Valentine's Day Movie Meme

So many surveys around the blogosphere lately! As you probably know, I put one of my own out last week, and one of my favorite bloggers, Meredith of Forever Classics, is doing one too in honor of Valentine's Day! I'm a romantic at heart so this will be a lot of fun to answer.

Valentine's Day Movie Meme ♥

1. What is your favorite romantic comedy?

It's hard for me to pick just one! A lot of classic films to me are romantic comedies. And of course, there are a lot of new romantic comedies, and though I have seen my share of them they're more entertaining then something I would feel sentimental about. So I don't think I can pick just one :/ But some towards the top of the list would have to be The Philadelphia Story (1940), It Happened One Night (1934), all the Audrey Hepburns - Roman Holiday (1953), Sabrina (1954), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), all the Doris Day/ Rock Hudson, like Pillow Talk (1959)... do His Girl Friday (1940) and Bringing up Baby (1938) count??? Several of the Fred and Gingers, too. Oh, and if you're interested in a more modern romantic comedy I like, I did enjoy While You Were Sleeping (1995) - Sandra Bullock is a modern actress I must admit I do like, at least a little. ;) There's my very very complicated answer for you.

2. What is your favorite romantic drama?

These questions are so mean!! -;) If I'm to pick one, I'll likely go with An Affair to Remember (1957). This one makes me tear up everytime. Cary and Deborah are just so perfect. <3 But there are plenty of others I like too. Now, Voyager (1942),  Casablanca (1942), Random Harvest (1941), Woman of the Year (1942), This Property is Condemned (1966), West Side Story (1961) - just to mention a few. Old movies are so romantic! But I would probably have to choose Affair as my favorite.

3. Worst romance film you've seen?

I don't know if this really counts, but I've got to go with Lucy and Desi: Before the Laughter (1992), a TERRIBLE, tacky, awful, TV movie about Lucy and Desi's marriage, covering their meeting and marriage in 1940 up to the start of I Love Lucy in 1951. {Thank goodness it ended there and did not cover Lucy and the divorce, I'm picturing what this would have been like and am dying a little inside} Frances Fisher plays Lucy very unconvincingly. If she holds her head really still and stares profoundly into space, she does resemble Lucy a tiny bit, but I'm just going to be blunt and say she wasn't beautiful enough to play Lucy. Plus she had all these wrinkles and craw's feet on her face, she just looked way too old. Then some nonsense soap opera actor named Maurice Bernard or something like that played Desi, and he was even WORSE. He had the most terrible Cuban "accent" I've heard in my life, and an annoying habit of saying "Joo" instead of "you" {My friend and I have a joke about this, "Joo want to marry me?"}. This movie takes Lucy and Desi's love story and tears it apart and turns it into a parody. This is by far the worst movie on Lucy I've ever seen. It's on the Tube that was you, but I would say to avoid it like the plague. Lucie called it tabloid fodder and countered it with the amazing documentary about her parents that included their home movies. Thank God for Lucie Arnaz.

One critic said something like, "If joo gonna do something this tacky, at least make it funny!"

4. How do you feel about the majority of romantic films being labeled "chick flicks"?

My understanding about this question is, what's my opinion on romance films being labeled as a fluffy genre for females to weep over? I could be wrong, that's the way I interpreted it, however, and that's the way I'm going to answer it, lol. Anyways, to that note, I'm not sure how I feel about it exactly. I guess females do lean to romantic films more than men do, but to that, there's no reason why guys shouldn't be able to enjoy or get teary over romantic films the way girls do. It shouldn't make them any less 'manly'. Also, a majority of romantic films {especially, you know, the classic ones ;D} are excellent movies that shouldn't be labeled as fluffy, and "chick flick" usually suggests "fluffy" or "mindless". So maybe "chick flick" isn't a nice term after all.

5. Favorite on-screen couple?

Another mean question! Lol. I can't just pick one pair. {I'm sorry that I have no ability to be decisive!} I'm really not sure. Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler, certainly, though you know that I feel that "Gone With the Wind" isn't a great love story. Ronald Colman and Greer Garson's characters were adorable together in Random Harvest (1941), and so were the Bette Davis and Paul Henried couple in Now, Voyager (1941). I also have to give a nod to Nick and Nora and the Minivers - both of which had perfect marriages! Also, David and Susan in Bringing up Baby (1938), just because that movie is perfection. And Alicia and Delvin in Notorious (1946), because Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant are perfect together and they should have gotten married and had a bunch of gorgeous children together - you know, like, Isabella Grant. {CRUEL QUESTIONS.}

One day I'm just going to have to do one whole post on the two of them and, you know, let all the feelings out ;-)

6. Favorite off-screen couple?

Like you guys are really there scratching your heads, wondering what my answer could possibly be to this, and like I'm sitting here on my side of the computer screen contemplating hard between oh, Bogie and Betty and Carole and Clark and Kate and Spence and - LUCY AND DESI. There's probably no need to get into this because everybody knows how I feel about the two of then, but I'll get into it anyway! Yes, Lucy is my favorite actress, but it's not like I assume by default that Desilu is my favorite. If there is one question on this list I'm decisive about, it's them. I know as well, and likely much much more, as the next person that their marriage was riddled with problems. And that it ended in divorce. But their love for each other inside, despite everything else, was so strong, and that's how they managed to stay together for 20 years. And that love never died, despite the divorce. I mean, Lucy called Desi two days before his death and told him she loved him. It would have been their forty-sixth wedding anniversary. If that doesn't kill your heart, what does??? Plus - lest we forget - this is the union that forged I Love Lucy!

7. Best kiss in a movie?

This may sound prudish, but the kisses in classic films are so much more romantic. I don't care that they were limited to 3 seconds, they were always more meaningful than the kisses in today's movies, despite the fact that today they can go on forever - and usually do! I'll probably go with the famous scene from Notorious (1946). Ingrid and Cary's little kisses while they chatted about the chicken in her icebox was Hitchcock's way around the Hays Code rule, which might just contradict what I said, but Cary and Ingrid are perfect so I don't really care :)

8. Favorite romantic scene?

asdfghjkl This is hard ;) I guess my response to the latter question could qualify as a romantic scene, since it's really a string of kisses and dialogue that lasted for a few minutes. Maybe the the phone scene from It's a Wonderful Life (1946)? Though several scenes from An Affair to Remember (1957) are tugging at me...

9. Who are two film characters you wished had gotten together, but never did?

I thought that Greer Garson's character and Robert Taylor's character in When Ladies Meet (1940) would have been a good pair but they never did get together. But I guess in reference to something better known, I'll opt for Scarlett and Rhett in Gone With the Wind (1939). Yes, I know they SPOILER did get married in the movie, but if you check out the link above to the post about GWTW not being a love story, you'll understand my reasoning behind that. Besides, Rhett did leave Scarlett in the end of the movie. Bonnie Butler was dead. Melanie Hamilton was dead. All Scarlett had left was Tara and wimpy Ashley. So in my opinion, Rhett and Scarlett never truly "got together" in ultimate joy and happiness. And besides, Real Gone With the Wind never came out, so we'll never know if Rhett ever did give a damn about Scarlett again!

10. Two actors you think would have great chemistry, but never done a film together?

Easy. Cary Grant and Greer Garson. These two would have been a match made in heaven, don't you think??? But all they did together was an OTR broadcast of Bedtime Story. This breaks my heart. WHY? Why did it never happen? Them both being British - and Greer being the top box office draw during WII - I mean, seriously? I weep. Buckets and buckets of tears.

11. Favorite romantic song in a film?

I don't know if it's my all time favorite, but it definitely one I like and it's the first song that popped into my head when I heard this question. 

I guess the lyrics aren't obviously romantic - I mean, they could mean a lot of things -but considering what's happening while they sing it, I think it qualifies!

12. Best score from a romance film?

The theme from Now, Voyager (1942). I think it's called, "It Can't Be Wrong". It was used in Mildred Pierce (1945) too, which makes me giggle - a score from Bette's movie used again in a Joan Crawford film! But this music is so beautiful it should be used in every movie, lol. So gorgeous!

13. Most romantic film quote?

"Oh, it's nobody's fault but my own! I was looking up... it was the nearest thing to heaven! You were there..." said by Deborah Kerr's Terry McKay in An Affair to Remember (1957). There are a lot of romantic quotes, though. This is the first one I thought of. I just love this movie though! ♥

14. A film you'd recommend to watch on Valentine's Day?

Well, you'd probably watch a romantic film on Valentine's Day. I can't pick just one perfect romantic movie! There are SO many! But if I am to suggest just one, I'll follow up on the latter question and go with An Affair to Remember (1957). 

I know I already answered one of the questions with this movie, but I just love it so much! Deborah and Cary are just asdfghjkl. I need to talk about Deborah more. I LOVE HER {this reminds me, you see}

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Well yeah, that's it! Thank you, Meredith, I had a lot of fun with this meme. It's not Valentine's Day yet, but I'll say it anyway: Happy Valentine's Day, readers!