After last weekend's Barry Manilow concert disrupted a full weekend of classic movies at the Louisville Palace, everything is back to normal this week for the theater's summer movie series. For those just tuning in, the theme this year is The Director Series: Hollywood's Golden Age. Film-lovers are being given a special treat this weekend: a Humphrey Bogart double feature!
It starts tonight with John Huston's 1941 film The Maltese Falcon [4].
This film marked Huston's directorial debut, after which he went on to helm other classics such as
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
,
The African Queen
, and
Moulin Rouge
(not the musical). Bogart stars here as Sam Spade, a private detective in search of a jewel-encrusted falcon statue. The film also stars Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the Palace will screen one of the greatest films of all time: Michael Curtiz' 1942 film
Casablanca [5]
. Here, Bogart plays Rick, a bar owner stuck in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, a Kafkaesque way-station for those awaiting passage to America. All he wants is to run his restaurant and get by, but his life is disrupted by the appearance of an old flame – Ilsa, played to perfection by the gorgeous Ingrid Bergman. This is a film of intense beauty, both technically and thematically, and any opportunity to see it in a theater setting, let alone in the marvelous Louisville Palace, should be taken advantage of.
The Louisville Palace is located at 625 S.
4
th
Street. Films start at 8:00 and admission is a measly $5. Further information, as well as advance ticket sales, can be found at the Louisville Palace website [6].
Image: Internet Movie Database