Back to All Events

Valentine's Day - Special Screening! Romance Classic: "Casablanca" (1942)

Don't miss this all-time romance classic in the intimate Cactus Theater!

Don't miss this all-time romance classic in the intimate Cactus Theater!

“Casablanca” is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on Murray Burnettand Joan Alison’s unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick’s. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid; it also features Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate who must choose between his love for a woman and helping her Czech Resistance leader husband escape the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.

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 was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier.  It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943. The film was a solid if unspectacular success in its initial run.

"Casablanca" went on to win three Academy Awards – Best Picture, Director (Curtiz) and Adapted Screenplay(the Epsteins and Koch) – and gradually its reputation grew. Its lead characters, memorable lines and pervasive theme song have all become iconic and the film consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films in history.

Reserved seat tickets only $5 for this special Valentine's evening screening!

Later Event: February 17
The Band of Heathens