My favourite movie

We're chilling out on the couches this evening, showing my Mother-in-law my favourite movie. Astoundingly, she's never seen Casablanca before so we're rectifying that.

I saw this movie for the first time right after Dave and I got married. I was under the impression that it was really dull (Dave had tried to watch it in high school with a former girlfriend and couldn't get past the first 10 minutes). But I think he'd watched it during University and had really liked it because he owned a copy. My parents came up for a visit (this was before they moved up here) and since neither my Mom nor I had seen it, we decided to watch.

And oh! Were we ever transfixed, mesmerized and heartbroken. Had I seen it a month or two prior, our wedding song would likely have been 'As Time Goes By' ('The Way You Look Tonight' is a solid pick, but still). It's so witty and one can sympathize with all the main characters. I adore Humphrey Bogart, and Claude Rains is hilarious. And it's so sad, but satisfying. When we were in Los Angeles last year, we saw the studio where it was filmed, Sam's piano and a bunch of costumes from the film; I was thrilled.

(Aside: The scene with Viktor Lazlo leading 'La Marseillaise" is on and it still makes me tear up. Vive la France!)

I recently read "Round Up the Usual Suspects" - a book on the making of this movie. It's funny -- it was another movie cranked out at Warner Brothers during the height of the studio system in Hollywood. A number of writers (all very talented) worked on the script and it was tweaked even after primary filming ceased. The cast were lukewarm on the project. The studio was focused on larger films. No one anticipated its success neither at the time nor over time. But it has become an enduring masterpiece and one of the most quoted movies in American cinema.

If you haven't seen it - do!

Apparently, in addition to daily posting, NaBloPoMo will involved my movie recommendations. :)