Classic Hollywood had a thing for romance: Most films from the early days of the silver screen involve a central love story. Heck, even Alfred Hitchcock, the “Master of Suspense," used a fair amount of smoochin' in his iconic horror movies. But after a long cinematic dry spell, it's safe to say the resurgence of rom-coms is upon us. With so much love on the brain, we decided to investigate which classic, must-watch films remain the most quintessentially romantic of them all.
After scouring the archives of film history, we determined the movies below best tell the evolution of the romance genre. Starting from Old Hollywood and going through the '90s (we figured "classic" meant pre-2000 films), these titles exude classic Hollywood romance. While subplots range from tearjerker to pure comedy, there’s still plenty of witty dialogue, corny meet-cutes, and, of course, swoon-worthy moments. And sure, some of these films didn’t age all that well (things were a lot different almost a century ago, after all)—but if you can look past the gender stereotypes, we guarantee these movies will induce butterflies.
