From the Archives – April 7, 2005
My favorite movie in the whole world, “Casablanca,” airs tonight for the umpteenth time. And, for at least half that many times, I’ve watched it. The lead actors and actresses are all dead, since the movie premiered in 1942, but there on the little screen they are as alive and passionate as ever.
Basically, the story revolves around one Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), owner of a cafй in Casablanca, Morocco, during the Second World War. He’s nursing a wounded heart, having apparently been jilted a few years earlier by a woman he’d met in Paris before the Germans occupied it. He’s come to Casablanca to forget.
But the war has caught up with him. And so too has the woman, played by Ingrid Bergman. Ilse’s married now – in fact, was married when she and Rick had their affair – and is trying to help her husband, a leader of the Resistance, get out of the country. Rick holds the key to their escape.
There are myriad legends that have grabbed hold about the making of “Casablanca,” directed by Michael Curtiz. One was that the script was noticeably loose, that from day to day the actors did not quite know what came next, and that – until the very end – the Bergman character didn’t know if she would stay with her husband or go with her former lover.
If this notion is true, then I think it added to the intrigue of “Casablanca.” The movie itself is about wondering whether the characters get out of their situation alive; in real life, not knowing whether they do or not until the end makes their performances more real.
There are so many lines in this black and white film that have become standards in conversation. “Play it again, Sam.” “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” “Here’s looking at you kid.” “Round up the usual suspects.” “This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.” The movie was made on back-lot sets for one million dollars, and the mega-budgets and location choices of today don’t hold a candle.
So if you’re not doing anything tonight, tune in to Turner Classic Movies and catch one of the best of all times. Here’s looking at you.
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