Whilst the subject of the Second World War does not immediately scream “Romance!”, you could do a lot worse this Valentine’s Day than picking a classic wartime flick as your date movie. However, when flirting with international conflict, one must deploy a high level of caution.

Take Casablanca (1942) for example. When the credits roll, women are left sighing at the film’s romance, whilst I have heard men respond with “What romance? There were Nazis and guns!” This is part of what is so brilliant about Casablanca. For women there’s the glamour and elegance of Ingrid Bergman and also that dilemma – Victor Laszlo or Humphrey Bogart? It is a topic ripe for debate, so much so that it is repeatedly discussed in When Harry Met Sally (1989). For men there’s Bogart at his cynical and embittered best, with memorable quips aplenty, oscillating between “I stick my neck out for nobody” and “Here’s looking at you, kid!” Not only does this wartime classic boast crackling dialogue, stellar leads and an exotic locale, a healthy dose of Paris is thrown in for good measure. This glorious tale of love and war culminates in Bogart’s excellent speech on the runway tarmac at the film’s conclusion, a speech so well-crafted and iconically cool that its inspirational power forms the premise of Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam (1972). Finally, men who well-up slightly during the emotional La Marseillaise bar scene will appear that perfect combination of strong and sensitive, as if they themselves would definitely almost probably have formed a bastion of the resistance had they been alive in 1942.

To show how the combination of love stories and Nazi occupations could instead go completely wrong for you this Valentine’s, let’s consider The Sound of Music (1965). This is a great film but it’s all just a bit too wholesome for a date movie. Not only are there songs, but there are also children and – worst of all – nuns. Compared with Bergman’s Laszlo-Bogart dilemma, the choice between life in a nunnery and becoming the step-mother to seven children is far from thrilling, and let’s not even begin to contrast the stylish Casablanca wardrobe with those habits and the clothes made from curtains. Whilst Christopher Plummer’s character makes his own stand against the occupying force, it is done with far less cool, and men who get a bit emotional during the Edelweiss concert scene will simply seem a bit pathetic.

During the Second World War itself, the most successful film by far was Gone With The Wind (1939). Whilst the United States themselves hadn’t yet joined the war when the film was made, it was so popular when it opened in the Blitz-bombarded London of 1940 that it ran for four years. Ambitious, dramatic and epic, it provided a completely absorbing form of escapism. Set eighty years earlier in America’s South, the main theme, however, is still love in wartime, as Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler battle each other against the backdrop of the Civil War. Most quoted for the immortal line “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”, this happens to be another movie in which making a dress out of curtains forms a plot point. However, with so many dramatic ups and downs, and clocking in at an exhausting 3 hours and 44 minutes long, I wouldn’t make any other plans for the evening.

There is of course a huge pool of Second World War films to choose from, should you decide this year to celebrate V-day by giving a nod to VE day. Choose just as carefully if selecting from more recent offerings. The harrowing opening of Saving Private Ryan (1998) is more gut-wrenching than heart-throbbing, whilst the awful Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001) may actually work in favour for males of tepid character – compared to Nicolas Cage they’ll appear positively charismatic. And please do take heed of the lesson learned by Jerry in an episode of Seinfeld – a heavy make-out session during a showing of Schindler’s List (1993) would be seen by most as morally reprehensible.

WATCH TOGETHER

Casablanca

The classic romance without all the sweeping epic annoying-ness of Gone With the Wind, Casablanca will put you in the mood and not put you off your dinner like so many quease-inducing romances. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman fight for their love amidst all the to-do of Nazi-crawling Morocco, making this film not just a passionate tale of love but also an idealistic case against fascism. Perfect for a date. See it. Love it. Then go fight some Nazis. (Dana Walters)

Up

Possibly the biggest tearjerker Pixar has produced so far, Up follows the adventure of OAP Carl as he goes on a dangerous expedition with his house and a lot of balloons. As well as being beautifully animated and hilariously funny, Up is deeply moving. If your date does not cry within the first ten minutes then they are clearly soulless. This film gives a convincing portrayal of a touching friendship without over doing it on the schmaltz. (Matt Isard)

What Women want

After a market research experiment goes horribly wrong, a high-flying executive gains the ability to hear what women are really thinking. It was never going to win any Oscars but this bubbly comedy hits the spot. This is a film which you can mutually enjoy, Gibson is at his most charming and comedic best whilst full of gags and peppered with a few touching moments: a truly a light-hearted piece of entertainment that appeals to both sexes. (Dean Palmer)

Good Bye Lenin!

A German comedy drama where top actor Daniel Brühl plays Alex, a boy who tries to hide the fall of the Berlin Wall from his fragile mother who has just emerged from a coma: it might not sound like standard Valentine’s fare but there is a love story in there somewhere and the film strikes a perfect balance between the playful and the poignant, making this an amusing yet touching watch. (Josephine Sarchet)

WATCH ALONE

500 Days of Summer

This film is very much an anti-romcom indie flick. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as the central couple the film chronicles their 500-day relationship and how it quickly grows and slowly falls apart. The film is shown non-linearly with good moments spliced in beside sad moments. It is disheartening to witness the guy get the girl of his dreams only to realise they are not in fact compatible. There is nothing that kills the mood faster than being shown on screen a relationship go through all the right hoops, including that couple trip to Ikea, only not to work out. (Matt Isard)

Bend It Like Beckham

Feel-good British film about football, friendship and cultural divides: what more could you want on an unromantic Valentine’s Day? There is, admittedly, a love narrative, and the vision of Jonathan Rhys Meyers bending down to pick up a football might be enough to send any single girl over the edge on February 14th. Thankfully it’s the relationship between Jess (Parminder Nagra) and Jules (Keira Knightley) and their impeccable ball skills which hold our attention until the final whistle. (Amy Hadfield)

Frank Wendekind’s play was banned in the 1890s for the same reason that its recent musical adaptation has enjoyed such success: its vivid exploration of the tumult and trials of puberty. Spring Awakening is a musical about tension: sexual and sensual; repression and expression; death and maturity; authority and responsibility.

The 6th Week performances by the Magdalen Players in Keble’s O’Reilly Theatre will be some of the first seen of the play since it left the West End. If you missed the show in New York or London, don’t make the same mistake twice. The play is powerful and confrontational. It unabashedly asks questions of itself, the audience, and society. The music, folk-rock hybrid, is stunning and the vocal talent of this cast is impressive.

James Carroll, the show’s director, intentionally echoes some features of the Broadway and West End productions while deliberately breaking with conventions concerning accents. The set and choreography are highly reminiscent of previous professional performances. The set relies mainly on lighting to set mood and location, a minimalistic convention which helps to modernize the play and highlight the actors. While convention works for the set, it falls flat with the choreography. The play is about the chaos of pubescent minds and bodies, but mimicking the choreography of the original productions lends itself to stale numbers. ‘The Bitch of Living,’ a punk-infused number bristling with sexual frustration, is meant to reflect the raw and confused passions of the characters, yet the production’s choreography seems stilted and rehearsed. It gives the whole experience a contemplated feel which works at cross-purposes with the chaos of the number.

On the whole, however, the production feels professional. Alice Pearse captures the innocence, desire, and sexual curiosity of Wendla. Her voice shines like crystal, which is, in some ways, a problem. In this punkish musical, her clarity comes off as simplistic – even if her melody and harmonizing are spot-on.
It is Cassie Barraclough (Ilse) who focuses our attention on the pain, confusion, and dangers of the quiet repression of sex and sexuality. Brain Earp’s portrayal of the protagonist, Melchior, effectively captures his character’s inner strength and confidence. In ‘Totally F**ked,’ his interaction with the cast demonstrates his power over his peers – a power which frees them all, through suicide, through rebellion, and through the pains of pregnancy. This play destroys the power of shame, and if the actors don’t balk at the responsibility their empowerment could be contagious.

As a general rule, comedy and cash don’t make for a good mix. The cheaper the film, the stronger the script has to be – just watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or (though no-one did) Evan Almighty. By now, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost should really know this. Shaun of the Dead, still their best film, was also their cheapest, and from there the price of their films has climbed while the quality has declined. Now they’ve written their first film together (Pegg usually writes with Edgar Wright), and it’s disappointingly average.

Paul follows Graeme and Clive, two nerds on a road trip across the alien hotspots of America. Before long, they run across the eponymous alien, voiced by Seth Rogen, who has been living secretly on Earth for decades, advising film-makers about alien technology. At the press conference afterwards, Pegg is proud of this idea, as it allows them to ‘retroactively rip everything off by saying it was all Paul’s idea. It’s very clever, when you think about it.’ Paul needs their help to get him to his ship and escape the planet before the secret service catch him and cut out his brain. Along the way, they pick up Ruth (Kristen Wiig), the naïve daughter of a Creationist as they try to escape Jason Bateman’s emotionless, sunglasses-wearing agent.

If nothing else, Pegg and Frost have incredible on-screen chemistry, which the former attributes to their genuine friendship: ‘Nick and I were best friends before we were colleagues, so we channelled a bit of our own little bromance.’ The tender, loving looks they exchange, the lingering of a hand on the other’s shoulder for just a bit too long – these little gestures elevate their relationship above mere laddy banter. However, their comic sensibilities are unavoidably British, and their quaint jokes about tea-making sit ill-at-ease with Rogen’s pot-smoking alien slacker, who (as is typical of Rogen) always seems to be laughing at his own jokes more than the audience.

As a road movie, it inevitably moves at a fair old pace, but the frenetic forward momentum of the plot makes the film seem slapdash rather than exciting. Most glaringly, they choose to give Ruth her own road away from Damascus moment, and in a split-second revelation, she loses her faith. Though her subsequent indulgences in naïve swearing offer some of the film’s funniest moments – including the immortal line, ‘Get away from me you vaginas’ – Paul never quite recovers from this U-turn in the plot.

Much of the blame lies with the direction. Both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz had a genuine charm to them, yet here this is lost. Instead, we get the slick but unadventurous guiding hand of Greg Mottola, of Superbad fame, and the result is a visually bland film. Paul himself is a convincingly rendered CGI character, but the film as a whole never really engages as it could. The nerdy eagerness of Frost and Pegg to cram their script with as many sci-fi references and nods as possible eventually drags the whole film down, while the style seems too weighed down by its budget to try anything truly original.