And Our First Film Is...

Casablanca (1942)

For our first night back in the cinema, I wanted to choose something that was suitably epic, and was also an undisputed classic. And so Casablanca it is.


Casablanca is not only one of the great films of all time, it is also a film that is especially apt for this particular moment in history. 

Made just as the US was entering the Second World War, Casablanca is a film about immigrants and refugees, made by immigrants and refugees. The isolationists, xenophobes and nationalists would do well to note that one of the all-time beloved American movies was made with almost no native-born American involvement whatsoever. 

The only Americans (by birth) in the cast were Humphrey Bogart and Dooley Wilson (and many xenophobes out there would probably say that Dooley Wilson doesn't count).


For the rest, there was of course Ingrid Bergman (Swedish), Conrad Veidt (German), Paul Henreid and Peter Lorre (both Astro-Hungarian) and the irrepressible Claude Rains (who was from Clapham, bless him).



 


The director, Michael Curtiz, was from Budapest (his name was actually Miklos Kertesz) and composer Max Steiner was from Vienna.


This diverse and international collection of talent came together in Hollywood to produce a film that is quintessentially "Amercian" (or at least what America was supposed to be, once). 

Anyone who has ever thrown around the term "indigenous population" or has used the word "multiculturalism" as an insult, really needs to sit down and watch Casablanca.

Humphrey Bogart was several inches shorter than Ingrid Bergman. Whenever you see him like this in the film, he's actually standing on a box. Just saying.

If you haven't seen Casablanca recently, then this is your chance to renew your acquaintance with something very special. If you have never seen it, then I envy the treat that awaits you on the 16th of September. 

Come along and see why virtually every line of dialogue has become iconic. This will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)


Casablanca

7.30pm 

Thursday, 16 September, 2021

at the 

Victoria Park Baptist Church

186 Grove Rd, 

Old Ford, London 

E3 5TG


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