It’s time yet again to Social Distance the heck out of this epidemic and watch a movie together while still staying in three different states: North Carolina, Florida, and California. Next up for the Tri-State Watch Party, we’re going with a classic: Casablanca.
The Netflix Watch Party app ended up being a little complicated, so we just set a time to hit “play” and then chatted through instant messenger. Click the jump to read some highlights from the conversation.
The Players: Elizabeth, Hannah, Kathryn, Nathan, and the parents (Parents represented here by Marian, because Dad would chisel a message in a stone tablet before typing anything on a phone.)
Hannah
Probably gonna be a slight delay
Kathryn
Here too, making popcorn…
Elizabeth
Nathan
No problem.
Hannah
Mom is a state of matter that expands to take just a little bit more time than is allotted
Elizabeth
Heh, non-newtonian time management
Nathan
Hannah
Okay, we’re here
Elizabeth
Ready!
Marian
Me too.
Elizabeth
Pressing play?
Hannah
Kathryn and Nathan?
Elizabeth
Possibly popcorn delay?
Kathryn
Few more minutes!
Popcorn’s almost ready.
Hannah
Oh I missed who was making popcorn
I want popcorn…
Elizabeth
I had it last week, apparently I inspired Kathryn and Nathan
Hannah
We .just. finished dinner but it still sounds good
Kathryn
Ready!
Elizabeth
Hitting play!
Hannah
Going!
Nathan
Auto playing!
Hannah
“One-take Bartlet, that’s what Jack Warner used to call me…”
Nathan
This is one of my favorite films!
Elizabeth
Yay!
Kathryn
Peter Lorre, a man with over one hundred acting credits, and I’ve seen…four of them?
Hannah
What else did this director direct?
Good thing the Mediterranean doesn’t have refugee crises these days…
Elizabeth
Lordy
Kathryn
Heh.
Nathan
Kathryn
Director did “We’re No Angels” with Bogart
Not a lot else I’ve seen.
And that would be the weirdest pronunciation of the word “vultures” ever
Hannah
Eesh “We Germans must get used to all climates…”
Kathryn
And Claude Raines’s character would be…a collaborator?
Or would people in the French army not have a choice?
Hannah
Probably the kindest way to put it
Kathryn
“In cash” probably means “you’ll be floating facedown in the harbor afterward.”
Nathan
I’d say that was a good possibility.
Hannah
I love long shots that require such excellent blocking
Peter Lorre is the best
Nathan
Totally.
Hannah
Anything he played, Dad would play
Elizabeth
Seriously
Nathan
No one plays a toadie any better.
This by far the most quotable film ever made.
Kathryn
Let’s see, Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea…what else have I seen Lorre in.
Hannah
Arsenic and Old Lace
Nathan
Fritz Lang’s M.
The 39 Steps.
Kathryn
I think the Best Pick Podcast pointed out what a wonderfully unrealistic Macguffin those letter of transit are.
Hannah
Yes!
Kathryn
A magic document that no German is allowed to question or ignore, no matter who’s carrying them? Why not!
Hannah
A Black man in Africa performing spiritual-derived music for white refugees
Nathan
Ferrari was also in The Maltese Falcon.
Elizabeth
you tell im Sam
Marian
Who is the old man?
Nathan
Sydney Greenstreet.
Marian
TX. I thought so
Kathryn
“Yeees boss.”
Elizabeth
“Go with her and be sure she gets home”
“Yes boss”
“And come right back.”
dejected “yes boss..”
Kathryn
Claude Raines gets ALL the best lines.
And he delivers them so well.
Nathan
Several members of the cast were also in To Have and Have Not.
Hannah
Claude Raines looks like a Michael Palin character
(It’s the mustache and twinkly eyes)
Elizabeth
Agreed
Poor toady
Nathan
This is the movie Peter Lorre is best known for and I think he’s in all of two scenes.
Hannah
*turns chair around* I know the story of another WWII eastern European refugee named Laszlo whose fate changed course in northern Africa…
(It’s The English Patient)
Nathan
Ah!
Kathryn
Oo, didn’t know that!
Also, another favorite line. “What is your nationality?” “I’m a drunkard.”
Nathan
Hannah
Heh “Are my eyes really brown?”
Nathan
In walks trouble!
Elizabeth
Sam knows this won’t go well
Kathryn
What is that symbol?
Nathan
Ugh.
Kathryn
Ugh, “boy”
Nathan
That “the boy” line makes me cringe every time I hear it.
Hannah
God, right?
But also, heh, “It’s a little game we play…”
Omg I’m suddenly reminded of the MDWAP Countess Zara scenes
Elizabeth
Heh
Hannah
“It was a sexy version of ‘A Walk in the Black Forest'”
Christ with the soft ficus
Focus
Haha
Kathryn
Yes, every single time she’s the only person in the frame.
Nathan
Got to make her look dreamy, ya know!
Such a great song!
Kathryn
Heh. Scoot away Sam.
Elizabeth
Dun dun DUUUUN
They still managed to soft focus her half of the screen
Nathan
Creative use of f-stops.
Hannah
Are there any pop culture depictions of German-occupied Paris?
Nathan
There’s got to be.
Kathryn
A bottle of your finest Drinking Alone, bartender.
Hannah
Hahaha
Cigarettes and scotch, gives me a hangover just looking at it
Nathan
CLASSIC!
Hannah
Wow he cleaned up nice for this flashback
Kathryn
I was just thinking that, so young.
Nathan
Another classic!
Elizabeth
Foreshadowing!
Hannah
DON’T WASTE THE BOOZE
Nathan
Love the effect of the rain making the ink on the letter run.
Elizabeth
I was just thinking that
MORE BOOZE WASTING
Hannah
STOP WASTING THE BOOZE, RICK
Elizabeth
hahah
Nathan
IT’S RICK’S PLACE, HE CAN WASTE THE BOOZE IF HE WANTS TO!!
Elizabeth
Hee
The glistening in her eyes is very distracting
Hannah
Very unrealistic portrayal of a drunk, imho. Now if he nose-dived onto the table to suck up the spill…
Elizabeth
hahaha
Kathryn
“Aren’t you the kind that tells.”
Hannah
What was the span between then and now?
Nathan
About a year, year and a half?
France fell in summer of 1940, I think.
Hannah
Heh “You mustn’t underestimate American blundering” boy howdy
Nathan
He said it was December 41 earlier.
Elizabeth
“I’m filling out the form now, we haven’t quite decided if he committed suicide or died trying to escape..”
Ah, the guy who wanted to buy Sam
Hannah
God that whole section of Raiders of the Lost Ark is a tribute to this
Nathan
Kathryn
You’re right, damn.
Elizabeth
Seriously
Hannah
If I’d written a college paper about it, it would’ve been called “Fezzes and Fedoras”
Nathan
Elizabeth
Hee
“I’m sorry I wasn’t in a condition to receive you last night” is a great way to say “I’m sorry I was shitfaced.”
Hannah
What American pronounces it “BORbawn”?!
Elizabeth
I KNEW she was married
Kathryn
Love the look on Rick’s face when he realizes he was the person she was cheating on her husband with.
Elizabeth
Hey Kathryn, does Lazlo have the teeniest bit of a Hiddleston vibe about him?
Hannah
It’s the hairline
Elizabeth
THAT’S it, a little bit the eyebrows
Kathryn
A little. I think he looks a bit bland.
Elizabeth
Oh yeah, he’s definitely the guy keeping the girl from being with the guy she wants
Kathryn
If they remade this then Hiddleston would probably be cast as Lazlo.
Elizabeth
Heh, I’d watch that
Kathryn
Lovely little throwaway moment with the pickpocket
Elizabeth
Least subtle pickpocket ever
“I told my men to be especially destructive, you know how that impresses the Germans.”
Kathryn
Ah, and Evette would be seen as a collaborator
Elizabeth
Because she’s hooking up with a German?
Nathan
Yes.
Elizabeth
Does she have motives other than making Rick jealous?
Kathryn
Probably not.
Hannah
Why do I know the fat old guy at the table?
Elizabeth
Heh, “what watch” “ten watch.”
Hannah
Or does he just look like someone from Christmas Carol?
Kathryn
I think in a current day movie Captain Renoit would be a pretty disgusting bad guy with the exit visas-for-sex stuff.
Elizabeth
Yup
Kathryn
Body-slammed by a cat.
Elizabeth
Awwwwwwwwww
Nathan
Hannah
Hah nice eye roll from Sam
Elizabeth
Ah, the young man who’s got no idea what his wife’s up to
Kathryn
Yep
Elizabeth
Rick. Big ol softie
Kathryn
Ugh. “Romances ”
Hannah
“We’ll be there at 6!”
“I’ll be there at 1”
Elizabeth
Hee
Uh oh
Kathryn
Some impressive cock-blocking there.
Nathan
Take that you tone deaf Nazi bastards!
Elizabeth
YAY
Kathryn
Hannah
Oh god when you have to drown out the away fans with your own cheers
Nathan
Kathryn
Favorite line coming up…
Love it!
Hannah
Heh
Elizabeth
Hee, especially followed up with “…your winnings” “oh thank you ..”
Oh she was messing around while he was in a CONCENTRATION CAMP
Was that whole “were you lonely” “yes I was” discussion basically him saying he figured it out?
Nathan
Maybe.
Elizabeth
Oo, I did not expect the gun
Kathryn
So she thought she was a widow, basically.
Elizabeth
OH, that changes things
Hannah
It’s a good dilemma
Elizabeth
Very
Nathan
Booze: the answer to everything!
Elizabeth
TRUTH
Hannah
I just remembered the bar on Main Street was called the Blue Parrot
(Before it was Good Times, of the drummer and the beer-spilling incident)
Elizabeth
OH. Now I know what you mean.
John and I were lucky we didn’t get slaughtered
Kathryn
Ah, a double-double cross!
Elizabeth
“Louie I wouldn’t like to shoot you but I will”
OH, I forgot the “we’ll only have Paris” line was from this
I remembered the “Hill of Beans” line tho
Nathan
Elizabeth
BLAM
Did the “Usual Suspects” line come from this, or what that a common phrase anyway?
Nathan
It came from this.
Along with a lot of other lines.
Elizabeth
Truly
Kathryn
Yay!
Nathan
LOVE THAT MOVIE!
Elizabeth
AAAA, I didn’t know “beautiful friendship” came from this!
Kathryn
I feel like the top ten best quotes on imdb are ALL from this movie.
Nathan
I said earlier, it’s the most quotable movie ever made!
Elizabeth
Seriously!
So this came out literally in the middle of the second world war?
Nathan
Yep!
Hannah
Kathryn, did you have something you wanted Mom to see?
Elizabeth
Eee
Kathryn
Oo yes, do a YouTube search for “At Home With Olaf: Adventure”
Elizabeth
You don’t have to have seen any of the Frozen movies to like it
Thumbnail will probably have a red autumn leaves image in it
Hannah
Got it
Go?
Elizabeth
Go!
Kathryn
Play!
Hannah
Hahaha she has requested an immediate rewatch
Elizabeth
hahahah
Kathryn
Elizabeth
They’ve released a ton of those Olaf At Home videos, they’re all clever, but that one made me literally laugh out loud.
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