Emma Beare's 501 Must-See Movies

A look at what goes on backstage during the last broadcast of America's most celebrated radio show, where singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty, a country music siren, and a host of others hold court

The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

Set on an idyllic Greek island, the plot serves as a background for a wealth of ABBA hit songs. Donna, an independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on the island is about to let go of Sophie, the spirited young daughter she's raised alone. But Sophie has secretly invited three of her mother's ex-lovers in the hopes of finding her father.

The first film from director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau to be finished in the States. The film has the tangible elements of German expressionism. Murnau received a big budget from Fox and the ability to make all the filmmaking decisions. The film has been called the greatest silent film of all time.

Comic romance between a down-to-earth newspaper reporter and a spoiled runaway heiress.

A Parisian courtesan must choose between the young man who loves her and the callous baron who wants her, even as her own health begins to fail.

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton,...

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Myra and Roy meet and fall in love on Waterloo Bridge during an air raid. Their love will be one of the war's unspoken casualties.

The Philadelphia Story is a comedy starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn. Tracy Lord is idolised by everybody and must keep her sinister ex-husband, an alcoholic reporter, and her future clean-record husband happy.

Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con-artist Jean Harrington on a ship. They fall in love, but a misunderstanding causes them to split on bad terms. To get back at him, Jean disguises herself as an English lady, and comes back to tease and torment him.

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and from an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise.

Brief Encounter is a classic from British director David Lean about two people who fall in love yet face the fact that they are already married and can never be together.

Beauty and the Beast is the 1946 adaptation from the 1757 classic love story. This romantic and dramaticly staged film from Director Cocteu’s is his second film to deals with surreal imagery.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) is a romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R. A. Dick.

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner, a husband-and-wife attorney team, both drawn to a case of attempted murder.

A disgraced American boxer retires to Ireland, where he finds love.

Roman Holiday is a romantic comedy starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck involving a mix-up game with a young and beautiful princess who spends some days with the charming American reporter in Rome.

A delightful Hitchcock film about an ex-burglar who must catch a thief who’s been copying this style before he gets accused of the wrong crimes. His time is running out as the police are close behind him yet he finds time for a little romance of course. A classic masterpiece starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant.

A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?

Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.

Playboy songwriter Brad Allen's succession of romances annoys his neighbor, interior designer Jan Morrow, who shares a telephone party line with him and hears all his breezy routines. After Jan unsuccessfully lodges a complaint against him, Brad sets about to seduce her in the guise of a sincere and upstanding Texas rancher. When mutual friend J...

The Apartment came out shortly after the success of ‘Some Like it Hot’ from director Billy Wilder and thus making it the most successful films of the year. Full of trivialities this comedy is a harsh critic of coporate world and the American way of life.

fortune hunter Holly Golightly finds herself captivated by aspiring writer Paul Varjak, who's moved into her building on a wealthy woman's dime. As romance blooms between Paul and Holly, Doc Golightly shows up on the scene, revealing Holly's past.

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

Corie (Jane Fonda) is the young housewife trying to keep life exciting while making a home for her and her husband, Paul (Robert Redford), on the fifth floor of a Greenwich Village walkup apartment. He's working hard at starting his career as lawyer; she's eager to be romantic and spontaneous; and the two have plenty to squabble about.

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men...

When Henry Graham's lawyer informs him that his playboy lifestyle has consumed all of his funds, he must avoid sliding down the social ladder. He plans to marry wealthy scientist Henrietta Lowell--and kill her.

The neurotic New Yorker Woody Allen tells one of the greatest romantic comedies to be set in the city of New York.

A Hollywood songwriter goes through a mid-life crisis and becomes infatuated with a sexy blonde newlywed.

In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their compos...

Zack Mayo is a young man who has signed up for Navy Flight School. He is a Navy brat who has a bad attitude problem. Sgt. Foley is there to train and evaluate him and will clearly find Zack wanting. Zack meets Paula, a girl who has little beyond family and must decide what it is he wants to do with his life.

Out of Africa tells the story of the life of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on the autobiographical novel by Karen Blixen from 1937.

An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relationship begins to get complicated.

Characters come to life from a classic fairy tale book read by a grandfather to his grandson.

Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances "Baby" Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer -- and unexpectedly falling in love. The object of her affection? The resort's free-spirited dance instructor.

When Harry Met Sally is a relationship comedy from the early 90’s that became a cult classic. Most famous is the scene in which Sally performs a fake orgasm in a crowded restaurant to prove that girls fake it sometimes.

A modern day fairy tale of a big city prostitute who becomes a princess after a rich man falls in love with her. The film made Julia Roberts a superstar in the 1990’s.

Ghost is an Oscar award winning love story starring Patrick Swayze as a ghost who uses a chaotic psychic to help him contact his wife played by Demi Moore. A tragic love story that brought back for maybe a just a while the word ‘Dido.’

Tale of 19th century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.

A young boy who tries to set his dad up on a date after the death of his mother. He calls into a radio station to talk about his dad’s loneliness which soon leads the dad into meeting a Journalist Annie who flies to Seattle to write a story about the boy and his dad. Yet Annie ends up with more than just a story in this popular romantic comedy.

The Australian director Baz Luhrmann teleports the romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet tale from the Italian Verona to the Latin-American Verona Beach. The film was a success with it’s original dialogue from the MTV aesthetic and with guns as the weapon of choice.

The filmed version of the novel by Michael Ondaatje of the same name. This film tells of love stories during the turbulent times of World War 2. Director Anthony Minghella films the biography of Ladislaus Almasy.

Titanic is the blockbuster film from James Cameron starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as the love pair on the doomed first Titanic trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Commercially the film became the most successful film of all time.

New York City. Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighboring gay artist Simon is hospitalized and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him, must leave work to care for her sick son, making it impossible for Melvin to eat breakfast.

In 1960s Hong Kong, two neighbors form an intimate bond after making a discovery about their spouses in this visually stunning tale of unrequited love.

A beleaguered small-business owner gets a harmonium and embarks on a romantic journey with a mysterious woman.

Nine years ago two strangers met by chance and spent a night in Vienna that ended before sunrise. They are about to meet for the first time since. Now they have one afternoon to find out if they belong together.