10 Romantic Movies For Mother's Day!
May 08 '04
The Bottom Line Have a lovely day tomorrow...
I’ve watched a lot of classic love stories as well as contemporary ones, but I’m not going to rehash the ones most of us know and love, such as Casablanca, To Have And To Have Not, It’s A Wonderful Life, The African Queen, Singin’ In The Rain, Gone With The Wind, Lady and the Tramp, The Way We Were, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and so on. I also don’t include chick flicks or movies in my essays giving tribute to Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Rock Hudson and Bob Hope. Links to those will be provided at the bottom. Instead I want to call attention to lesser-known, yet wonderful movies that celebrate the tender beauty of love.
I also tried to select movies that our mothers especially will enjoy over and over again, although any of us will probably enjoy watching with them if we’re in the mood for love. Please note that I don’t simply recommend movies based on the sex appeal of the leads, although it certainly helps in most cases! There's nothing graphic in these.
In order of their theatrical release:
You Can’t Take It With You (1938): Frank Capra, director; George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart for play, Robert Riskin for screenplay. Delightful love story between James Stewart as a confused millionaire’s son and Jean Arthur as a perky granddaughter of Lionel Barrymore whose gruff character refuses to pay his property tax or move for Stewart’s father (Edward Arnold) to tear it down for business purposes. You might see a similarity to Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life where Stewart’s character couldn’t pay taxes on his business and was about to lose it; in this movie he might lose his love if her grandfather has to pay taxes. You’ll see other similarities with engaging dialogue and original characters, but with a political edge.
To quote Barrymore’s character: Lincoln said, “With malice toward none, with charity to all.” Nowadays they say, “Think the way I do or I’ll bomb the daylights outta you.”
Ninotchka (1939): Ernest Lubitsch, director; Melchior Lengyel for story, Charles Brackett for screenplay. This movie was inspired by and built around the words “Garbo laughs.” Greta Garbo is a Russian who must come to Paris on business, who meets Melvyn Douglas’ flirtatious character. “Why must you flirt?” she asks. “It only comes naturally,” he answers. “Suppress it!” she fires back. With her comical Russian assistants and her discovery of Paris’ and Douglas’ charms, it’s not long before we see her soft side. Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three of 1961 with James Cagney is a fun male version of it betwixt the two Germanys. See Stephen_Murray’s review here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_95738891908
Shop Around The Corner (1940): Ernest Lubitsch, director; Miklos Lazlo for play, Samson Raphaelson for screenplay. This was remade as You’ve Got Mail, but the original with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan falling for each other through letters has the bonus of showing us the stress of working together in sales and for the fatherly boss played by Henry Morgan. It seemed very real to me with charged emotions that drew me into the story.
Best Years Of Our Lives (1946): William Wyler, director; MacKinlay Kantor for novel, Robert E. Sherwood for screenplay. We follow three men home from service in WWII where they meet up with each other and become friends. Fredric March and Myrna Loy revive their long-standing marriage; Dana Andrews finds his new bride (Virginia Mayo) much more worldly and he falls for the daughter of his married friend; and Harold Russell copes with disability as do his girlfriend and family. It’s long, but so powerful and romantic without being mushy until the end.
Let’s Make Love (1960): George Cukor, director; Hal Kanter and Norman Krasna for screenplay. Marilyn Monroe meets French heartthrob Yves Montand when he’s in town and hears that he’s being satirized in a off-Broadway show. It’s instant fascination for both. Things really get cute when he’s chosen to play himself, gets taught how to sing and dance and be funny by Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly and Milton Berle respectively, and Tony Randall as a sidekick always helps. Marilyn’s numbers are sassy and seductive.
The Music Man (1962): Morton DaCosta, director; Meredith Wilson for play, Franklin Lacey for story. Many of you already know about this musical with Shirley Jones and Robert Preston. Preston is a shady salesman who convinces a town that he can teach kids to play in a band. Everyone’s lives are changed for the better in the end, but it’s a tough road for Jones as Marian the Librarian who knows the truth about him, yet can’t help falling in love with him. Each song is unique and captivating and the characters are endearing in a quirky way!
A Man And A Woman (1966): Claude Lelouch, director, writer and cameraman with hand-held camera. French movie with subtitles that makes December look as wild and gorgeous as the couple played by Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant. They are 35-year-old widowers with small children at the same boarding school, which is where they meet. Their love grows through car rides, playing with the kids, conversation and even their absence. Memories of their late spouses are revealed to us as they work through their feelings. Most shots were one takes and the dialogue inspired, the director/cameraman reveals on the DVD. Excellent romantic pick!
How To Commit Marriage (1969): Norman Panama, director. Bob Hope and Jane Wyman play a couple planning to divorce when their daughter comes home with a fiancée. Now they have to stay together until the wedding, but then they divorce and see Tina Louise and Leslie Nielsen without telling their daughter. Jackie Gleason as her husband’s father suspects the two aren’t married when…, but it’s a convoluted story that really is silly and corny if you like that kind of stuff. It’s still done for love and that’s never an easy path, hehe.
Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987): Howard Deutch, director; John Hughes, writer. Teen love triangle between art geek Eric Stoltz, tomboy Mary Stuart Masterson and popular girl from their neighborhood Lea Thompson. He has a crush on Lea, she’s dating the school hunk and Mary’s secretly in love with Eric. I loved its energy, wit, silliness and downright adorable moments and kristinafh babe backs me up:
http://www.epinions.com/content_68408610436
To Dance With The White Dog (1993): Glenn Jordan, director; Terry Kay for novel, Susan Cooper for teleplay. This is a bittersweet story of an elderly couple who love each other very much. They’re dancing on the porch earlier on the night that she dies and soon a white dog comes around to befriend the grieving widower. His health declines, but when his daughters (Christine Baranski is one), son and friends can’t see his dog, he realizes that his wife has returned as the dog to dance with him until he’s ready to be with her again. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy are exquisite in a lovely, romantic tale.
Il Postino (1994): Michael Radford, director; Anna Pavignano, writer. Italian movie with subtitles where a thirtyish man takes a job delivering exiled poet Pablo Neruda’s mail and develops a friendship with him that helps him to seduce a town beauty with metaphors! He becomes a communist like Neruda and learns to see the beauty of nature, which isn’t hard for us watching, but is for him. Poetic and charming. Philippe Noiret pulled off Pablo Neruda for my money and Massimo Troisi, who died accidentally right after filming, sold me as the simple postman.
Let me also mention two very popular films that I love and hope you will, too: Life Is Beautiful and Moulin Rouge. I can understand why an older person wouldn’t care for the latter that is targeted at young people in love (often not mothers), but not the former for it starts out as young love and matures in a concentration camp. I find macresarf1’s lack of appreciation for them intriguing:
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-772A-7819005-3898858C-prod1
http://www.epinions.com/content_26846269060
I've got mixed feeligs about Robin and Marian, which tries to be comedy and drama too hard perhaps, but Sean Connery shows lots of leg and Audrey Hepburn is still a knock-out if you're interested! Hope at least one of my choices will really please your mother as it will mine. Happy Mother’s Day!
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Member: Jan Peregrine
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