April 4, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II & IV • Page 17 Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of a movie classic by Dennis Seuling “Casablanca” is a motion picture classic that is beloved by millions. Warner Home Video has honored this wartime romantic drama with an elaborate box set to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of its theatrical release. World War II is raging and the Nazis are occupying North Africa, but Rick Blaine (Bogart) is sitting out the war in Casablanca as proprietor of the town’s most popular nightclub. The cynical Rick comes into possession of two letters of transit permitting their carriers to leave the country. To placate Nazi Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt), Police Captain Renault (Claude Rains) detains Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), who is accompanied by Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), Rick’s former love. Old flames are rekindled and Rick plans use the letters of transit to leave Casablanca with Ilsa. The film could have turned out to be a standard wartime drama, but everything clicked, including Michael Curtiz’s direction, a fresh and clever script, colorful gangsters, took on his first romantic lead in “Casablanca.” George Raft had unsuccessfully angled for the role of Rick. Bergman, who was then under contract with David O. Selznick, was borrowed by Jack Warner. Composer Max Steiner was against using “As Time Goes By,” and Warner finally agreed to let him write an original song for the movie, but by then Bergman had cut her hair for another movie and couldn’t re-shoot the scenes in which the song was heard. Sam, Rick’s singer-pianist, who performs the song, was nearly made a female, with Hazel Scott, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald considered for the role. Wilson, the eventual Sam, was a drummer and faked playing the piano. No movie has more memorable dialogue. “Here’s looking at you, kid” was voted as the Number 5 most famous movie quote by the American Film Institute. Other lines that live in memory include “We’ll always have Paris,” “Round up the usual suspects,” “The problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this world,” and “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friend- Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman characters, the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman, a first-class supporting cast (Rains, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson), a haunting song, “As Time Goes By,” that runs through the film as Rick and Ilsa’s love theme, and the immediacy of a war whose outcome was still undetermined. Bogart, who had previously played ship.” Contrary to popular belief, Bogie never said “Play it again, Sam.” That was the title of Woody Allen’s 1972 homage to “Casablanca.” Instead, Rick tells Sam, who had performed the song at Ilsa’s request, “You played it for her. You can play it for me.” The three-disc 70th Anniversary edition box set contains Blu-ray and DVD versions, a reproduction of the 1942 French film poster, a 60-page production art book, and a collectible coaster set. The 14 hours of bonus materials include two new documentaries: “Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic” and a look at the career of director Michael Curtiz; full-length documentaries on the history of Warner Brothers Studio and its founders; outtakes; a vintage cartoon; two radio broadcasts; several short subjects; audio commentary by Roger Ebert; and an introduction by Lauren Bacall. “War Horse” (Touchstone Home Entertainment) is Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the novel by Michael Morpurgo and the Tony Award-winning play. Set in rural (continued on Crossword page) The article about The Grille that appeared in the March 28 edition of Villadom TIMES incorrectly stated the days on which the Mahwah restaurant hosts live Correction of March 28 restaurant article musical performances. The article should have stated that live music is offered on both Thursdays and Saturdays.