November 26 – Anniversary of the Premiere of Casablanca

nPostednon November 26, 2015

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nIt’sna romance.

nIt’sna drama.

Andnit’s one of the most famous movies of the 1940s, with a Best Picturenacademy award plus many other accolades and awards. n

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nActually,nmany people rank Casablanca as one of the best movies of allntime!

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nThisnmovie is set in Northern Africa, in the town of Casablanca, Morocco,nduring World War II. I think it is interesting that the movie wasnmade, surprisingly quickly, actually during World War II. Of course,nit wasn’t shot on location (although a few short clips of stocknfootage of Paris was used for a flashback section); instead, it wasnshot entirely in a studio in Burbank, except for a short sequencenfilmed at a Southern California airport.

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nWhennI say that the movie was made “surprisingly quickly,” here is thentimetable:

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n1941n – story editor discovers a never-before-produced play
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n Jan.n 1942 – rights to play purchased
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n laten May 1942 – filming begins
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nearlyn Aug. 1942 – filming ends
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nspringn 1942 – planned release date
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nBUTn – in the actual war – early to mid-Nov. 1942 – Allied forcesn invade French North Africa and take over Casablanca
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nSOn – to take advantage of the hubbub over this Allied victory inn Casablanca and North Africa – Nov. 26, 1942 – world premiere ofn the movie Casablanca!

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nLessnthan a year from the purchase of the rights until the world premierenof the completed movie? That’s pretty quick for a major motionnpicture. Most movies take from a year to a year-and-a-half to make,nbut some major motion pictures take longer. Some take decades! (Thenpre-production stuff like writing a script, getting rights, andnhashing out funding often takes a long time.)

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nHerenare a few of the famous lines from Casablanca:

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nOfn all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walksn into mine.

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nPlayn it again, Sam. (or something like that!)

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nIn think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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nWheren I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be anyn part of.

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n…Itn doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little peoplen don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

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nHere’sn looking at you, kid.

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nToncelebrate this historical anniversary, all you have to do is watchnthe movie! (If you live in the U.S., that might be after all thencooking and feasting and cleaning!)

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nAlsonon this date:

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Thanksgiving: