(Michael Curtiz, US 1942, 102 min., 35mm)
“Here’s looking at you, kid.” Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman shine as star-crossed lovers in their most iconic roles. Bogie’s life turns upside down when old flame Ilsa (Bergman) walks into his gin joint and back into his life along with her husband, a resistance leader who is being targeted by the Nazis. With an all-star cast featuring Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and Conrad Veidt, this film won three Oscars at the 1944 Academy Awards and became one of the quintessential Hollywood romances.
Firmly ensconced in our American pysche, Casablanca is the type of film that only comes around once in a lifetime — but once it's here, it stays. It’s fascinating to realize that one of Hollywood’s biggest films of all time has not one but two Rochester-area connections. If you’ve never experienced Casablanca on the big screen, you mustn’t miss this opportunity, and if you have, well, “play it (again), Sam.”