Nothing can spoil a romance worse than the most trying of circumstances: the political and emotional rigors of war. The war romance sets a love story against the backdrop of nation vs. nation, soldier against soldier. The most common scenario involves a romance shattered by wartime duties and/or loyalties, with one lover searching for another or battling against insurmountable odds to reconsummate the love affair. Both World Wars have inspired many romance stories, though often with tragic endings; films like Wings, A Farewell To Arms, and The English Patient end with one of the lovers dying in the other's arms, while in Casablanca Humphrey Bogart must let his true love go because he knows she is more valuable to the war resistance effort. In fact, many films use the tragic ending to underscore the horrors and senselessness of warfare; by emphasizing the human element and how the joys of life are cut short, these war romances become potent anti-war statements. In any case, whether as victors or martyrs, the war-torn lovers are perennial favorites of many moviegoers, and the genre has produced many classics of the cinema.