image from Casablanca

Top 25 Romantic Movies

This list of the top 25 romantic movies of all time was created by aggregating the resources at the bottom of this page along with overall ranking in Dave’s Movie Database.

1. Casablanca (1942)
2. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
3. Gone with the Wind (1939)
4. Titanic (1997)
5. It Happened One Night (1934)

6. The Apartment (1960)
7. The Notebook (2004)
8. Annie Hall (1977)
9. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
10. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

11. Roman Holiday (1953)
12. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
13. Before Sunrise (1995)
14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
15. Call Me by Your Name (2017)

16. Pretty Woman (1990)
17. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
18. The Princess Bride (1987)
19. Dirty Dancing (1987)
20. Love Actually (2003)

21. In the Mood for Love (Dut Yeung Nin Wa) (2000)
22. An Affair to Remember (1957)
23. West Side Story (1961)
24. Ghost (1990)
25. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists
ABC News/People Magazine (3/22/2011). “Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time” (includes top 5 chick flicks)
American Film Institute (2016). “Top 10 Romantic Comedies”
American Film Institute (2002). “100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time”
BeliefNet.com “Top 10 Romantic Movies of All-Time”
Cosmopolitan.com (2/14/2019). “43 of the most romantic movies to get you in the mood for love”
Eonline.com “The 10 Best Romance Movies”
Esquire.com (2/2/2019). “The 25 Most Romantic Movies of All Time”
FilmSchoolRejects.com (2/12/2019). “The 50 Best Romantic Movies Ever”
TheGuardian.com (10/16/2010). “The Greatest Films of All Time” (includes top 25 romance films)
Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 romance films)
HarpersBazaar.com (2/7/2019). “The 63 Most Romantic Movies of All Time”
IndieWire.com (2/11/2013). “IMDB’s Lists of Most Romantic Films…”
Independent.co.uk (6/1/2019). “20 best romantic movies of all time…”
Norman, Barry (1993). “100 Greatest Films of All Time” (includes top 10 romance movies)
PopSugar.com (6/6/2018). “Here Are the Most Romantic Movies of All Time…”
PureWow.com (5/9/2019). “34 of the Most Romantic Movies of All Time”
RecordHead.biz (11/28/2018). “10 Best Classic Romance Movies”
RottenTomatoes.com “Top 100 Romance Movies”
Time Out (12/12/2018). “The 100 best romantic movies”
Us Weekly (2/14/2012). “30 Most Romantic Movies of All Time”

Originally posted 8/6/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

The Philadelphia Story

Released: December 1, 1940

Studio: MGM

Genre: comedy/romance

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 0.4 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 215.10 Worldwide: ?

Directing: George Cukor

Screenwriting: Donald Ogden Stewart

Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard

“George Cukor’s classic, witty romantic comedy” ^FS is “a delight from start to finish.” ^T95 It “sophisticated and screwball at once.” ^A07 The movie is based on a hit play by Philip Barry that was “a sophisticated romantic farce about a socialite wedding.” ^FS It “effortlessly transcending its stage origins.” ^T95 It would later be remade again in 1956 as the musical High Society.

The movie had “a sublime” ^RS Katharine Hepburn reprise “her stage role as a haughty heiress who is about to wed a pompous self-made man” ^A98 (Howard). “Goofy reporter” ^VD Macauley Connor (Stewart) “is present to cover the wedding with a photographer Liz Imbrie (Hussey).” ^FS He “helps her down from her pedestal and into the arms” ^A98 of “her irresponsible” ^FS but “suave ex-husband (Grant).” ^VD

“The film is a marvel of timing and understated performances.” ^T95 Hepburn “gives one of the performances of her life, while Grant and Stewart keep pace.” ^TV Stewart won an Oscar for his performance, but thought he was miscast and voted for Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath instead of himself. ^MSN