Some people like to go out to dinner with their sweethearts on February 14. Some like to wallow. Some simply don’t care. Me? I use the (usually uneventful) day to celebrate my favorite on-screen romances and watch them, schedule permitting.

This year, the schedule does not permit. I won’t be home from campus until around 10 pm, so rather than watch them, this year I’m blogging about a few of them.

Myrna Loy and William Powell
Both in the Thin Man films and in the other films they made, they’re just wonderful together. They’re spunky, witty, and probably have the best dialogue of any screen couple (particularly in the Thin Man series). Who doesn’t want a fun love like Nick and Nora have?

Grace Kelly and Cary Grant
Apparently I’m in the minority when I say that To Catch a Thief is one of my top 5 films of all time. But regardless, nobody can deny the chemistry that these two have on screen. It’s kind of a no-brainer – take Hollywood’s most beautiful man ever and stick him in a film with Grace Kelly (whose beauty really doesn’t need an explanation, as she’s remembered for it) and you’re bound to strike gold. Plus, come on, the fireworks scene!

Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney
These two are most well-known for sharing the screen in Laura, but the movie that really solidified them as a great screen couple for me was Where the Sidewalk Ends (read my review here). They’re completely magnetic on screen, and there is usually a tragic element to their screen romances that makes them all the more intriguing.

Bogie and Bacall
One on and off screen couple to rule them all! (Yes, that was a cheesy play on the Lord of the Rings slogan.) Everyone knows how wonderful these two were together. They’re remembered as the quintessential old Hollywood couple, but I don’t think everyone realizes just how great they were – unless you’re like me and have obsessively read Lauren’s book and worn out your Bogie & Bacall box set DVDs. Not only was their on-screen chemistry phenomenal, but they also found something that is very rare and becoming more rare every day: true love. Call me a sap all you want, but reading By Myself confirms it. They loved and cared for each other so deeply, and kept that love going until the heartbreaking loss of Bogie.

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