Casablanca: wasn't that special !

I do love classic cinema and have blogged before my hope that a local cinema would take to showing retro films with some regularity. It turns out that the place going retro is Silver City.

September's film is Casablanca, it played tonight and again on Sunday, Sept. 26. The venue was one of their larger cinemas, number 4, that I am guessing holds about 400. The place was close to full and why not ?!

One of Hollywood's great films for $5, taxes in. Not only was it nice to see a large crowd but also to the age range. Nearly half must have been in their twenties or younger and you could tell from the gasps and chatter that, for many, it was their first time seeing the film.

I've seen Casablanca a dozen times before but never on a big screen. Even though I knew the scenes and most of the dialogue I was amazed at the body language, the subtle twitches and other nuances that you just just cannot see on a TV screen.

There's a different film every month. October features Hitchcock's classic Psycho !

March 20, 1943, Winnipeg Tribune

Casablanca premiered in Winnipeg on March 11, 1943 at the Capitol, (though there was a one-night 'sneak preview at the Uptown on February 25, 1943.) This was just six weeks after the January 1943 'Casablanca Conference' between Sir Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt put the city's name on everyone's lips.

Ben Lepkin, a Tribune reviewer, said of the film: "The lush setting is the background for a swiftly paced melodrama played superbly by a top flight cast" (read the full review here).