Wonkette Movie Night: Casablanca
'Here's looking at you, kid.'
It is 1941 and Germany occupies France. Many people try to flee and take a dangerous trek to escape the occupation, landing in the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca where they hope to secure the needed documents that will allow them to go to Lisbon and possible freedom. Casablanca is controlled by Captain Louis Renault who uses his power to enrich himself and take advantage of desperate women.
But the place that everyone is drawn to is Rick’s Café Américain. In his white tux Rick is a tough business man and a well-respected member in the wild and desperate community of lost souls who call Casablanca home. He has the weariness of someone who has seen it all till Ilsa Lund shows up. As Rick’s friend and piano player Sam plays “As Time Goes By” he is brought back in time, to Paris and love. She broke his heart leaving him at the train station and now she shows up in his bar. Her arrival with Victor Laszlo will put Rick in the middle of something he’d rather be watching from the outside.
As two Nazi couriers are murdered en route and the travel documents they carried stolen, the round up of the usual suspects (“refugees” and “liberals”) is ordered by the police prefect. The sudden arrival of Ilsa and Victor Lazlo has gotten the attention of Nazi Major Strasser who has been tracking Lazlo, looking to get information from him that could destroy the Resistance. Life tries to continue on as normal, against a backdrop of war, but love and heartache still happen. The strength of true love is shown in what a person gives, not what they take.
Casablanca stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Madeline Lebeau, Joy Page, and Dooley Wilson. Directed by Michael Curtiz.
Casablanca is available with subscription on Max and sling TV. $3.99 in the usual places. Free on the Internet Archive.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.
The animated short is Bent Out Of Shape, created by Chloe Merwin.
We start the month of May with The Goonies.
𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀: (AKA fuck no we don't wanna pay royalties to Nazis)
During the scene in which "La Marseillaise" is sung over the German song "Die Wacht am Rhein" ("The Watch on the Rhine"), many of the extras had real tears in their eyes as a large number were actual refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and were overcome by the emotions the scene brought out. "La Marseillaise" was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" ("War Song for the Rhine Army"). The iconic "La Marseillaise" sequence was intended to have been even more pointed against the Nazis. The original song Maj. Strasser and the other Germans were to sing was not "Die Wacht am Rhein", a patriotic song written in 1840 and extensively used in the Franco-German War and in World War I, but instead "Das Horst-Wessel-Lied," the Nazi Party anthem and unofficial second national anthem of Nazi Germany. However, Warner Bros. changed it when it realized that the song was under copyright, which wouldn't have been a problem if the film were only being distributed in Allied territory. However, as the film was going to be released in neutral countries as well, it could have caused major diplomatic headaches and even opened Warner Bros. to the absurd possibility of being sued by the Nazis for copyright infringement. Or having to pay them royalties.
𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀:
The film had six quotes on the American Film Institute's list of top movie quotes, more than any other movie on the list. The quotes with their ranks are: (5) Here's looking at you, kid. (20) Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (28) Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.' (32) Round up the usual suspects. (43) We'll always have Paris; and (67) Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.