A magical movie for a magical night in Phnom Penh

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2007)

What could have been another piece of dreary American propaganda for WWII, turned out- by a strange piece of magic- to be a cinematic masterpiece, and ultimately a legend. Was it the director, Michael Curtiz? Was it the black and White photography, was it Dooley Wilson's haunting voice. Was it the superb casting? Who knows? but to think of anyone else playing the roles would have been insanity. Another Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Bogart or Bergman. Impossible.
About four years ago I was travelling around south-east Asia and in Phnom Penh (in Cambodia) and one night I went to the Foreign Correspondants club. It was my birthday and I was on my own so I stayed for a few drinks. I then found out that the club was showing THE ORIGINAL Casablanca. The benches the audience sat on were wooden. There were geckos running around the ceiling, no air conditioning, and it was heaven. The visa pronounced vezay, the gloved hand holding the 'aeroplane' Sydney Greenstreet swatting flies. Wonderful.