#3 Casablanca

1942
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains

Probably my personal favorite on the whole list, this is Casablanca.  Set in unoccupied France during World War 2, we meet Rick- American owner of a cafe in Casablanca (a waiting point for people looking to get to America.)  With transit papers hard to get, most are found on the black market.  When Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund come to Casablanca looking for their transit papers, it is Rick who has them instead of the original black market go-between.  But there's a catch - Ilsa and Rick have met before- in Paris, before the war, and fell in love.  Ilsa left Rick at the train station with no explanation.  Turns out that she was already married to Laszlo and thought him dead in a concentration camp.  So here they are, in Casablanca.  Laszlo a wanted man by the German army, and Rick with only 2 transit papers.  (All this happening with German soldiers in Casablanca waiting for them to make a move, and the prefect -Captain Renault- of Casablanca who takes no sides but is trying to impress the Germans) So..... Ilsa still loves him, but respects her husband who has become a symbol of freedom and righteousness in the war.  What's a girl to do?! She tells Rick he has to think for the both of them, so he does... I won't spoil the ending but what a movie!  Really I think probably the best one so far.  It has some of my favorite actors in Henreid and Rains, and you can't go wrong with Bogart and Bergman.   If you haven't seen this movie, there's probably something wrong with you.

Trivia: Rick never says "Play it again, Sam." He says: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can take it, I can take it so Play it!". Ilsa says "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By"'. The incorrect line has become the basis for spoofs in movies such as A Night in Casablanca (1946) and Play It Again, Sam (1972).

In the famous scene where the "Marseillaise" is sung over the German song "Watch on the Rhine", many of the extras had real tears in their eyes; a large number of them were actual refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and were overcome by the emotions the scene brought out.

Up Next: The Godfather