Movies Under the Stars

Casablanca (1942)

Film Screening

An NCPA & Film Heritage Foundation Presentation

Casablanca was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the No. 3 film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI). The film is set in Casablanca during the Second World War when Morocco was a crossroads for spies, traitors, Nazis and the French Resistance. Casablanca is easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you’re wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American, running a nightclub in Casablanca, who will stick his neck out for no one—especially not for Victor’s wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo’s transport out of the country and a bitter Rick must decide what counts more—personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance. The film won three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay). Renowned film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “Seeing the film over and over again, year after year, I find it never grows over-familiar. It plays like a favourite musical album; the more I know it, the more I like it.”

Director: Michael Curtiz
Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Screenplay: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein & Howard Koch
Cinematography: Arthur Edeson
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains & Conrad Veidt

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA Members will get preferential seating till 6:20 pm.