Today is National Classic Movie Day, and we can think of no better way to celebrate than with this post about what many consider to be the best film ever made!
Casablanca. Is there a motion picture that conjures up more intrigue and romance? This drama from director Michael Curtiz is one of the most-loved films ever made. In the early days of World War II, the lives of American club owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart), his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), and Czech resistance leader Victor (Paul Henreid) come together in the exotic Moroccan city as Rick takes possession of two letters that Victor desperately needs.
You know all of this of course, but did you know the following trivia facts about the film? If so, congratulations, you are a Casablanca expert. And if not well, we’ll always have Paris!
• Humphrey Bogart reportedly improvised the infamous “here’s looking at you, kid” line.
• Speaking of the film’s classic lines, at no point does the character of Rick actually say “Play it again, Sam.” This is a misquote that has captured the public’s imagination over the years in the same way that “beam me up, Scotty” was never said verbatim in the original Star Trek.
• There were two television series’ based on Casablanca — the first in 1955 and another in 1983.
• Casablanca was based on a play called Everybody Comes to Rick’s that was written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. It was produced in London in 1991.
• A fantastic background gag featured in the movie Gremlins 2: The New Batch has an announcer stating that one of the fictional channels that are run out of the Clamp Center building will be showing Casablanca “in color, and with a happier ending.”
• Rick must have really known how to play chess, as Humphrey Bogart was a fan of the game himself!