant, even if it’s only a special edition KitKat. Actually I rather like KitKats – please take note, legions of secret admirers!
In view of the romantic nature of the day, I thought I’d share some of my favourite romantic movies. I’ve always been a sucker for a film where the hero and heroine kiss at the end and head off into a sunset full of happily ever after. Hmm, if any of you have read my books, that won’t come as a surprise!
So here are my top 10 romantic movies:
10. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Yeah, I know there’s more blood and gore splashed around this story than you’ll find in haemoglobin central but my heart always beats faster when I hear “I will find you!”
9. NOTORIOUS. Crammed with wonderful dark Hitchcock romantic goodness. And wow, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, wouldn’t they have beautiful children?
8. LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS. In this one, the hero and heroine don’t end up together. Heresy for a romance writer. But I don’t know of any other film that conveys romantic longing so powerfully.
7. PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. We seem to be at the obscure end of Valentine’s Day Avenue. But seriously, if you get a chance to see this beautiful movie starring Ava Gardner and James Mason as doomed lovers, swim out to the galleon!
6. NINOTCHKA. Hmm, clearly I need to see some new movies! But you’ll love this gorgeous romance between uptight Soviet commissar Greta Garbo and suave Melvyn Douglas as the Frenchman keen on establishing international relations.
5. HOW TO STEAL A MILLION. I’m always torn when it comes to choosing a favourite Audrey Hepburn film. What about ROMAN HOLIDAY or BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S? This one’s just so darn witty, though, and Peter O’Toole is breathtakingly charming!
4. STRICTLY BALLROOM. This one’s a real pleaser, the music’s great, and the colourful, campy appeal never palls. There’s a lovely ugly duckling transformation for the heroine too!
3. THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR. Sublime romantic drama with Rex Harrison playing a hot ghost and Gene Tierney exquisite as the widow who falls in love with him. I always cry at the end even though it’s uplifting – in many ways!
2. DIRTY DANCING. This one frequently hits number one on my list. Nobody puts Baby in the corner.
1. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. This is the perfect Valentine’s Day movie, whether you’re snuggling up with your loved one, eating chocolate on your own, or whether you think Valentine’s Day is all bunkum and you’d rather be doing your calculus homework.
Blogger’s note: Congratulations to Anna who was recently nominated in the Favourite Australian Romance Author category of the Australian Romance Readers’ Awards for 2012, as well as in four other categories for her sensuous new novel Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed (review coming soon).
I love the Ghost and Mrs Muir! Even used to watch the tv series. And the Last of the Mohicans is all types of wonderful. My favourite though is probably the Notebook. Ryan Gosling in a wet t-shirt is rather heavenly. I turn the movie off 10 minutes before the end and pretend they never die.
I haven’t seen the Notebook although I know it’s a favourite for lots of people, Kylie. I’m doing a ghost novella in March and I was looking for something with that same feeling you get from the Ghost and Mrs. Muir. And the music is exquisite!
Happy V-day, Anna!
Somehow I knew LOTM would make your top ten. Among my faves, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, An Affair to Remember, Now, Voyager, Sabrina (the older version), You’ve Got Mail, Love, Actually, and A New Kind of Love (an oldie with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward).
Ooh, great choice, Jennifer. I don’t know the PN and JW film although I love the Long, Hot Summer that they’re both in.
“NINOTCHKA. Hmm, clearly I need to see some new movies!” – LOL! I wouldn’t say so at all. They don’t make ‘em like they used to, and if you like the golden age romantic films, you have exquisite taste. I think you may already know this about me, but the 1981 miniseries A Town Like Alice has pretty much my all-time romantic champion scene, when Jean dons her prisoner sarong and Joe throws his cigarette away, and they KISS. My other ultimate romantic film is also really a miniseries: 2004′s North & South with Richard Armitage. *sigh* …dreamy…
Julia, I think I grew up with a lot of these movies and yanno, the first cut is the deepest. I think there’s a genuine romanticism in them that hasn’t necessarily translated into a lot of newer movies. Yeah, I know, I”m such a fuddyduddy! This will surprise you – I’ve never seen a Town Like Alice although it’s one of my friend Anna Sugden’s favourites. It was on when I was at boarding school and we weren’t allowed TV (yeah, barbaric!) and it hasn’t really been on much since which seems silly seeing it’s an Australian show. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE North and South. But you knew that, didn’t you?