With Avalon’s vivid history evident in much of its Island architecture it seems a perfect setting to view a screening of the 1942 American romantic drama, “Casablanca.”
That is one reason that the Catalina Island Company will be screening the movie at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 30 in the Avalon Theatre, located in the iconic Casino Building.
The event is part of the Santa Catalina Island Company’s Classic Movie Nights started last summer by Scott Moyse, who runs the theatre.
With Avalon’s vivid history evident in much of its Island architecture it seems a perfect setting to view a screening of the 1942 American romantic drama, “Casablanca.”
That is one reason that the Catalina Island Company will be screening the movie at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 30 in the Avalon Theatre, located in the iconic Casino Building.
The event is part of the Santa Catalina Island Company’s Classic Movie Nights started last summer by Scott Moyse, who runs the theatre.
“In August, we started showing an old ‘Classic’ movie in the theatre after the regular movie,” Moyse said.
The classic movie screenings started with “Grease,” and moved onto other faire such as “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Bride of Frankenstein” (for Halloween) and more recently “White Christmas.”
The idea is for the Island Company to present some family-orientated entertainment and bring back some of the classic films that set the standard of American filmmaking. In addition, the Island Company rolls back the ticket prices for the movies, charging an admission fee of $5.
The evenings also allow people to view the films in the historic ambiance of the classic Casino building and the theatre that brings back memories when going out to a nighttime movie could be an experience of elegance and glamour, even if your fancy neighborhood movie theater was located in a quaint location, far from the glitz of Hollywood.
The films for the Classic Movie Nights are chosen by a vote of Island Company employees.
“Casablanca” seems a perfect fit for Avalon audiences, whether home grown or visitors to the Island, due in part to its plot and location. Casablanca was a crossroads and the biggest city in Morocco that most people arrived at by plane or boat—kind of like … Catalina. It is also steeped in history, just like Catalina.
There is also the connection of the movie’s patriotic themes and Avalon’s long history of sending many of its best young men off to fight in wars for their country.
Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and directed by Paul Henreid it is based on the unpublished stage play “Everybody Comes to Rick’s” by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.
The film also features Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson.
Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, love and virtue. He must choose between his love for a woman and helping her Czech Resistance leader husband escape from the Vichy-controlled Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.
The United States was actually torn beteween getting into or staying out of world War II at the time.
Although World War II began on September 1, 1939, as late as the beginning of December 1941, the time at which Casablanca is set, most Americans believed that the United States “should stay out of that phony war in Europe.”
In fact, a Gallup Poll taken during the first year of the war indicated that an overwhelming ninety-six percent of all Americans wanted the country to remain neutral.
However, by the time Casablanca premiered in November 1942, the bombing of Pearl Harbor had already occurred, and the United States had been at war for almost a year.
Because of factors such as World War II that pulled Hollywood screenwriters in many directions, the film had a handful of revolving writers.
Filming began on May 25, 1942 and ended on Aug. 3, and was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, and at Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys.
Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to be anything out of the ordinary; it was just one of hundreds of pictures produced by Hollywood every year. Casablanca had its world premiere on Nov. 26, 1942 in New York City, and was released on January 23, 1943 in the United States.
The film was a solid, if unspectacular, success in its initial run, rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier.
Despite a changing assortment of screenwriters frantically adapting an unstaged play and barely keeping ahead of production, and Bogart attempting his first romantic leading role, “Casablanca” won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its lead character, memorable lines and pervasive theme song have all become iconic, and the film consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films of all time.
