Cinemallennials: Casablanca
BY DAVE LEWIS
On today’s episode of Cinemallennials, I’ll be talking with my girlfriend Alex about one of the most influential, romantic, and anti-fascist films of all time, the unconquerable Casablanca.
Films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Space Jam 2 as well as Disney World’s former greatest ride, The Great Movie Ride, have all referenced or have directly used scenes from Casablanca. Whether you’ve watched Casablanca or not, it’s writing, costumes, themes, music, and iconic imagery most likely occupies the part of your brain that holds your stock of references and lines from popular culture. From its cast of both main and side characters, its brilliant writing with its layers of both timeless and contemporary wit and themes to its score and use of the art of moving pictures Casablanca has been consistently called “the perfect film.”
Casablanca follows the story of Richard Blaine, a hard-hearted isolationist that owns Rick’s Café American, a popular club that nightly houses hundreds of refugees who are stuck in Morocco’s second largest city due to the Nazi regime. Rumors fill the city after two Nazi couriers were murdered carrying transit papers that allow their owners to freely leave the city and be on the path to freedom. Rick is soon secretly given those papers to hang on to but their owner is arrested right in front of his very eyes and that’s not even half his troubles. The night is still young until Rick’s former lover Ilsa Lund walks into his gin joint with her resistance leader husband Victor Laszlo who has just escaped a concentration camp and wants to expose the world to the true horrors of the Nazi regime. Ilsa knows just how influential her old flame is in this limbo and seeks his help but having been hurt by her in the past Rick isn’t so sure he should help them and that is where our story begins so sit back relax and Here’s looking at you kid.
You can purchase Casablanca here.
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Cinemallennials is a podcast where Dave and another millennial are introduced to a classic film for the very first time ranging from the birth of cinema to the 1960s. Dave and his guest will open your eyes to the vast landscape of classic film as they discuss the films' performers, their performances, those behind the camera, and how they and their films still influence our world today. You can find his official website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles here.