ABSTRACT
Hailing from distinctly different Hollywood eras, Casablanca, Doctor Zhivago, and The English Patient each tell similar stories of ill-fated, adulterous love set in exotic locales in a time of war. The epic romance combines the scale and stakes of the historical film with a specific narrative focus on a romantic relationship. In such films, the love story is not a token but instead the crux. The “girl” in these films is at the center of the story; she is not a necessary adjunct in a tale of men acting in history. And while the events of history might shape and determine the plot, the primary concern of the epic romance turns on the fate of a pair of especially passionate, always somewhat doomed lovers caught in the web of history. Such films are not about greatness in history but rather about the chances for happiness in the realm of private lives. Epic romances are rather rare. Indeed, Casablanca, Doctor Zhivago, and The English Patient were atypical if celebrated epics in their own time-Casablanca is a special case, as discussed below-and remain a strange trio in Hollywood history. Beyond similarities of plot and theme, all three rely on music to do particular expressive work.
