Casablanca (1942) is the greatest motion picture of all time

Casablanca (1942) is my favorite motion picture of all time. Coincidently, it is the greatest motion picture in the history of motion pictures…… (in my humble opinion…)

At the time it was made, it was just one film of many that were made in that year in the Warner Bros studio. At the time, movies were made to show in the theater and then they were put back on the shelf.

Nobody could know at the time that TV and DVDs would make this film live on and on and leave a big mark on the future.

Although, it did win three Oscars: for best screenplay, director and motion picture, Nobody at the time knew how special this movie would turn out to be.

The reason I bring it up is because my hubby just surprised me with two books about Casablanca:

Casablanca: Script and Legend: The 50th Anniversary Edition

and

The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman, and World War II.

Actually, the 50th anniversary of Casablanca was in 1992. But, the fact that this book is still in print shows how important of a film this was….

I have already read The Making of Casablanca when I borrowed it from the library. But, this is such a big story – how the making of Casablanca intertwines with World War II – that I wanted to have my own copy.

The movie was about current events when it was made – the war was in Europe and how people were leaving to try to come to the United States of America so they could have freedom.

Today is Independence Day, the Fourth of July, so this is relevant today. In real life, many actors in the movie, Casablanca, were actually refugees who had fled their home countries to have freedom.

The Making of Casablanca covers this story beautifully. I would recommend these two books to any film aficionado, and especially anybody who is a fan of Casablanca as I am.

Just for fun, I would also like to mention that six lines from Casablanca made it into the American Film Institute’s 100 Best Movie Lines. Here are the six lines:

5 Here’s looking at you, kid.
20 Louis, 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.
67 Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

That was the most lines from any one movie that were on the list. So, that is further evidence that this is a very popular movie.

Well, I have to go read my new books some more. Thank you, Sweetie!