[VIDEO REVIEWS] Love Movies For You and Your Valentine

The three romance movies that made this year's Valentine movie list met one simple prerequisite: a good ol' kiss.

CASABLANCA (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid and Dooley Wilson.

Set against the background of World War II, this classic tale of two men vying for the love of the same woman is just the ticket for Valentine's Day.

Rick Blaine (Bogart) is reunited with an old flame, Ilsa Lund Laszlo (Bergman), whose affair with him in France ended when she abruptly departed. He has since left France for North Africa and runs a bar reputed for its easy access to black market visas.

Ilsa unexpectedly appears in Casablanca. After a chance encounter with Rick at his cafe she confesses that she was married throughout their affair in Paris. During that time, she had thought her husband, Victor Laszlo (Henreid), a fugitive from the German government, was dead. She and her husband need exit visas to escape Casablanca.

In one scene, she pulls a gun on Blaine, begging safe passage for her and her husband. Rick tells her, "If Laszlo and the cause mean so much to you, you won't stop at anything. All right, I'll make it easier for you. Go ahead and shoot. You'll be doing me a favor."

She drops her gun and admits her love for Rick with a kiss, but the course of this love triangle still has a way to go before being resolved.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra.

Friends in the same army division in Hawaii experience love and tragedy before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Groundbreaking for its realistic portrayal of prostitution, adultery, military injustice, alcoholism and murder, the movie was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won eight, including Best Picture.

This flick has one of the most famous love scenes of the films of its era. Karen Holmes (Kerr), trapped in a loveless and childless marriage to the base captain, falls for Milton Warden (Lancaster) and meets him one day on a deserted beach. Lying on the sand, they kiss with abandon as the waves splash over them. Breathlessly, she tells Milton, "I never knew it could be like this." But Milton knows about her promiscuous past, which leads him to question her love.

"From Here to Eternity" is based on the novel by James Jones.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987)
Directed by Rob Reiner. Starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Peter Falk, Mandy Patinkin, Carol Kane and Billy Crystal.

A grandfather (Falk) entertains his sick grandson (Savage) by reading to him from his favorite book. The book tells the story of Buttercup (Wright) and her farm hand, Westley (Elwes). One day she realizes that he loves her and also that she loves him. But before they marry, Westley leaves to make his fortune at sea. He disappears, apparently a victim of pirates.

Years later, Buttercup, now engaged to Prince Humperdinck, is kidnapped. As her kidnappers sail toward the Cliffs of Insanity, they are pursued by her rescuer－to－be, a mysterious man in black.

by Joe Yong-hee