One example of the romance genre's ability to continue through time is a movie called An Affair to Remember, directed by Glenn Gordon Caron in 1994, with Warren Beatty and Annette Benning. This movie, alone, was good, but it is significant to this essay, because it was a remake of a movie by the same name, directed in 1957 by Leo McCarey, with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Even more, that movie was a remake of a movie called Love Affair, directed in 1939 by Leo McCarey, starring Irene Dunn and Charles Boyer. This shows that even if it is a story people have seen before; they still watch romances over and over again. This movie, the Grant/Kerr version, also gained re-popularity with the making of a new film in the same genre, Sleepless in Seattle, directed in 1993 by Nora Ephron, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
Another example of a movie that people continue to watch is Gone With the Wind. This film was made in 1939 by Victor Fleming and still is very popular. People love to see Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh yell at each other just before kissing. This is a movie that falls into the romance genre, but can be enjoyed for other reasons, as well. For example, it is portrayal of life in the South, during the Civil War, or a look at southern gentility.
In conclusion, I am personally a fan of this particular genre and think it has done a great job of continuing to live throughout the history of film.