The 50 most romantic movies of all time

King Kong (1933)

Much more than a mere monster movie, this majestic love story spans continents and species. At its core is a psychosexual nightmare: A woman draped in next to nothing (the legendary Fay Wray) is dangled hundreds of feet above the pavement by a simian beast who will destroy anything to possess her.—Joshua Rothkopf

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The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Sparks fly the second adopted Mohican Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) and general's daughter Cora (Madeleine Stowe) cross paths in Michael Mann's thrilling frontier epic. The giddy moments are plentiful, from the duo's sunrise make-out session to their iconic waterfall parting ("I will find you!"). Couldn't history class have been this sensual?—Keith Uhlich

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Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The rarest of sequels that eclipses its forebear for emotional power, James Whale's follow-up to his global sensation upped the voltage considerably. It expands a subplot of Mary Shelley's original novel into a full-on artificial romance. Still, the affair is doomed, as suggested in a crushing line spoken by the husband-to-be: "We belong dead."—Joshua Rothkopf

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Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

"I want to scoop out your eyes and eat them." Most films would make that line a threat; in Paul Thomas Anderson's blissful, off-kilter romance, it's pillow talk. When Adam Sandler and fellow loony Emily Watson finally kiss, you'll feel that even the biggest screwup has a soulmate somewhere.—David Fear

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City Lights (1931)

This silent masterpiece ends with the greatest close-up in cinema history. It's performed by Charlie Chaplin (working with his costar Virginia Cherrill), transforming a simple tale of a blind flower girl and a doting tramp into a profound, Depression-era statement of compassion. In that moment, both characters know each other fully, and are reborn.—Joshua Rothkopf

Two for the Road (1967)

Unhappy couple Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney take a lively, revealing road trip in Stanley Donen's poignant marital classic. The film bobs and weaves through time, moving through the highs and lows of the couple's relationship while they ponder the ties that bind. Anyone who has ever loved another will relate.—Keith Uhlich

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History Is Made at Night (1937)

Incurable romantic Frank Borzage directed this bewitching melodrama about a divorce (Jean Arthur) whom fate puts in the arms of a handsome waiter (Charles Boyer). There's murder, backstabbing and a strangely familiar ship-crossing (iceberg included). All that is prelude to some impassioned smooching.—Keith Uhlich

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Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Trust Tim Burton and his male muse, Johnny Depp, to turn a suburban freak into a soulful, lovelorn outsider. Cursed with shears for hands, Edward is destined to hurt anyone close to him—including Winona Ryder's bleach-blond object of affection. "Hold me," she implores; his pitiful response ("I can't") cuts to the bone of this fairy-tale-like tragedy.—David Fear

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Say Anything... (1989)

He's a trench-coat-wearing misfit who kickboxes. She's the school valedictorian heading off to college. But damned if Cameron Crowe's teen rom-com doesn't this into a full-bodied emotional triumph. If we had a dollar for every man who's hoisted a boom box playing "In Your Eyes" above his head to win back his girlfriend, we'd be millionaires.—David Fear

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Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

Max Ophls made romantic movies for closet cynics, and anyone else would have turned this turn-of-the-20th-century love story between obsessed Joan Fontaine and callow musician Louis Jourdan into a stilted period piece. Instead, the director made a classic heartbreaker, renowned for reducing grown men to puddles.—David Fear

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