Classic Romance

Every now and then, you get lucky when you put on the channel to TCM...this afternoon was one of those days...

If you're a gal, and you've never seen "Saratoga Trunk," then you need to. It's one of the most romantic movies ever made. If you're a guy, you need to watch it to figure out just what it is that women crave from a relationship.

"Saratoga Trunk" stars Gary Cooper, one of my own personal heart-throbs, as Clint Maroon and Ingrid Bergman as the lovely Clio, the object of Clint’s affection (whether he likes it or not).

Just about everything that they say to one another in the movie reeks of wisdom and clever wit. For instance, when Clio tells Clint how much she cares for him, she tells him that she loves him more than a pig loves the mud. He tells her that her voice soothes him like oil over a blister. Strange metaphors, but somehow they work. He tells her there are only two types of women: Good or bad, and he wants to know which one she is, to which she never replies, just lowers her eyes and coyly smiles. When she has a fit of anger and claims no one can stop her from doing what she damn well pleases, he merely grabs her wrist and she crumbles like an old newspaper and falls into his arms. When he compares her eyes to a Texas sunset, all deep purple and more beautiful than any he’s ever seen, well, I never wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more, even when she played Ilsa in “Casablanca.”

This, in my opinion, was Cooper’s best role. A humble, down-to-earth Texas millionaire in New Orleans? Well, I’m hooked. He never looked more handsome, more sexy, than in that one movie. And, every woman can relate to Ingrid Bergman’s role as Clio, a stubborn French-Creole, who was every bit a Scarlett O’Hara as Scarlett herself. When her lawyer tells her she’s beautiful, very beautiful – how does she reply? “Yes – isn’t it lucky?” Classic. And dead honest.

It seems that some movies just don’t get the television time they should, and this is one of them. It comes around every couple of years, and I love it so much every time I see it, I’m skating on over to the Internet to see if it’s available. Come to think of it, I’ll need to pick up the black and white movie version of “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.” Pure perfection for this hopeless romantic.