Another Chance to See "Casablanca"

If you're in the states, there's another chance to see Casablanca this Thursday!
(Click on the image below for ticket information and more general information.)

If you attend the screening or have any comments/posts about the quality of the new digital projection, let us know! It would be great to hear any stories about screenings or your personal Casablanca tales.

I will post about TCM and my Casablanca experience soon as well as some tid bits about Julie Andrews and Stanley Donen!

TCM Film Festival 2012

Hello Everyone-

I hope you're having a wonderful spring!

I have been going to screenings at the TCM Film Festival, once again... Just returned from the screening of Casablanca at Grauman's Chinese Theater. It was the 70th Anniversary renovated edition. I'll definitely post about the festival and the screenings as soon as I finish attending!

If you're at the Festival, please post a comment or tweet at me @alexis_morrell on twitter.

You can also follow the festival @tcmfilmfest

"Here's looking at you kid..."

Casablanca Part 2: Lost in Morocco

Another post about Casablanca's screenings on Wed...

I received an email from another devout Classic Film/Ingrid fan, Geoff Renstrom, asking to promote the screenings of Casablanca... Here's the note. Be sure to see the film and visit their website!

"Hello,

Plan on a night filled with suspense, intrigue romance, and fantastic lines. That’s right; Casablanca is headed back to the big screen for a 70^thanniversary celebration. Join your favorite characters Rick and Ilsa for this timeless classic, a part of cinema history.

NCM Fathom, Turner Classic Movies, and Warner Bros are coming together again to present Turner Classic Movies Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event in select movie theaters nationwide on Wednesday, March 21st at 7:00PM (local time).

The event will begin with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne taking audiences behind the scenes of this epic love story in a special original production showcasing stories from those who were on set and those who simply admire this timeless classic. Audiences will then be able to see again on the silver screen this beautiful and timeless classic.

We hope you’ll spread the word about this fantastic event by sharing information about Turner Classic Movies Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event with your readers through mediums such as blog posts, newsletters, Facebook and Twitter. For more downloadable tools and additional details about Casablanca, including information on participating movie theaters and tickets, visit www.fathomevents.com

Please let us know if we can provide any other information to facilitate your outreach. Thank you for your support.

----

Geoff Renstrom

Pure Brand Communications"

The website holds details about tickets, contests, prizes and other Casablanca themed fun! Be sure to check it out and report back to the blog!

Can't wait to hear about all of your movie adventures and I'll hopefully have time to post about mine! :)

Casablanca 70th Anniversary Celebrations!

Hi everyone!
Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. My life has been going in a fantastic direction lately and I've been completely overwhelmed with work (Graduate school, filmmaking, writing, and watching!)



I'm sure some of you have receieved updates from TCM about the 70th anniversary screenings of Casablanca this week...

"The quintessential Hollywood love story returns to the big screen this spring as Turner Classic Movies Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event on Wednesday, March 21, at 7 pm local time, with special matinees in select theaters. Movie audiences in theaters nationwide will be able to experience the time-honored classic in a stunning digital presentation by NCM Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Warner Home Video. The event will be introduced by TCM host Robert Osborne who will discuss Casablanca's enduring legacy and reveal some of its fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. Casablancastarred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid and became one of the most romantic films in the history of cinema. It won three Academy Awards in 1944 including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Tickets for Turner Classic Movies Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. The event will be broadcast to nearly 500 select movie theaters across the country through NCM's exclusive Digital Broadcast Network. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the NCM Fathom website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

Movie critic Leonard Maltin calls Casablanca "the best Hollywood movie of all time." The American Film Institute (AFI) voted it the screen's greatest love story and the No. 3 film of all time. The film's characters, dialogue and music have all become iconic in Hollywood movie history.

"There are few things more thrilling for movie lovers than being able to experience a true classic like Casablanca the way it was originally intended: on the big screen," said Dennis Adamovich, senior vice president of brand and digital activation for TCM, TNT and TBS. "We're proud to take part in this exciting event as we extend the magic of Turner Classic Movies to theaters across the country."

Casablanca: 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 (Bogart), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one - especially Victor's wife Ilsa (Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo's transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more - personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance.

"Like many, I have fond memories of watching Casablanca with my family," said Shelly Maxwell, executive vice president of Fathom Events. "Fans of this timeless cinematic treasure won't want to miss this one-time opportunity to experience Casablanca on the big screen once again as Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman take us back to the golden age of Hollywood."

Turner Classic Movies Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event is the third recent classic anniversary event presented in theaters by NCM Fathom Events including the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz and 50th anniversary of West Side Story.

Warner Home Video will release Casablanca 70th Anniversary Edition on March 27 featuring a 3-Disc limited and numbered gift set including the remastered feature on both Blu-ray and DVD with more than 14 hours of bonus material. The keepsake box also includes a compilation of three comprehensive feature length documentaries, a hard-cover 62-page book with never-before-seen on-set photography, sketches and production history, a reproduction of the original 1942 French theatrical poster as well as a collectible set of drink coasters."

I'm not sure why it's happening right now, since we all know that it premiered in November and January of 1942 and 1943... But... We'll take it, right?

If you can make it, be sure to comment on the blog! It would be great to hear about everyone's adventures and experiences...

NYTimes Article About "Casablanca" : 1943

I stumbled upon this article about Casablanca and Ingrid's relationship to Hollywood. It's a very interesting article and since it's during WWII and about a movie that would change cinematic and parts of general history, I think it's worth reading.

Here is a link to the NYTimes site and if you can't access it, here it is (as a quote, I DO NOT OWN THIS MATERIAL):

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New York Times Article Link

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December 26, 1943

'CASABLANCA'

Ingrid Bergman: In, but Not of, Hollywood

By The New York Times

HOLLYWOOD — "Ingrid Bergman is the realest thing in these diggings," said an ordinarily caustic Hollywood columnist. The first time you see her you understand the reason for his description of her. She has brought into this capital of artificiality the simplicity and charm of her native Sweden. Unpainted fingernails, skin that doesn't look like icing on a cake, a natural manner, unpretentious clothes - these usual things make her unusual among Hollywood stars. Miss Bergman's career is marked by no publicity escapades. No stories of outbursts of artistic temperament are told about her. She is rarely seen in those select night clubs where other screen celebrities parade like manikins at a fashion show. The young doctor to whom she was married before she came here is still her husband and from time to time she brings her 5-year-old daughter Pia on the lot with her. Despite her success she remains the unassuming, serious-minded young woman she was when, after much hesitation, she made up her mind to come to this country.

Not long after she arrived, the studio wanted to make some stills of her and the photographer suggested that she raise her skirt ''just a trifle.'' She looked at him, smiled, and remarked: ''But I came here to act, not to dance.'' Some months ago Madame Chiang Kai-shek visited the studio where Miss Bergman was working. All the other stars were dolled up in their best to be presented to the first lady of China. Miss Bergman appeared hatless, dressed in a tailored suit and wearing broad, flat-heeled shoes.

She is not beautiful in the Hollywood sense of the word. The glamour which surrounds her is the glamour of youth and health. Her charm is not dependent upon beauticians and her attractive face would serve better as an ad for a tonic than as one for a cosmetic. It has been used for neither, for she does not believe in endorsing any products.

No one would pick her out as a movie queen. She has stood unrecognized for half an hour waiting on line to see one of her own pictures.

Miss Bergman was working on her new film when, between shots, she posed for me. As Paula in a screen version of ''Angel Street,'' called now ''Gaslight,'' she was dressed in a tight-fitting bustled gown of the Seventies. Her long blond hair fell about her shoulders from beneath a tiny sailor hat. It was surprising how little make-up she had on. Her face is round, her cheek bones well-formed. No lipstick altered the natural contour of her mouth and scant mascara reinforced the long lashes which shade her clear blue eyes. There was none of that unreal look about her which so many actresses feel it is necessary to put on before the camera.

Apart from her appearance, what makes her distinctive is her outlook upon life. About her is none of the gaiety ordinarily associated with this place. Although she believes that her private life is no concern of the public, she had not been posing for me long before she told me about her father, who was a photographer and also an artist.

''He always wanted to make a painting of me,'' she said, ''but he never could get me to pose long enough. I was too restless. All I have by him is a sketch he made when I did not know what he was doing. I am sorry now, but I am one of those people who simply can't sit down and do nothing.

''Even now as I am sitting here I am beginning to worry about my next scene and wondering if I shall know my lines. That is the only thing I don't like about acting: the constant dread I have of forgetting my part. I am what you call a quick study and I can learn my lines under the most trying circumstances. I trained myself to do this when I was a child.

''After my father and mother died, they relatives with whom I lived did not want me to become an actress, but I was constantly studying poems and reciting them for myself in my own room. So that they would not know what I was doing, I kept a phonograph going to drown out my voice.

''Would you mind if I just ran over a few pages of my next scene?'' she asked and so saying she began reading them, her full lips moving as she did so.

In a short time she laid the script aside. It was then I asked what kind of parts she liked the best.

''Serious ones,'' she replied, raising her naturally arched eyebrows. She had been posing in profile. Now, she turned her face toward me as she answered my question.

''Although people seemed to like me in 'Casablanca,' I cared for myself less in that part than in the serious roles I have played. It was for this reason that I was so delighted when, after I saw Mr. Hemingway, he wanted me to play Maria in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.'

''But you must not forget,'' she said, ''that I come from Sweden and we Swedes are very different from Americans. By nature we are a more serious-minded people. Perhaps it is the ruggedness of the country and the rigors of our climate that make us so. We are not frivolous. The lighter side of life is less important. We even take our pleasures gravely.

''This sober approach to life is evident in all our arts. Our paintings have comparatively little light-heartedness in them and the sunlight they depict is a cold sunlight. One of our most popular authors is that tragic playwright Strindberg whose works never caught on here. I you have ever read his 'Fraulein Julie' you will realize that he does not write the kind of plays that Americans would flock to. Yet I would love to play that part.

''Even our humor is different from yours. There is always a note of fantasy about it. Carl Milles expresses it in some of his sculpture. His quaint dolphins and strange mermen and mermaids are typical of the lighter side of our country and even his dancing girls portray a spirit of meditation.

''Now you understand why I like serious parts better and why my favorite American authors are Hemingway and Steinbeck.''

She went on to compare Hollywood with Rasunda where Swedish films are made. She said that when she came here she just stared about like a ''silly goose,'' although she had been acting in Sweden for some time.

Her first screen appearance took place a quarter of a century ago - she was a year old at the time - when her father made a movie of her birthday party. He continued to take pictures of such parties up to the time of his death when she was 13. She is now doing the same thing for her daughter.

''I always wanted to be an actress,'' she said, ''but my father, who sang well himself, wanted me to be a singer. So to please him I studied singing for three years, but got nowhere. All the time, however, I was acting for my own pleasure. I ransacked the attic for old clothes which I put on while I recited.''

At school in Stockholm her dramatic talent was recognized and when she was 17 she won a scholarship in the Royal Dramatic School. At the end of a year she was on the road to fame and one of her pictures, ''A Woman's Face,'' was voted the best film of 1938 at an international exposition.

Even before, her reputation had spread to this country. Hollywood saw another Garbo in her and tried to lure her here. But the tall young blond actress refused to come. She was doing well, she did not need any more money than she was making and besides she was married to Dr. Lindstrom, then a young dentists. To leave Sweden would mean breaking home ties. It was not until four years ago last April that she arrived here with a nice fat contract.

When she reached Hollywood she realized that she did not fit with its goings-on. She slipped away early from a party given in her honor and went to her room a puzzled young woman.

Notwithstanding all she had heard about the place there were surprises when she started in on her first picture. The extravagances of the studio appalled her. She could not understand the reason for the number of retakes. Buying fresh flowers daily for a scene when paper ones, to her mind, would serve, seemed like throwing money away.

She said nothing and kept much to herself - often a method of becoming unpopular. But strangely enough it did not work that way in her case. People realized that she was shy and strange here and they did not mistake her shyness for standoffishness. When an actress goes to a supermarket and wheels a basketful of provisions up to the checking desk, people are not likely to regard her as upstage.

After she had finished her first picture, ''Intermezzo,'' she went back to Sweden. The next year she returned, followed soon by her husband, who had by then decided to give up dentistry for medicine. They took a small house in Rochester, N.Y., where he attended medical school. Whenever she was not working on a picture or appearing on the stage she flew there. There was but on trouble. Her admirers of both sexes ran her and her husband ragged. They could not even go skating without a gallery.

Ever since she appeared in ''Casablanca,'' Miss Bergman has had an apartment in Beverly Hills where she lives with her daughter. Dr. Lindstrom is an intern in a San Francisco hospital. Nevertheless Miss Bergman is still the housewife and her husband the master of the house.

Like the proverbial busman who goes for a ride on his day off, Miss Bergman goes in for making movies as a hobby. She carries a small movie camera about her and has it near her even when she is working. When I had finished my drawing of her she asked me to pose with it so that she might take a picture. There was something almost childlike about her as she did this.

According to those who have worked with her, she never shows any signs of artistic tantrums. Between shots she can often be seen sitting quietly in her dressing room, reading a novel. She is untiring and seems to radiate a cheerfulness which affects not only her director and fellow actors but also the others at work on the set. Most of ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' was filmed at an elevation of 8,000 feet. She alone seemed to be unaffected by the altitude. When making an OWI picture in Minnesota she skied to location and laughed at the other members of the company who complained of the cold.

Gregory Ratoff, a hard man to work for, laid aside his boisterous manner when he directed her pictures; he also confessed that at the end of the day he was exhausted while she was still as fresh as when she started. Practically every one of her directors says she is one of the best readers of lines working for the screen and that she is more willing to adopt suggestion than any other star.

Although she accepts criticism and apologizes if she slips on a line, she is more or less set in her ideas about costumes. She refuses to adopt Hollywood's ideas of what she should wear in her pictures, and many a startling gown has been discarded for a simple dress of her own choosing. She is just as positive in her notions concerning make-up and she applies it herself.

''Acting,'' she told me, ''is a hard job which I enjoy. After I have studied my part and get the feel of it, I spend a tremendous amount of time in building up the characterization. I study every sentence, because every work and sentence must add something to the development of the character.

''I work so hard before the camera and on the stage that I have neither the desire nor the energy to act in my private life. There I prefer to be myself and forget all about audiences and look after my family.''

Happy 96th Birthday and RIP Ingrid Bergman

Today is a bittersweet day for any Ingrid Bergman fan. It marks the 96th birthday of our beloved star but it also marks the 29th anniversary of her death.

Personally, I think it's amazing that she lived her live in an exact fashion. Her life was full of so much drama and was, at times, more tumultuous than anyone should have to deal with and to finish in such a clean way, seals the deal.

To me, Ingrid is a personal hero. She has such an interesting life story and was hanging out with the coolest people during a century that was such a fast paced, artistic yet square place to exist. She faced a rare problem of being an icon almost just off the bat and then was publicly demonized.

She was in some of the most beautiful and famous movies ever made. Her face was captured by film, photos, art (Warhol) and admired by youn

g and old. She was friends with Hemingway and romanced with Robert Capa. She worked with Hitchcock, David O. Selznick, Victor Fleming among others. Was on screen with Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Bing Crosby, Liv Ulman, and of course, Humphrey Bogart. She won 3 Oscars and an Emmy. A pretty impressive life.

She has touched us all enough to read about her 29 years after her passing. I never met her, you probably didn't either. But we've all read or watched her so much that she has made it beyond the eyes and brain and into the soul. That's major Ingrid power.

Today is a day to keep Ingrid on the brain. Watch your favorite Ingrid movie, listen to Woody Guthrie or "As Time Goes By" and just soak it up. You'll have a to wait another year to honor her birth and death. Just another thing I admire about her, efficiency.

Thank you Ingrid for giving me inspiration and someone to admire. I am now in the film industry as well and forging ahead. I'd like to paraphrase what Pia said about her mother... "She was like a train on the tracks. If you weren't on board, get out of her way."

Happy Birthday Ingrid Bergman.

Ingrid in the Bathroom/WC/Restroom/Toilet/Loo

Hello everyone! I'm back.

Once again from a long hiatus, but I am back none-the-less. How is everyone? Still in love w

ith Ingrid Bergman? I know I am. I might be even more smitten these days... Because I have been at some events that showcased her beautiful face, talent and persona. Let me fill you in...

I went to a Los Angeles crew screening of the new movie Bridesmaids. It was at the Westwood Theater here in L.A. and in the bathroom I found a funny and pleasant surprise... Photos of Ingrid from Casablanca! After I stopped laughing, I took a photo of the photo and freaked out several ladies waiting in line. It was worth taking the picture though. Just made me feel more connected to Ingrid, this time in a truly intimate setting. Lol.

I think this is appropriate, don't you? It's not like she was hanging over or near the toilets. Just in the powder/waiting room outside. It was cute and I liked it. The movie was awesome too.

The second thing I would like to post about... Is the TCM Classic Film Festival... but now that I think about it-- I think I'm going to keep you in suspense and work on a post solely dedicated to that event. HINT: It was fun :)