Coming up next is 1951's thriller "Strangers On A Train", a story in which we see two men meet by chance on board a train. There a murder swap is planned. However, one man is only joking and the other is deadly serious.
The film's cast includes Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Norma Varden, Laura Treadwell, and Odette Myrtil.
Tennis star Guy Haines is traveling by train to have a meeting with his promiscuous wife, from whom he wants to obtain a divorce. While on the train, he strikes up a conversation with a man named Bruno Anthony.
The two men get to talking about their problems. Bruno thinks that maybe they can help each other out. Bruno will kill Guy's wife (enabling him to marry his girlfriend, a US senator's daughter), while Guy would kill Bruno's father, whom he hates. The idea is that the murders would go unsolved because nobody would suspect them of the killings.
Guy agrees that the idea is amusing, but nothing more. He doesn't want to participate in it. Bruno, however, has other plans. Guy leaves the train in a hurry and leaves behind his engraved cigarette lighter, which Bruno picks up and puts in his pocket.
Bruno goes ahead with the killing of Guy's wife, whom he finds out with another man having a good time at the local fair. He knocks off her glasses and then suffocates her. (Film students still study the technique used to film the murder through the glass lenses to this day.)
Afterwards, Bruno tracks Guy down and tells him that he's completed his part of the bargain, and now it is time for Guy to hold up his end of the "deal". Guy is horrified and threatens to go to the police. Bruno sufficiently frightens him into staying silent.
When he goes to visit his girlfriend Anne, he learns of his wife's murder from the police. Anne, her father Senator Morton, and her sister Barbara try to keep his spirits up in this difficult time.
It turns out that Guy is actually the number one suspect in the murder case. Any alibi that he had isn't useful because the man who can substantiate it was drunk at the time.
Bruno starts hounding Guy wherever he goes, standing in the shadows, and sending him notes.
Anne witnesses an exchange between the two men, and she thinks there is something very wrong with the situation.
Bruno continues making Guy uncomfortable, even appearing at one of his tennis matches and staring at him menacingly.
He even gets himself into the Morton social circle and shows up at a cocktail party they are hosting. Anne doesn't trust him, and neither does her sister Barbara.
Bruno talks with two guests, Mrs. Cunningham and Mrs. Anderson, about the ways to commit a perfect murder. He asks Mrs. Cunningham to volunteer her throat so he can show her what he means, generally speaking.
When Barbara sees him, she looks on with a scared look in her eye. Something about her glasses unnerves Bruno, and he loses his mind in the moment.
Poor Mrs. Cunningham ends up nearly choked to death, while Bruno passes out after having his hands pried off of her throat.
Anne comes to realize that Bruno killed Guy's wife, and she confronts Guy with the information. Guy admits that it is true, but he can't prove it.
Events bring Guy and Bruno back to the fairgrounds where the murder took place. A terrifying carousel ride brings things to a frightening conclusion with the happy result that Guy is completely exonerated.
Later, Guy and Anne are shown riding on a train, gazing happily into each other's eyes. A stranger tries to strike up a conversation, but they quickly move away.
And that's it for Strangers On A Train. In one of the scenes of the film, Ruth Roman hands Patricia Hitchcock a $10 bill. At the time of production, showing real U.S. money was illegal without the prior consent and permission of the U.S. Treasury Department. That law was later rescinded.
We also have a Hitchcock cameo. The famous director appears in a scene with Farley Granger carrying a huge double bass. His part in the film was directed by his daughter, Patricia.
Our next film is 1942's "Casablanca", a timeless story about a man and a woman who were previously involved and become thrown together in the midst of World War II in Morocco.
The film's cast includes Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson, S.Z. Sakall, Peter Lorre, Norma Varden, Helmut Dantine, Leonid Kinskey, and Frank Puglia.
Casablanca is a hub of activity. In order to get out of Europe, war refugees must make their way through occupied France and get to Casablanca where they can catch a plane bound for America. It's fraught with dangers and once one is in the city, one's safety is always in jeopardy.
On this particular evening, a man comes to Rick and tells him that he's got letters of transit signed by de Gaulle which cannot be rescinded. The man has a buyer lined up, but he asks Rick to hold onto them while he makes the final arrangements. Rick agrees. However, the man is arrested before the night is out, leaving Rick with the valuable travel documents.
Also at Rick's is Signor Ferrari, who runs a black market business and is a friend of Rick's. "As the leader of all
illegal activities in Casablanca, I am an influential and respected
man," he says about himself.
Laszlo does indeed arrive at the club alongside his beautiful wife Ilsa.
While her husband unsuccessfully sees about the travel papers, we get to know more about Ilsa. It seems she knows the pianist, Sam, from days she spent with Rick in Paris. She asks Sam to play "As Time Goes By". He doesn't want to, as Rick as expressly forbidden him from playing it.
And Rick is very surprised to see Ilsa. He is gracious throughout their time together, but as he watches them leave later, his eyes are full of regret.
When everybody goes home, Rick starts drinking. "Of all the gin
joints in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine," he moans. He instructs Sam to play "As Time Goes By". Once again, Sam hesitates. "If she can stand it, so can I," Rick says.
Through a series of flashbacks, we find out about Rick and Ilsa's past romance. "Here's looking at you, kid," he toasts her.
When they plan to escape German occupied France, Ilsa sends a note and disappears without an explanation. This causes Rick to become quite cynical about love.
Back in the present, Victor and Ilsa go to see Signor Ferrari to find out about the travel documents they were supposed to have. Ferrari tells them that he suspects the documents are with Rick.
Victor goes to Rick and asks him for his help with the documents. Rick refuses. When Victor asks the reason, Rick coldly tells him to ask his wife.
Ilsa later goes to see Rick. When begging and pleading won't work, she pulls a gun on him.
Ilsa weakens and eventually tells Rick why she left him in Paris. Victor was her husband then, but he was presumed dead while attempting to flee a concentration camp. She received word that he was alive and in hiding when she and Rick were to leave France. So, instead of going with Rick she went to her husband. Rick understands the situation she was in and agrees to help her. Ilsa, however, says she was in love with Rick then and still is now and doesn't think she will leave him again.
When the time comes for Victor to leave, Rick tells Ilsa she must go with him. When she protests, Rick tells her that she will come to regret the decision, "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon...and for the rest of your life." Ilsa reluctantly boards the waiting airplane with her husband. In order for them to get away safely, Rick (with the assistance of the corrupt police officer) must kill a high ranking Nazi officer.
Renault and Rick watch the airplane take off for Lisbon safely. Now that they must leave Casablanca, the two make plans to join the "Free French" movement in Brazzaville, Congo. "Louis," says Rick, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Helmut Dantine...............................Jan Brandel
Leonid Kinskey................................Sascha
Frank Puglia....................................Arab Vendor
And that's it for Casablanca. Considered one of the greatest films of all time, the movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1989, it was selected by the US Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry.
My favorite scene in the entire film has to be this one. Only three members of the cast were American born. A large number of the extras in the film were refugees from the Nazis in Germany. In this scene, the German officers in Rick's are loudly singing "Die Wacht Am Rhein". Victor Laszlo goes to the band and tells them to play "La Marseillaise", to which the entire club joins in drowning out the German anthem. The scene is especially touching because it is so poignant. Many of the actors had tears in their eyes as they sang the French anthem. This "dueling anthems" scene has become an iconic part of the movie.
