Beijing This Month | Business Beijing | Beijing Official Guide | Map of Beijing | Beijing - The Magnificent City | Beijing Investment Guide | Beijing Fact File
Article featured in Beijing This Month, March 2005
Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government,  Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism

Beijing 2008 Olympics

Arts & Culture
Beijing Basics
Business
Dining
Editorial
Health & Wellness
Love & Life
Nightlife
Shopping
Sport
Classifieds
Get by in Beijing
English 1000, Chinese 1000

Three Unforgettable Moments

2005/03/01
Edited by Winnie Li, photos courtesy of IC

As Time Goes By

Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) arrives at Rick's on the arm of her resistance-hero husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Recognizing the piano player, Sam (Dooley Wilson), as her ex-lover Rick's friend, she asks him to play "their" song. Sam says he can't remember, but Ilsa insists: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'. I'll hum it for you." Rick storms over, not noticing Ilsa. "I thought I told you never to play that again," he snaps at Sam. And then he sees her…

Platform in the Rain

After an idyllic summer of romance in Paris, the Nazis advance and Risck, Ilsa and Sam are set to flee. But at the railway station in the pouring rain, Rick waits in vain for Ilsa. As the whistle blows and Sam drags his boss and friend away from the gate toward the train, Rick's face is a frozen mask of heartbreak, the rain streaming down like the tears Humphrey Bogart never shed on screen.

The Last Embrace

Rick has the papers Ilsa and her husband need to escape Casablanca, but he refuses to give them up. Lazslo asks why. "Ask your wife," snarls Rick. Late at night, Ilsa goes alone to Rick's bar and offers him whatever he wants. He wants Ilsa, of course, and the lights demurely go out as he takes her.



 
*