Casablanca Movie

Hollywood screenwriters should know a good movie script when they see one, and "Casablanca" has been crowned the best screenplay ever. The members of the Writers Guild of America voted Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch's "Casablanca" into the top spot of the guild's 101 greatest screenplays.

Tommy Lee Jones will take the Humphrey Bogart role in a staged reading of the screenplay of the 1942 film classic "Casablanca," to be performed at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood at 4 p.m. April 3. James Cromwell and Theodore Bikel are also in the cast; the role played by Ingrid Bergman hasn't been cast. The event is a fundraiser for the Actors' Fund of America. Tickets, available through Ticketmaster, range from $28 to $2,500 (the latter includes the cast party).

A musical based on the 1942 movie "Casablanca" will make its world debut in China next month, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday. The film starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as former lovers in Casablanca, Morocco, during World War II. The stage version in Beijing will feature tap dance numbers and the theme "As Time Goes By," Xinhua said. The project was developed by the China Arts and Entertainment Group and Time Warner Inc., said Yang Xuan, a China Arts spokeswoman.

Here's a look at some of the myths and legends behind the making of the film. Though Ronald Reagan was announced along with Ann Sheridan and Dennis Morgan in 1941 as the stars of the upcoming Warner Bros. production of "Casablanca," that was never the case. It was just a press release from either the studio publicist or a press agent to keep the three performers' names in the public eye.

Call it a perfect Hollywood ending. A small-town guy gets jilted by a big-league movie studio when the prop he bought at an auction 23 years ago turns out to be a fake. He sues and the studio settles. But here's where the plot thickens. Plaintiff-protagonist Robert Noe tells the studio he doesn't want money, just the real goods: an authentic chair from the 1942 movie classic "Casablanca."

Michael Walsh knew when he was "on a literary suicide mission" when he signed on to write "As Time Goes By," a novel that follows the characters introduced in the movie "Casablanca." How dared anyone tamper with "Casablanca," which Walsh himself calls the Holy Grail of Hollywood films? The book--which goes on sale today--wasn't even out when the first hate mail was posted on bookseller Amazon.

"This material has resisted sequels for almost 60 years," says Aljean Harmetz. As far as she's concerned, things should have stayed that way. She's talking about "Casablanca." Not only is it her favorite film. The former New York Times reporter is a "Casablanca" scholar, having written "Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca--Bogart, Bergman and World War II" (Hyperion, 1992).