I’m amazed about the length of this list and even more so as I know exactly I have certainly forgotten quite a lot. It seems as if the combination of love and war was extremely well liked. Some of the movies I have included are somewhat more on the war side, like Enemy at the Gates, others are much more romantic. I was also surprised to see that I have seen a lot of them. And also liked quite a a few. Some of my favourites are Admiral, The Man Who Cried, Gloomy Sunday, King Arthur, Aimée and Jaguar and The Cranes are Flying. Others like House of Fools sound interesting but I haven’t seen them. What struck me was how often the main theme is about two men falling for the same woman. Amazing. As if war wasn’t complicated enough.
A Farewell to Arms (US 1932) Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Affair between an English nurse and American soldier during World War I.
Dark Journey(UK 1937) Conradt Veidt and Vivien Leigh. Spies of from opposing sides fall in love.
Gone with the Wind (US 1939) US Civil War. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in the movie based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel.
A Yank in the RAF (US 1941) Tyrone Power and Betty Grable. Americans serving in the British forces meet and rekindle an old flame.
Casablanca (US 1942) WWII, Morocco. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in one of the greatest classics of cinema history. (See my review)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (US 1943) Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman in a movie based on Hemingway’s novel of the Spanish Civil War.
Crash Dive (US 1943) Starring Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews. A submarine lieutenant and his commander fall in love with the same woman.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (UK 1943) Roger Livesey and Deborak Kerr. British soldier falls in love with various incarnations of the same woman.
To Have and Have Not (US 1944) Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in a WWII drama about an American expat and a French resistance fighter. Set on Martinique.
I’ll Be Seeing You (US 1944) Ginger Rogers, Jospeh Cotten and Shirley Temple. Soldier falls in love with a girl he meets in a train
I Live in Grosvenor Square (UK 1945) British aristocrat falls in love with American airman
Piccadilly Incident (UK 1946) WWII. War separates husband and wife with tragic consequences.
A Matter of Life and Death (UK 1946) David Niven and Kim Hunter. Pilot falls in love with radio operator.
From Here to Eternity (US 1953) WWII, Pearl Harbor. Love and drama before the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. Great actors (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra), great story.
Battle Cry (US 1955) Love and drama among a group of young Marines.
The End of the Affair (UK 1955) Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson, John Mills in the movie based on Graham Greene’s novel about a novelist who falls in love with a married woman during WWII. There is a later version of the same movie, see below.
A Town Like Alice (UK 1956) Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna starring in a WWII romance set in Asia. A British woman, POW of the Japanese, falls in love with an Australian soldier.
D-Day, The Sixth of June (US 1956). On their way to the Normandy a US and a British officer remember their love for the same woman.
A Farewell to Arms (US 1957) Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones in a movie based on Hemingway’s novel. It tells the story of an affair between an English nurse an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I.
Sayonara (US 1957) Marlon Brando as US air force major who falls in love with a Japanese performer. Based on a novel by James Michener
The Cranes are Flying (Russia 1957) WWII. Extremely moving film about a young woman who waits for her lover to return from the war. (See my review)
South Pacific (US 1958) WWII, South Pacific. A young American nurse and a Frenchman who might be an agent fall in love.
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (US 1958) WWII. Russian front. German soldier on leave falls in love.
Ballad of a Soldier (Russia 1959) A Russian masterpiece. A young soldier falls in love with a girl on a train.
Hiroshima Mon Amour (France 1959) WWII, Japan. A love story between a French woman and a Japanese man after the war. The woman lived a romance with a German soldier during the war. (See my review)
Doctor Zhivago (US/Italy 1965) Omar Sharif and Julie Christie starring in a war romance set during the Bolshevik Revolution. Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.
In Harm’s Way (US 1965) A classic John Wayne movie. WWII, Pacific. A naval officer falls in love with a nurse (Patricia Neal). A story of second chances. (Here is my review).
Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia 1966) WWII. Set in occupied Czechoslovakia. A young man working for the railway company falls in love for the first time. Based on Bohumil Hrabal’s novel.
Landscape After Battle (Poland 1970) Poland after WWII and the liberation of the concentration camps. A young poet falls in love with a Jewish girl.
Summmer of my German Soldier (US 1978, TV) WWII, US home front. An American girls falls in love with a German POW.
Hanover Street (UK 1979) Margaret is a nurse in England during WWII and married to a secret agent. Things get complicated when she falls for David, an American pilot. Starring Harrison Ford, Christopher Plummer and Lesley-Ann Down.
We’ll Meet Again (UK 1982 TV mini-series) WWII, Britain. American bomber pilots in the UK.
Winds of War (US 1983, TV mini-series) Robert Mitchum and Ali McGraw. WWII, America, until the attack of Pearl Harbor.
A Year of the Quiet Sun (Poland/Germany/US 1984) A US soldier in Europe falls in love with a Polish refugee after the war.
An Indecent Obsession (Australia 1985) Nurse falls in love with psychiatric patient.
Top Gun (US 1986) Not set during a real war. Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis star in this movie about a young fighter pilot who falls in love with a female instructor. Macho bravado and romance.
And a Nightingale Sang (UK 1989, TV) Starring Joan Plowright. One family’s struggle to survive during the Blitz. Funny and touching. (See my review)
The Last of the Mohicans (US 1992) Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe in an epic of the war between British and French colonialists and Indians.
1942: A Love Story (India 1993) Bollywood drama starring Anil Kapoor. A young Indian couple, both from wealthy backgrounds, find themselves caught up in the 1940′s Indian revolutionary movement against their families who are under the thumb of a sadistic British general.
Braveheart (US 1995) 13th Century Scotland. The fight against the British rule. Some love this epic, some hate it, still it’s impressive for many reasons. Starring Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau.
The English Patient (US/UK 1996) WWII, North Africa and Italy. Two interwoven love stories. The first is the tragic story of a married woman falling for a Hungarian count. The second tells the love between a nurse and a soldier from a bomb disposal unit. With Kirstin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth and Willem Dafoe. (See my review)
In Love and War (US 1996) WWI, Italy. the story of the love between Ernest Hemingway and the nurse Agnes von Kurowsky starring Chris O’Donnell and Sandra Bullock.
Aimée and Jaguar (Germany 1999) WWII, Germany. Holocaust. Two women fall in love in Berlin during the war. One of them is Jewish and in the Resistance.
The End of the Affair (UK/US 1999) Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes in the movie based on Graham Greene’s novel. A novelist falls in love with a married woman during WWII in London. She leaves him without an explanation. Two years later he has her followed to try to find out why she left him.
Gloomy Sunday (Germany/Hungary 1999) Set in WWII Budapest. Starring Joachim Król and Ben Becker. This is such a beautiful movie. Another love triangle. A young woman loves a Jewish restaurant owner. One day he hires a young pianist. She falls in love with the young man but still loves the older one. They save the life of a German man who also falls in love with the woman. When WWII breaks out the German comes back. He has turned into a Nazi officer who loves to abuse his power. Gloomy Sunday tells also the story of the famous Hungarian song Gloomy Sunday that is said to have caused more suicides than any other song ever.
The Man Who Cried (UK/France 2000) Starring Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Christina Ricci. A Russian Jew falls in love with a gypsy during WWII in Paris. She befriends another Russian who helps her find work in a theater. For lovers of sumptuous movies and opera.
Dark Blue World (Czech Republic/UK/Germany/Denmark/Italy 2001) Czeck fighter pilots in England in WWII. Two pilots, a very young one and an older one fall in love with the same woman.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ( UK/US/France 2001) WWII, Italian troops in occupied Greece. Based on Luis de Bernières eponymous novel, starring Penélope Cruz and Nicolas Cage. An Italian commander falls in love with a Greek girl whose fiancée is fighting in the war as well.
Enigma (UK/US/Germany/Netherlands 2001) Dougray Scott, Kate Winslett and Jeremy Northam starring in this WWII drama about a young heartbroken man trying to break the Enigma code.
Pearl Harbor (US 2001) Real blockbuster cinema. WWII. Pearl Harbor. Two young bomber pilots are in love with the same young woman, a nurse. Slick, good-looking movie with equally good-looking actors (Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Ben Affleck).
Enemy at the Gates (US/UK/Germany/Ireland 2001) Showdown of two snipers in Stalingrad. The Russian sniper is a local war hero and in love with a Jewish woman who is in the resistance. Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz and Ed Harris in a beautifully shot war drama. (See my review)
House of Fools (Russia/France 2002) A war movie that is no war movie. Set in a mental institution during the Chechen war.
Charlotte Gray (UK/Australia/Germany 2002) Cate Blanchett in a movie based on Sebastian Faulk’s novel. She plays a Scottish nurse who joins the French Resistance looking for her boyfriend, a RAF pilot who got lost in France.
Yossi and Jagger (Israel 2002) Love between two Israeli soldiers stationed on the Lebanese border.
Resistance (US/Netherlands 2003) Starring Bill Paxton and Julia Ormond. WWII, occupied Belgium. A reconnaissance plane crashes. The pilot, Ted, is brought to Claire and Henry Daussois who are in the Maquis Resistance. Ted and Claire fall in love.
Cold Mountain (US 2003), Renée Zellweger, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman in a story of the American Civil War.
Head in the Clouds (UK/Canada 2004) Starring Charlize Theron, Penélope Cruz, Stuart Townsend,Thomas Kretschmann. A romantic drama set in 1930′s England, Paris, and Spain. Three people share an apartment in Paris, one lives a hedonistic life, the others want to join the fight against fascism.
Island at War (UK 2004, TV mini-series) WWII. The channel islands during German occupation. After the island is invaded by German forces, life changes drastically. The series focuses on three families.
A Very Long Engagement (France/US 2004) Audrey Tautou in a movie about a woman whose husband doesn’t return from the battlefields of WWI and sets out to look for him.
King Arthur (US/UK/Ireland 2004) An epic adventure of war and romance starring Clive Owen, Keira Knigthley, Mads Mikkelsen, Ray Winstone and Ioan Gruffud. The re-telling of the story of King Arthur and his Knights.
The Christmas Card (US 2006, TV) A US soldier visits a town from where a Christmas card has been sent to him during his tour in Afghanistan.
The Poet (Canada 2007) A Rabbi’s daughter and a German soldier fall in love in Poland in WWII. Starring Nina Dobrev and Daryl Hannah. (See my review)
Closing the Ring (UK/Canada/US 2007) Christopher Plummer, Shirley MacLaine and Mischa Barton in a love story that plays then – during WWII – and now. A woman between two men. One is a pilot and gets lost after crash landing in Ireland during WWII. In today’s Ireland a young man finds the wedding ring and brings it to the woman living in the US. Set in Ireland and the US.
Admiral (Russia 2008) Russian revolution. A real heartbreaker. The true story of Admiral Kolchak and his lover. (Here is my review)
Dear John (US 2010) Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried in a weepy romance about a young Marine who falls in love prior to 9/11. When he leaves for Iraq their love is tested.
What about you, have you seen many of these movies? Did you like them? Have I forgotten one you would like to recommend?
A Farewell to Arms 1932
Affair between an English nurse and American soldier during World War I
Dark Journey 1937
Spies of from opposing sides fall in love
A Yank in the RAF 1941
Americans serving in the British forces meet and rekindle an old flame.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943
British soldier falls in love with various incarnations of the same woman
I’ll Be Seeing You 1944
Soldier falls in love with a girl he meets in a train
I Live in Grosvenor Square 1945
British aristocrat falls in love with American airman
Piccadilly Incident 1946
War separates husband and wife with tragic consequences
A Matter of Life and Death 1946
Pilot falls in love with radio operator
A Time to Love and a Time to Die 1958
German soldier on leave falls in love
An Indecent Obsession 1985
Nurse falls in love with patient
Fantastic, thanks a lot. I have even seen quite a few. I’m a huge fan of the Archers and Colonel Blimp is one of my favourite movies.
I will add them as soon as I get a chance.
Here are some I have seen (I am not a big fan of war romances; surprise!)
The ML is mushy level (how cringeworthy the romance is) and the O is for overall quality.
Casablanca – ML = 7 O = 10
From Here – ML = 7 O = 6
Cranes – ML = 5 O = 8
Hiroshima – ML = 9 O = 6
Ballad – ML = 8 O = 8
Harm’s – ML = 5 O = 5
Hanover – ML = 9 O = 4
Mohicans – ML = 7 O = 10
Braveheart – ML = 6 O = 4
Patient – ML = 9 O = 6
Corelli – ML = 9 O = 5
Pearl – ML = 8 O = 5
Enemy – ML = 4 O = 9
Cold – ML = 6 O = 8
Others:
Yanks – three Americans hook up with three Brits during WWII with a variety of results; ML = 9 O = 6
Black Book – woman joins the Resistance and seduces a Nazi officer; ML – 7 OL = 8
El Cid – legendary Spanish hero (Charleston Heston) fights the Moors and woos Sophia Loren; ML = 7 O = 8
Black Hawk Down – male bonding while slaughtering Somalis; ML = 10
O = 10
Thanks for your input! I can’t say I think Black Book is a romance and Black Hawk Down? Lol.
I know it isn’t your favourite genre but they are still worth mentioning. I think there are a lot of movies I liked on the list. I tried to leave out those that looked too much like B-movies.
I was hoping to limit my war chick flicks list that I am watching with Rachelle. I thought I was one third of the way through. Thanks a lot! Curse your romance list, Caroline. The fact that it is great makes it even more evil.
I’m sooo sorry. I’m sure there is more than one that will be quite alright to watch.
I have done my count and surprisingly I have only seen 6 of them in the list
I have seen 29! This means that I either watch a lot of movies or went through a major romance phase… And I just realized I forgot my favourite one. I watched it three times. Will have to add it right away (Gloomy Sunday).
I have seen 20. That is embarassing! I will blame Rachelle for it. My favorite on the list is “Last of the Mohicans”. The perfect movie. Romance, suspense, action, violence, acting, historical accuracy. I’ll put up with mushiness if I get the other five.
That makes me look a bit better. Of course I like Last of the Mohicans as well. It’s one of those that is slightly more on the war side.
Hello, thank you for this list of movies, I like so much love stories from the world war II. I can also recommend a Czechoslovak movie Kočár do Vídně – Couch to Vienna – from 1966.
You should find a few really good ones on the list. Closing the Ring, is really nice but there are many more. Thanks for the recommendation, I hope I can find it.
Coach to Vienna is a very good film, surely ‘about’ war, and love – but I wouldn’t label it as romance. It’s tragic from the beginning till the end.
Thanks for the comment. I need to find it. There are a few on the list which I wouldn’t really call romnaces but are abot war and love.
The Czech DVD has no subtitles, but there’s a German version available on Amazon.de. The rest is DIY…
I was going to try with the German title. You were quicker. Thanks a lot.
And what about Sophie´s Choice, or another Czech movie Lidice. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754123/
Thanks, I will update the list.
I just recently re-watched Sophie’s Choice.
You can watch Coach to Vienna in youtube without subtitles but I think words are not so important in this movie…The woman also doesn´t understand what the soldier says.
Only thing is important. German soldiers killed the woman´s husband during war. And when the war finished two german soldiers forced her to take them to Vienna. She wants to revenge and later kill them on the way…
Ok, thanks. Good to know for those who want to watch on YouTube.
Thanks for this. I found a very cheap copy on amazon de, I’ll watch it soon.
Adelheid – Czechoslovak movie 1970
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122371/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
This looks very interesting too. Thanks a lot.
You are welcome
Among Czech films, there’s also Zelary. With a classic starting point (two people who would never have met otherwise are brought together by war) also developed the same year in France by André Téchiné in Strayed (Les égarés).
Why are you pink all of a sudden? – Ah wrong e-mail. – Never mind.
That sounds interesting too, thanks. Weird, I have a feeling, I’ve read a novel with the title Zelary.
A novel, or a collection of short stories by Kveta Legátová? The latter are part of the base material for the movie.
PS: Sorry, wordpress.com seem to think they have some sort of a monopoly over the use of my email address at the moment. Won’t last I hope.
Yes, that’s the author. I couldn’t get to the book yesterday, it’s high up on a shelf.
I can change the address for you… I just did. Now you’re green again? Does it not work when you do it?
So that’s the book indeed, along with the novella Joe’s Hannah.
Never mind the email stuff. I briefly tested wordpress.com a few days ago, using my usual email. So now, whenever I post a comment here it absolutely wants me to log in with a WP account… that cannot be deleted even though I don’t intend to use it.
The only thing I could do to have WP ‘forget’ the original address was to change emails in that immortal account, but it appears it takes a while for the database to forget about the original one… so I’m using a fake one here for the time being.
Somebody at WP must be a fan of Kafka. I just wish they would express their admiration otherwise.
They changed the e-mail policy last year and it was quite funny, people had to open new e-mail accounts or were suddenly displayed with weird “secret” gravatars. It has calmed down now for most.
I can leave you in pink. It takes some getting used to. For me that is. I just remembered that I had deactivated the gravatar’s on this site.I thought my two black cats which I use on the book blog aren’t exactly fitting this blog.
Shadows of the Deceased
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406914/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Spring of Life
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230652/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
The Train of Childhood and Expectation
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318936/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Max and Helen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100126/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Ah, Spring of Life… there’s a comic allusion to the Lebensborne program in Jiri Menzel’s excellent I Served the King of England.
Are they all labelled romance/love stories?
Spring of life could certainly be labelled as such. I haven’t seen the other three listed by Stillwell. The Menzel I mentioned is not a romance, it’s a dark comedy about conformism.
But then it’s always hard to define. For instance you picked up Closely Watched Trains, also by Menzel – which in my opinion is more about sex than it is about romance. Not that the terms are mutually exclusive of course, but it doesn’t exactly fit a Doctor Zhivago kind of script.
Thanks.
[...] comment by Stillwell on my post War Romances: A Very Long List led me to the Czech movie Carriage to Vienna aka Coach to Vienna – Kočár do Vídně. [...]
I am dying to find a war romance movie I’ve seen a few years ago but the problem is I can’t recall the title or anything, maybe someone could help me with this?
It was probably a German production… I think it was about last days of WWII. Soviet troops were stationing in a beautiful residence somewhere in Germany, destroying the house and taking everything that belonged to the women who lived there. At some point some young Russian officer (or something) fell in love with a girl living in this house and he started to protect her against his fellow soliders. I might be wrong, but his name was Misha, he had dark eyes and black hair. The romance between them started to bloom, but then he had to leave. There was a scene where he returned to this house, after a couple of years, but the girl was already married (and had a child…?). They met at night, under a tree, probably they kissed. I can’t remember anything else, but after so many years I can’t forget about this movie. If there’s anyone who knows the title, please, pleaaaase let me know! 
) Cheers!
I’m so gald I can hel you. I have seen it.
It’s amade for TV German movie called Das Bernsteinamulett starring Muriel Bauermeister and Michael von Au as Alexanader aka Mischa. I watched it on TV and enjyoed it very much. I suppose you do speak German as I don’t think there is a dubbed version. In any case, that’s the one you are looking for.
Das Bernstein-Amulett
I can’t believe it, it is indeed the movie I was looking for! Thank you very much, I’ve spent many hours searching for it. I probably watched Das Bernsteinamulett in 2004 when I was only 11 years old and since then I had it stuck in my head. I do not speak German, I have seen the movie on Polish TV, so I guess there are some Polish subtitles somewhere. It’ll be a great pleasure to see it again after so many years. Thank you
You’re very welcome. I thought your name sounded Polish, I hope you can find a subtitled or dubbed version.
I really liked it as well.
I finally watched Das Bernsteinamulett yesterday. I really liked it but I guess I can’t review it objectively, it’s always like this with movies I saw in my childhood. Sadly the only version I found on the web was missing half an hour of the film, including the scene under the tree. Hopefully I will find a full version someday. Where did you watch Das Bernsteinamulett?
.
And again, thanks for your help. Your knowledge about war movies is just amazing
Too bad it was a shorter version. I actually did see it on German TV a while ago. I’d like to watch it again some day too.
I was glad i could help. It’s not always possible but when it is it’s nice.
can anyone tell me about a commander in military at first hated his soldier and always angry at her but then he fell in love with her at the end??? please tell me the title
I don’t think that I have seen it. Maybe someone else has.
Any hint about the language / army / century ? Is the woman in a fighting unit ?
I know I haven’t seen it. I can only think of one Russian movie with female soldiers. And I haven’t seen it yet.
If it’s not a comedy, it could be Asian as well. There’s quite a tradition from China (think Mulan) to Indonesia…
In September 2013 new Czech-Slovak-Holland movie goes to cinema. It´s name is Colette and it is a war romantic drama from concentration camp in Auschwitz.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2679576/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
Thanks a lot for telling me. It will take some time until it will be available on DVD. I doubt it will be in cinemas here.
You are welcome. I very appreciate your web.
I’m glad to hear it, thanks.
Documentary about making the movie Colette
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10335404936-svet-ct/212562251000050/obsah/234253-colette/
Thanks a lot. Great.