Casablanca at Hyde Park Picture House
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
There’s nothing quite like Classical Hollywood romances; the otherworldly black and white, the alluring mystery of the stars and the longing ache of lovers kept apart. Shimmering films such as To Have and Have Not, Notorious and Only Angels Have Wings have a particular magic that is seemly impossible to reproduce today.
Perhaps the most famous (and misquoted) of all the Hollywood romances is Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca. The WWII, Morocco-set film has a little bit of everything, with thrills, espionage and mystery entwined with the central love affair between Humphrey Bogart’s cynical bar owner and his old flame, played by Ingrid Bergman.
It’s a work full of cigarette smoke, booze and shabby glamour, but it also hangs heavy with the horror and melancholy of wartime. Eternally entertaining, this sharply written romance stands as a testament to the genius of the Hollywood studio system, and the evocative power of cinema.
For this special Philosophy & Film screening – presented by the International Society for Philosophy in Film – Hyde Park Picture House will be joined by Steven Brence, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of Oregon, for a post-film discussion.
