My Favourites from Reel Life (Part III)

Continued from:

1. My Favourites from Reel Life

2. My Favourites from Reel Life (Part II)

It’s been some time since the last blog! Let’s continue the journey.

Casablanca

Had to mention Casablanca eventually! Might as well do it now. Very good movie. You can call it the mother of all Love Stories and you would be right on the money. It is almost the yardstick on which love stories ought to be rated.

One look at the protagonist Rick Blaine, and you know that nobody other than Bogart could have pulled it off! Ingrid Bergman is the epitome of beauty and sensuality in the film. Man, does she light up the screen! Some very tight direction by Mr. Michael Curtiz and you know you have a winner here.The city of Casablanca here is almost a character on its own, surprising, considering the fact that the entire picture was shot in the studio, except for the sequence showing Major Strasser’s arrival, filmed at Van Nuys Airport!The story is powerful but a little cliched, considering modern sensibility, but one has to remember that this was the time (the movie was released in 1942) before cliches were invented, in a matter of speaking!The film is also known for it’s contribution of quotations and one-liners to popular culture. Here are some of my favourites:

1. “Play it once, Sam, for old times’ sake.”

2. “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

3. “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

4. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” (THE BEST ONE!)

For people who like keeping score here is the Oscar recognition given to the picture as per Wikipedia:

• Academy Award for Best Picture – Warner Bros. (Hal B. Wallis, producer)
• Academy Award for Directing – Michael Curtiz
• Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay – Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch

It was also nominated for another five Oscars:

• Academy Award for Best Actor – Humphrey Bogart
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Claude Rains
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black-and-white – Arthur Edeson
• Academy Award for Film Editing – Owen Marks
• Academy Award for Original Music Score – Max Steiner

Last but not the least I would like to mention two of the actors in supporting roles: Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre

Very good performances by both and it must be mentioned here that they worked successfully together in many a classic movie and also that they were both pioneering character actors in Hollywood.

I’ll end the review with one of the highlights of the movie, the song As Time Goes By sung by Dooley Wilson (playing the character of Sam).

To be continued…

My Favourites from Reel Life (Part II)

Continued from My Favourites from Reel Life (Part I)

Without further ado, I would now like to mention my favourite films, in no particular order:

Chariots of Fire

This was an absolute treat to watch. I have seen the movie only a couple of times, and it’s been a long time since then, but as with all good movies it has left a lasting impression.

Chariots of Fire is a British film released in 1981 and is based on the true story of British athletes preparing for and competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture. The title is a quotation from the hymn Jerusalem which is a setting of a poem by William Blake.

Great films are those where a couple scenes stay with the viewer long after the story and characters fade in one’s memory. This movie is no exception. The Trinity Great Court run at Trinity College, Cambridge, which involves running around the court before the clock finishes striking 12, and the scene where Eric Liddell (one of the protagonists) tells his sister (who worries he is too busy running to concern himself with their missionary work) he feels inspired: “I believe that God made me for a purpose… (the mission), but He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure,” come readily to mind.

The film is also special for me because of the theme tune of the picture by Vangelis, which comes up in the background score several times during the course of the film.

Rather than raving about it, I would like my readers to draw their own conclusions about this particular theme. Check it out below!

To be continued…