What: Casablanca (1942) film screening
Also: “Our Wife” (1931) starring Laurel & Hardy
When: February 10, 2015 7:30 PM
Where: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
Who: Jay Warren performing pre-show music at 7:00 PM
Why: A DCP (digitally restored) presentation of the classic film voted #1 screen romance by our fans.
“Casablanca has been called a perfect film, capturing the spirit of romance, patriotism, intrigue, and idealism with artistic integrity and honesty that is rarely found in film. I tend to agree.” ~ Lauren Bacall
Join us for an early Valentine’s Day treat when we present a film that is not only one of the great screen romances, but is considered to be the greatest studio film ever made. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman– along with an outstanding supporting cast– star in this World War II story of love and intrigue in Morocco.
Casablanca was a winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture. It was honored in its day and it continues to be honored today. The film is often listed near the top of most lists devoted to the greatest films ever made. (The AFI lists it as #2 behind Citizen Kane.) The film’s screenplay also won an Academy Award. This comes as no surprise since so many of the film’s lines are instantly recognized and quoted– seventy-three years later.
Casablanca remains one of the finest examples of studio filmmaking starring some of the best actors of its time– names like Bogart, Bergman, Rains, Veidt… It was directed by one of the most proficient craftsman in Hollywood, Michael Curtiz, whose films are noted for their fluid camerawork, lighting, and story pacing. Curtiz embodied the studio system, and under it, he made dozens of classic motion pictures.
But beyond all its many fine technical merits, Casablanca is a film that reaches its audience– then and now. There is truth that viewers recognize and respond to. It is a story of redemption and sacrifice. Its images and words have become iconic, and it is part of American movie mythology.
