Includes copious video illustrations to demonstrate why Casablanca remains one of the greatest romantic movies ever produced
The original casting was not Humphrey Bogart but Ronald Reagan, not Ingrid Bergman but Warner Brothers contract actress Ann Sheridan. Ingrid Bergman was annoyed because the scriptwriters could never make up their minds if her character was going to end up by leaving Casablanca with Victor Laszlo or with Rick. Bogart had no confidence in himself as a romantic hero. The film’s composer, Max Steiner, hated “You Must Remember This.” And yet it worked. It won the Best Picture Oscar for 1943. And it still works. There will be plenty of illustrations to demonstrate why Casablanca remains one of the greatest romantic movies ever produced.
How to book this event:
The lecture is free to members, but guests are very welcome. Please email theartssocietyleatherhead@gmail.com to advise your attendance
THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Dr Colin Shindler
Colin Shindler has been lecturing on American and British social and cultural history for over 20 years. He was awarded his PhD at Cambridge University and subsequently lectured on film for their History Faculty between 1998 and 2019 exploring its relationship to modern British and American social and cultural history. He also teaches a variety of adult education courses at Madingley and Higham Hall in Cumbria and has lectured on cruises.
Between 1975 and 1999 he pursued a wide-ranging career as a writer and producer in television, radio and film. He won a BAFTA award for his production of A Little Princess. His production of Young Charlie Chaplin was nominated for a US Prime Time Emmy. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film Buster and was the producer of various television dramas such as Lovejoy and Wish Me Luck. He has written three novels as well as numerous television scripts and radio plays but regards his greatest cultural contribution as choosing the title music for the police series Juliet Bravo.
His most recent radio play Leni Goes to Hollywood, about the German film director Leni Riefenstahl, was broadcast on Radio 4 in August 2021. Other radio plays for R4 included How To Be An Internee (about P.G. Wodehouse) and one on Private Eye & The Profumo Affair (Rumours). Both were selected by the BBC as Drama Podcast of the Week
He is the author of Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches: The Controversial South Africa Cricket Tour of 1970 which was short listed for the MCC/Wisden Cricket Book of the Year in 2021. He is best known for his childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life which was short listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.
His other publications include Hollywood Goes To War: Films & American Society 1939-1952 and Hollywood in Crisis: Films & American Society 1929-1939. I'm Sure I speak for Thousands of Others (2017) was a history of unpublished letters written to the BBC and his non-fiction novel Garbo & Gilbert in Love was an imaginative reconstruction of the infamous relationship of the two MGM stars. He is currently working on the television adaptation of his novel Hollywood Nazis. His next book is titled Granada Land: Coronation Street and the Emergence of the North 1960-1970.
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