Casablanca

When I was in high school (way way back in the 70's) I took a class called Film and Filmmaking.  The class was developed by one of my favorite teachers, Mr. A, as an alternative for seniors who didn't want to take a more traditional literature class (and it also kept the AV Squad nerds busy). I was an English nerd, and took the class IN ADDITION TO my regular English class - I was in Ms. G's section of Film and in AP English with Mr. A.   I remember when Mr. A's children bought him an uber-expensive Betamax (remember those?) so that he wouldn't have to set up his projector every time he wanted to watch a movie at home.

We saw many movies over the course of the year -- Shane; Citizen Kane; Singin' In The Rain.

But one of my absolute favorites was Casablanca.  Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Heinreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, and Sidney Greenstreet in a fez.  WWII storyline, filmed in black and white.  Exotic locale -- Morocco.  What a glorious movie!

When it came time for each of us to do a project based on one of the movies we had seen, I chose Casablanca.  I found a real treasure in the public library - not only did the book provide history of the film, analysis and commentary, but it also had each frame of the film reduced to still photography, with the dialogue printed beneath.

I've seen the movie many times since then, I have it on VHS and DVD.  But you miss so much when you watch a movie on the small screen.

Last year Drew and I went to the multiplex for a one-night-only showing of The Wizard of Oz on a real movie screen.  This is a movie I'd seen hundreds of times on tv/video/DVD.  Had the dialogue committed to memory.  The movie was so different on the larger screen!  There were background details I'd never seen before.  We were amazed at the artistry.

Tonight we return to the multiplex for a special screening of Casablanca.

Can you tell I am excited!