5 Classic Romantic Movies About Deception
False Identities Intrigued Directors Including Hitchcock and Wilder
May 14, 2009
Most of today’s romances focus on reality – being true to yourself, keeping it real, being genuine, and expressing what’s in your heart. Many earlier movies from the 1940s through 1960s found romance and intrigue in discovering the real people hidden beneath the phony facades.
While chemistry draws them together, true love lets them see beneath the surface. So in a nod to yesteryear’s best romantic deceptions, here’s a sampling of classic romantic suspense and romantic comedy movies in which one or both of the lovers pretend to be something that they’re not.
Charade (1963)
- In this dark comedy thriller, a woman finds herself pursued by several dangerous and deceptive men who demand the $250,000 that her late husband stole during WWII.
- Starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy
- Director: Stanley Donen
- Run Time: 112 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated
- Genre: Romantic Comedy Thriller
- Additional Information: Various identity changes keep the audience on its toes and add laughs to this feels-like-Hitchcock film.
Notorious (1946)
- A party girl from Miami, Florida, spies on dangerous Nazi war criminals living in Brazil in an effort to clear her family name.
- Starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin, Reinhold Schunzel
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Run Time: 101 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated
- Genre: Romantic Suspense Thriller
- Additional Information: Filmed in black and white. Shot in California, Florida, and Brazil.
Pillow Talk (1959)
- A man and women who hate each other find romance when he disguises his voice and identity through the telephone party line that they share.
- Starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams
- Director: Michael Gordon
- Run Time: 102 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated
- Genre: Romantic Comedy
- Additional Information: Won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story, and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen (Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene, Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin).
Roman Holiday (1953)
- A bored princess (pretending to be a regular girl) sneaks off to explore Rome with an ambitious reporter (pretending to be a regular guy).
- Starring Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power, Margaret Rawlings
- Director: William Wyler
- Run Time: 118 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated
- Genre: Romantic Comedy
- Additional Information: Filmed in black and white. Recently ranked as the fifth best Romantic Comedy by the American Film Institute (AFI).
Some Like It Hot (1959)
- Two out-of-work musicians disguise themselves as women in order to hide out after witnessing a mob hit in Chicago.
- Starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Joe E. Brown
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Run Time: 114 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated
- Genre: Romantic Comedy
- Additional Information: Filmed in black and white. Monroe’s sultry singing and voluptuous curves are showcased to their best advantage in this fun gender-bending classic.
For more information about romantic movies, read Best Romantic Comedy Movie Moments. To share your favorite classic romantic movie about deception, add a comment below.
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