Tuesday, May 25, 2010

AS TIME GOES BY . . .





May 25 . .

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS . . .

After a troubled pre-production, Casablanca begins filming on this day in 1942 on the Warner Brothers lot. At the time, no one associated with it realized that, ‘as time goes by’, it would become the most popular romance ever filmed. It was originally entitled ‘Everybody Comes to Rick’s’ and, as every film buff knows, Ronald Reagan was originally slated to play Rick, the tough proprietor of Rick’s Café in war-torn Casablanca. Luckily, he passed, and the part went to Humphrey Bogart – who made the role his own. Bogie’s tough, mercenary façade cannot mask the disillusioned romantic inside when his true love, Ilse, with whom he had an affair years earlier in Paris, walks into his club. “Of all the joints in Casablanca, she walks into mine,” he grumbles famously.

Celebrate the first day of filming by watching the final product – one of the greatest Hollywood love stories ever filmed. Casablanca has more classic lines in it than any other movie – the litany is almost endless. To list them all here would spoil the fun. One line which is not in the movie – listen carefully – is the most quoted: “Play it again, Sam.” No one actually speaks that famous phrase. (Bergman wistfully asks piano player Sam [Paul Dooley] to, “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’” Later, Bogart, drink in hand, says, “You played it for her, you can p-lay it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Go on, play it.”)

Ingrid Bergman is positively luminous as Ilse, the wife of Resistance fighter and political activist Victor Laszlo (Paul Henried). Terrific performances (Claude Rains, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre), one of the greatest Hollywood scripts ever (by Howard Koch), a magically evocative setting, and snappy direction from Michael Curtiz all contribute to this film’s deservedly legendary status – but it’s Bogart & Bergman who lift it into the pantheon of the sublime.

1 comment:

Becky said...

Thanks for writing such an affectionate tribute to one of my favorite movies. And for addressing the oft-misquoted quotes.