AFI's
100 Years...100 Passions

America's 100 Greatest
Love Stories

The Nominees, pt. 1

The American Film Institute's (AFI) fifth polling, 100 Years...100 Passions, celebrated the centennial of American cinema, and highlighted "the complex, cinematic tales of the heart that have become an abiding part of American film history."

AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions revealed America’s 100 America’s greatest love stories, as chosen by leaders of the entertainment community, in a three-hour television event, that aired on the CBS Television Network in June 2002. The ballot of 400 nominated films (below) were the basis for the selected films, according to the following criteria:

• Feature Length Fiction Film - The film must be in narrative format, typically over 60 minutes in length.
• American Film - The film must be in the English language with significant creative and/or production elements from the United States.
• Love Story - Regardless of genre, a romantic bond between two or more characters, whose actions and/or intentions provide the heart of the film’s narrative.
• Legacy - Films whose "passions" have enriched America’s film and cultural heritage while continuing to inspire contemporary artists and audiences.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

See also this site's informative section on the Romantic Films Genre and the Greatest Romances of All Time.

1. Cleopatra (1912)
2. A Fool There Was (1914)
3. Carmen (1915)
4. Enoch Arden (1915)
5. Blind Husbands (1919)
6. Broken Blossoms (1919)
7. Daddy Long Legs (1919)
8. Male And Female (1919)
9. True Heart Susie (1919)
10. When The Clouds Roll By (1919)
    
    The Twenties

    ---

    
    
11. Way Down East (1920) *
12. The Sheik (1921) *
13. Salome (1922)
14. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923)
15. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
16. The Marriage Circle (1924)
17. The Big Parade (1925)
18. The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)
19. Don Juan (1926)
20. La Boheme (1926)
21. The Scarlet Letter (1926)
22. Flesh And The Devil (1927)
23. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1927)
24. My Best Girl (1927)
25. Seventh Heaven (1927)
26. Sunrise (1927) *
27. The Wedding March (1927)
28. The Crowd (1928)
29. Lilac Time (1928)
30. Sadie Thompson (1928)
31. The Kiss (1929)
32. The Love Parade (1929)
33. Our Modern Maidens (1929)
34. Queen Kelly (1929)
    
    The Thirties

    ---

    
    
35. Morocco (1930) *
36. City Lights (1931) *
37. Tabu (1931)
38. Back Street (1932)
39. Bird Of Paradise (1932)
40. A Farewell To Arms (1932)
41. Grand Hotel (1932)
42. Love Me Tonight (1932)
43. Madame Butterfly (1932)
44. One Way Passage (1932)
45. Red Dust (1932)
46. Smilin' Through (1932)
47. Trouble In Paradise (1932)
48. Christopher Strong (1933)
49. Design For Living (1933)
50. King Kong (1933) *
51. Man's Castle (1933)
52. Queen Christina (1933)
53. The Barretts Of Wimpole Street (1934)
54. Cleopatra (1934)
55. Death Takes A Holiday (1934)
56. It Happened One Night (1934) *
57. Of Human Bondage (1934)
58. Sadie McKee (1934)
59. Tarzan And His Mate (1934)
60. The Thin Man (1934)
61. Alice Adams (1935)
62. Anna Karenina (1935) *
63. The Devil Is A Woman (1935)
64. The Good Fairy (1935)
65. Naughty Marietta (1935)
66. Peter Ibbetson (1935)
67. Top Hat (1935)
68. Come And Get It (1936)
69. Desire (1936)
70. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)
71. My Man Godfrey (1936)
72. Next Time We Love (1936)
73. Romeo And Juliet (1936)
74. Rose Marie (1936)
75. San Francisco (1936)
76. Show Boat (1936)
77. Small Town Girl (1936)
78. Swing Time (1936) *
79. Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
80. The Awful Truth (1937) *
81. Camille (1937) *
82. History Is Made At Night (1937)
83. Nothing Sacred (1937)
84. A Star Is Born (1937)
85. Algiers (1938)
86. Bringing Up Baby (1938) *
87. Four Daughters (1938)
88. Holiday (1938)
89. Jezebel (1938) *
90. Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
91. Three Comrades (1938)
92. Dark Victory (1939) *
93. First Love (1939)
94. Gone With The Wind (1939) *
95. Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)
96. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) *
97. Intermezzo, A Love Story (1939)
98. Love Affair (1939)
99. Midnight (1939)
100. Ninotchka (1939) *
101. The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex (1939)
102. Wuthering Heights (1939) *
     
     The Forties

     ---

     
     
103. All This, And Heaven Too (1940)
104. His Girl Friday (1940)
105. My Favorite Wife (1940)
106. The Philadelphia Story (1940) *
107. Pride And Prejudice (1940)
108. Rebecca (1940)
109. Remember The Night (1940)
110. The Shop Around The Corner (1940) *
111. They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
112. Waterloo Bridge (1940)
113. Ball Of Fire (1941)
114. Hold Back The Dawn (1941)
115. The Lady Eve (1941) *
116. The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
117. That Hamilton Woman (1941)
118. Tom, Dick And Harry (1941)
119. The Big Street (1942)
120. Casablanca (1942) *
121. I Married A Witch (1942)
122. The Major And The Minor (1942)
123. Now, Voyager (1942) *
124. Random Harvest (1942) *
125. The Talk Of The Town (1942)
126. Woman Of The Year (1942) *
127. Cabin In The Sky (1943)
128. For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943)
129. A Guy Named Joe (1943)
130. The More The Merrier (1943)
131. Cover Girl (1944)
132. Double Indemnity (1944) *
133. Jane Eyre (1944)
134. Laura (1944)
135. Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
136. To Have And Have Not (1944) *
137. The Clock (1945)
138. The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
139. Love Letters (1945)
140. Spellbound (1945)
141. Duel In The Sun (1946)
142. Gilda (1946)
143. Humoresque (1946)
144. It's A Wonderful Life (1946) *
145. Notorious (1946) *
146. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) *
147. Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer (1947)
148. The Bishop's Wife (1947)
149. The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
150. The Ghost And Mrs. Muir (1947) *
151. Out Of The Past (1947)
152. Letter From An Unknown Woman (1948)
153. Mr. Peabody And The Mermaid (1948)
154. One Touch Of Venus (1948)
155. The Pirate (1948)
156. Portrait Of Jennie (1948)
157. Romance On The High Seas (1948)
158. They Live By Night (1948)
159. Adam's Rib (1949)
160. The Fountainhead (1949)
161. Gun Crazy (1949)
162. The Heiress (1949)
163. Samson And Delilah (1949)
     
     The Fifties

     ---

     
     
164. Cinderella (1950)
165. Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
166. My Foolish Heart (1950)
167. The African Queen (1951) *
168. An American In Paris (1951) *
169. A Place In The Sun (1951) *
170. Quo Vadis? (1951)
171. Royal Wedding (1951)
172. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) *
173. Carrie (1952)
174. Ivanhoe (1952)
175. My Cousin Rachel (1952)
176. Pat And Mike (1952)
177. The Quiet Man (1952) *
178. Singin' In The Rain (1952) *
179. Calamity Jane (1953)
180. From Here To Eternity (1953) *
181. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
182. Kiss Me Kate (1953)
183. Mogambo (1953)
184. Roman Holiday (1953) *
185. Brigadoon (1954)
186. Carmen Jones (1954)
187. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)
188. Magnificent Obsession (1954)
189. Rhapsody (1954)
190. Sabrina (1954) *
191. A Star Is Born (1954) *
192. Three Coins In The Fountain (1954)
193. Young At Heart (1954)
194. All That Heaven Allows (1955)
195. Daddy Long Legs (1955)
196. Guys And Dolls (1955)
197. Lady And The Tramp (1955) *
198. Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (1955) *
199. Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)
200. Marty (1955) *
201. Oklahoma! (1955)
202. Picnic (1955) *
203. Summertime (1955)
204. To Catch A Thief (1955) *
205. Bus Stop (1956)
206. Carousel (1956)
207. The King And I (1956) *
208. Love Me Tender (1956)
209. Tea And Sympathy (1956)
210. The Tender Trap (1956)
211. An Affair To Remember (1957) *
212. Designing Woman (1957)
213. Desk Set (1957)
214. Funny Face (1957)
215. Love In The Afternoon (1957)
216. Raintree County (1957)
217. Sayonara (1957)
218. Tammy And The Bachelor (1957)
219. Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
220. Gigi (1958) *
221. Houseboat (1958)
222. I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958)
223. Indiscreet (1958)
224. The Long Hot Summer (1958)
225. South Pacific (1958)
226. A Time To Love And A Time To Die (1958)
227. Vertigo (1958) *
228. Pillow Talk (1959) *
229. Porgy And Bess (1959) *
230. Some Like It Hot (1959)
231. A Summer Place (1959)