Casablanca— nominated for eight 1944 Academy Awards, Winner for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Curtiz), Best Screenplay (the twin Epstein brothers and Howard Koch), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in their most iconic roles in possibly the greatest Hollywood movie of all-time! Plus, an all-star supporting cast including Claude Reins (nominated for best supporting actor), Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson, with Academy Award nominated cinematography and score.
Yes, yes, yes, you will laugh and you will cry!
American ex-pat Rick Blaine (remember that last name for future trivia nights) owns a nightclub in the corrupt, crime-ridden, desperate refugee-filled Casablanca. Amidst the shadows of collaborating Vichy French and Nazi officials, Rick discovers his old flame Ilsa is in town (“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”) with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a famed resistance leader with the Germans hot on his trail. Ilsa hopes Rick can help them get out of the country – and she is willing to use their star-crossed love or the trigger of a gun to get the “letters of transit” so her husband can continue the fight against tyranny.
As time goes by, it is a poignant time to revisit “the same old story, a fight for love and glory, a case of do or die…” on the big 4 Star screen. With more quotable lines (“Here’s looking at you, kid.” “Round up the usual suspects!” “We’ll always have Paris.”) than any other drama, it is a timeless, romantic, humanist tale of lovers sacrificing their needs for the higher purpose of defeating fascism because “the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world”.
SPECIAL GRAMOPHONE CONCERT
The show begins with host Robert Mailer Anderson aka DJ GrampaPhone spinning rare 78rpm shellacs on his 1908 gramophone. Having just returned from Paris, he has imported a fresh trove of French musical treasures to play, including Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Django Reinhardt, and other classic songs from the film’s period, including “As Time Goes By” sung by Billie Holiday. And, yes, Les Marseilles!
Fogcutter Film Series hosted by Robert Mailer Anderson
6:00 PM Gramophone Concert by DJ GrampaPhone
7:00 PM Casablanca
Free champagne and Fogcutter Rye for gramophone concert attendees while supply lasts!
Robert Mailer Anderson: A native San Franciscan and 9th generation Californian, writer, producer, filmmaker, and activist, nominated for 3 Grammys as a music producer, Anderson's most recent work is the graphic novel "My Fairy Godfather” - dedicated to The Castro Theater. He is also known as "DJ GrampaPhone” - spinning 78 records on his 110 year old gramophone.