Editor’s Note: Cinephile John Charet, author of the Cinematiccoffee.com blog, has 17 romantic recommendations for your Valentine’s Day viewing. Couples, take note!

By John Charet

A Few Words Before Reading

Please be kind to the film at number 11. Any comment expressing negativity towards number 11 will be deleted. So once again, please … be polite. 

Introduction

Since I did not finish this in time for Valentine’s Day, I decided to just compose a list of 17 great romantic films. With the exception of number 15 (which I love dearly), every film on here ranked within the list of my first 100 favorite films of all time (read here). Once again, I have more than 17 favorite romantic films, but these are the ones that I wanted to start with.

Click here to listen to the late great Doris Day singing Move Over Darling

Click here to listen to Day also singing Dream a Little Dream

Now without further ado, I present to all of my dear readers:

John’s 16 Romantic Film Recommendations (In Chronological Order)

1.) Sunrise (1927)
Dir: F.W. Murnau
Country: United States
Color: Black and White
Renowned for it’s unique combination of expressionism and realism (read here), it is no wonder that Sunrise is often hailed as the pinnacle of artistic cinematic quality in the silent form and the end of an era as well (read here). Given that it is one of the earliest silent films to feature a synchronized music score and sound, it would not be far-fetched to view Sunrise as a transitional film in that regard (read here). Metaphorically, the silent and (then upcoming) sound era represent rural and city life respectively. An undisputed poet of German Expressionism, director F.W. Murnau was allowed carte blanche by Fox Film Corporation (now known as 20th Century Studios) founder William Fox to create his magnum opus. For example, the story’s large unnamed city was actually built from scratch. The film’s reported estimated budget of $200,000 confirms it. Along with Erich von Stroheim’s Greed, Sunrise is quite possibly the most technically audacious American masterwork of it’s era.

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to view the entire film

2.) The Docks of New York (1928)
Dir: Josef von Sternberg
Country: United States
Color: Black and White
With or without Marlene Dietrich, each and every film by Austrian-American director Josef von Sternberg remains visually dazzling. Not unlike F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise, what makes The Docks of New York so unique lies less in it’s fairly straightforward plot and more in it’s visual poetry. Sternberg’s utilization of Hans Dreier’s set designs and Harold Rosson’s cinematography goes a long way in not only effortlessly shaping the film’s mise en scene, but also it’s romantic drama and lead characters. The result packs an emotional wallop that is felt in every single frame.

Click here to view the entire film

3.) Lonesome (1928)
Dir: Paul Fejos
Country: United States
Color: Black and White (also color tinted)
If one subscribes to legendary film critic turned screenwriter James Agee’s notion that silent comedy was represented by four most eminent masters (read here), then director Paul Fejos Lonesome represents the Harry Langdon (i.e. the forgotten) of the four notable late silent era masterworks. The other three being F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise, Josef von Sternberg’s The Docks of New York and King Vidor’s The Crowd. Simultaneously, Lonesome is part-talkie. Considering that it was not until 2012 that Lonesome debuted on a home video format (Blu-Ray/DVD in this case), my aforementioned description of it stands out as an apt one. Now that this terrible wrong has long been corrected, we can all easily view Lonesome as an equal to those previously mentioned three films. The film’s use of camerawork, color tinting and editing makes for an exhilarating cinematic experience.

Click here to view the entire film.

4.) City Lights (1931)
Dir: Charlie Chaplin
Country: United States
Color: Black and White
Though frequently hailed (and deservedly so) as the quintessential Tramp entry, for me, City Lights reputation has always rested upon so much more than that. Whereas The Kid established iconic director/producer/star Charlie Chaplin’s trademark combination of humor and pathos, City Lights unquestionably polished it. From the first to last frame, City Lights can only be described as the most beautifully realized comedy ever made. In addition, City Lights features a justifiably celebrated ending that is as poignant as it is perfect. Close to ninety-four years may have passed since it’s initial theatrical release in 1931, but City Lights still continues to impact audiences, critics and filmmakers alike as of 2025. As for myself, I define City Lights as the cinematic equivalent of poetry in motion.

Click here to view what may be the film’s original theatrical trailer or one of the re-released ones.

Click here to view what is definitely a re-release trailer of the film.

Click here to view the 2003 documentary Chaplin Today: City Lights.

5.) Love Me Tonight (1932)
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Country: United States
Color: Black and White
Everything I always wanted to say about this cinematic masterpiece has already been summed up more eloquently than I ever could by two other writers. In his 1968 book Hollywood in the Thirties, John Baxter remarked that If there is a better musical of the Thirties, one wonders what it can be (click here). Aside from hailing it as a magical, rapturous, unique, charming, audacious, unforgettable, and, to beat a warhorse, masterpiece, film historian Richard Barrios also said that It remains less well-known than it warrants even as vastly inferior works are enshrined. . . . It is, after all, quite a provable truth: Love Me Tonight is a great film, and along with Singin’ in the Rain and a very few others it resides at the very pinnacle of movie musicals, and at the apex of art (click here). Not much more I can add except that If Charade is the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made (read here), then Love Me Tonight is the best Lubitsch musical that Lubitsch never made.

Click here to view the original theatrical trailer for Love Me Tonight.

Click here to view the entire film.

6.) Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Dir: Leo McCarey
Country: United States
Color: Black and White
During an interview conducted by film critic turned director Peter Bogdanovich, legendary filmmaker Orson Welles cited Make Way for Tomorrow as the saddest movie ever made! (read here and here). Welles added that It would make a stone cry! Make Way for Tomorrow was reportedly Leo McCarey’s personal favorite of the films he directed. In fact, upon receiving the Academy Award for Best Director for the screwball comedy classic The Awful Truth, McCarey responded with something along the lines of Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture (read here). The picture he was referring to was of course Make Way for Tomorrow. The plot revolves around Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi), an elderly couple, who recently lost their home to foreclosure. This is relevant because Make Way for Tomorrow was made during the Great Depression. In the aftermath, the two must separate and live with one of their five grown children respectively. The result is an insightful, refreshingly nuanced, uncompromising and ultimately tragic social commentary on the relationship between parents, their offspring and society. Last, but not least, Make Way for Tomorrow is a film that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to view the late Peter Bogdanovich’s commentary on it

Click here to view the late Robert Osborne’s intro to it on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) from 2014

Click here to view Osborne’s outro to it

Click here to view Dave Karger’s intro. to it on TCM

7.) Brief Encounter (1945)
Dir: David Lean
Country: United Kingdom
Color: Black and White
Though justifiably celebrated for epics like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, British filmmaker David Lean proved that he was every bit as accomplished early on with smaller scaled works like Summertime and this generally acknowledged classic from 1945 entitled Brief Encounter. In adapting celebrated playwright Noel Coward’s 1936 play Still Life, director Lean adds a touch of cinematic poetry that goes a long way in making this low-key romantic drama come alive. Like the film itself, lead actress Celia Johnson’s blend of quiet dignity with pathos has been frequently equalled, but seldom surpassed.

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to view British film critic Mark Kermode’s commentary on it as one of his BFI Player picks

Click here to view Ronald Neame’s (also co-writer) fond memories of it

Click here to view an interesting take on one of the film’s memorable locations, which in this case is Carnforth railway station

Click here to view the entire film

8.) Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Dir: John M. Stahl
Country: United States
Color: Color
Extraordinary on every single level imaginable, Leave Her to Heaven also happens to be my number one favorite film noir of the 1940’s. As the first film noir shot in color (read here), Leave Her to Heaven is noted for uniquely blending elements belonging to that aforementioned subgenre with that of melodramas, romantic dramas and psychological thrillers. The result still stands out today as an American masterpiece in a class of it’s own. Though he made two other very excellent films that Douglas Sirk would later not only equal, but surpass (Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life), Leave Her to Heaven towers above them all as director John M. Stahl’s greatest film. Leon Shamroy’s gorgeous Technicolor cinematography and Kay Nelson’s stylish costume designs serve as only two of many aspects that shape Stahl’s dazzling mise-en-scene. For my money, the always sexy Gene Tierney delivers a performance for the ages as the cold-hearted and narcissistic Ellen Berent Harland, who simultaneously ranks as the sexiest and most complex femme fatale in cinematic history. Aside from ranking as the second highest grossing film of 1945 after The Bells of St. Mary’s, Leave Her to Heaven also reportedly ranked as 20th Century Studios (then 20th Century Fox) biggest box-office hit of the decade. Now that is something.

Click here to watch a youtube video link to TCM’s (Turner Classic Movies) Alicia Malone’s intro and outro to the film from a few years back

Click here to watch a youtube video link to master filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s introduction of the film at the 2007 New York Film Festival

Click here to watch a youtube video link to Scorsese introducing it again. Only this time it was from this year in 2024. The date he introduced it was on Sunday, November 10, 2024

Click here to watch a youtube video link to the entire film

Click here to watch another youtube video link to the entire film

Click here to watch a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to watch another youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to watch another youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer

9.) Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Dir: Albert Lewin
Country: United Kingdom
Color: Color
Exquisite, sensual and surreal are the three words that best sum up this masterful 1951 romantic fantasy directed by Albert Lewin. Emphasized by John Bryan’s lush scenic designs, Jack Cardiff’s visually stunning cinematography and Beatrice Dawson’s elegant costumes, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman emerges as the cinematic equivalent of a beautiful dream. Last, but not least, as the sexy Pandora Reynolds (the film’s title character), Classical Hollywood icon Ava Gardner imbues her with an aura of glamour and mystery. If Charade is the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made and Love Me Tonight is the best Lubitsch musical that Lubitsch never made (emphasis mine), then Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is the best Powell and Pressburger film that Powell and Pressburger never made.

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to view the film’s Restoration trailer

10.) Journey to Italy (1954)
Dir: Roberto Rossellini
Country: Italy/France
Color: Black and White
Notwithstanding the fact that a majority of it’s dialogue is in English, Journey to Italy remains my number one favorite foreign film of all time. On the surface, it stems from master Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist visual style, courtesy of location shooting. In the center, it comes from Rossellini’s modernist approach to drama and storytelling. The answer lies in how it forever changed the face of European cinema. By combining these two aforementioned elements together, Rossellini laid the groundwork for the French New Wave movement and Michelangelo Antonioni’s existentialist dramas, which emerged simultaneously at the tail’s end of the 1950’s into 1960. During the past nine years of the 21st century, Journey to Italy’s influence seems to have gradually expanded into the American cinema. For example, in director/writer Richard Linklater’s 2013 romance drama Before Midnight, (the third film in his Before Trilogy), Julie Delpy’s character references it. As a devotee of everything it influenced, maybe my enthusiasm for Journey to Italy is based on that? Either way, for me, watching Journey to Italy is like sipping a fine wine – the taste never ages.

Click here to view the entire film

Click here to view Janus Films 2013 restoration trailer of the film

Click here to view Roberto Rossellini’s intro to the film himself

Click here to view late Scottish novelist and film critic Gilbert Adair’s 1990 Film Club intro to the film

Click here to view master filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s 2014 video conversation on the films of Roberto Rossellini, which includes Journey to Italy

11.) Vertigo (1958)
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: United States
Color: Color
Former Chicago Reader film critic Dave Kehr eloquently praised Vertigo as One of the landmarks-not merely of the movies, but of 20th-century art. I am in total agreement with him. Coincidentally, Vertigo ranks as my number one favorite film of all time. For me, Vertigo not only stands out as the crowning achievement of Classical Hollywood cinema, but of filmmaking on a whole. No other cinematic masterwork has impacted me on so many levels than this 1958 American classic. Set to celebrated composer Bernard Herrmann’s unforgettable music score, Vertigo opens with a characteristically expressive title sequence designed by the legendary Saul Bass. After this, we are treated to one of the most atmospheric and visually stunning films ever made. In the center, Vertigo is two beautifully realized films for the price of one. What begins as a riveting mystery, suddenly turns into a haunting drama of sexual obsession. The result is every bit as erotic as it is disturbing and ultimately tragic. As directed by the iconic Alfred Hitchcock (a.k.a. The Master of Suspense), Vertigo is a masterpiece of form and content. More than that, Vertigo serves as Hitchcock’s magnum opus. Though renowned (and justifiably so) as a showman, Hitchcock also deserves to be lauded as an artist. This latter trait has never been more evident than in Vertigo. In that same review, Kehr summed up Vertigo as the most intensely personal movie to emerge from the Hollywood cinema. Kehr is totally right on that. For everybody involved, Vertigo represents the pinnacle of their careers. What else left is there for me to say except that Vertigo is (for myself) the greatest film ever made.

Click here to read former Chicago Reader film critic Dave Kehr’s review of Vertigo

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to view the film’s 1996 Restoration trailer

Click here to view the film’s 60th anniversary 4K Restoration trailer

Click here to view legendary title designer Saul Bass masterful opening title sequence

Click here to view the film’s memorable psychedelic dream sequence.

John Charet is a 41 year-old Illinoisan and self-described Cinephile. When he is not busy, John talks about cinema on his blog Cinematic Coffee and on Social Media. One can also find John on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Bluesky.

Have an essay or think piece on movies, the history of cinema, profiles of film directors or actors, or exploration of a popular movie genre? Contact the Movie Talk column today at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.