Even if you’ve never seen Casablanca, chances are you’ve quoted it. The 1942 romantic epic has no fewer than six lines in the AFI’s top 100 movie quotes of all time, and they’ve been deeply embedded into popular culture ever since.

That dialogue might be one of the main reasons why Casablanca has endured for so long. The film was never expected to be much more than another production line wartime romance. Humphrey Bogart was a popular star, but not really considered to be a romantic lead, while Ingrid Bergman was a relative unknown. It was shot on a modest budget and initial box office projections were middling at best.

And yet, Casablanca caught on. A genuine word of mouth success, it ultimately won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Today it is widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made.

But will all that mean anything to our resident black and white refusenik? We’re joined this week by long-time friend of the pod Martin Gardner, a classic cinema aficionado who brought this to the table to round off our run of classic Hollywood movies.

Tune into this week’s episode to hear Martin and our thoughts on the novelty of watching a WW2 movie before WW2 was over, the most misquoted line in movie history, the Madonna-Ashton Kutcher remake that could have been and much more.

We also pitch some drinking games to accompany your viewing, check in with our listeners for their reactions and try out some sequel ideas for one of the most famous films never to be remade or franchised – so far.

If you enjoy the show, hit subscribe to receive a brand new episode every Monday morning. You can also leave us a review on your podcatcher of choice, which really helps our analytics and our ability to attract new listeners. Finally, if you truly love us, please consider signing up for our Patreon for as little as $2 a month. In return, you’ll receive access to a host of incentives including a regular bonus show, a promo slot on our main feed, the opportunity to select the subject of a future episode and much more.

Next week, we go from one kind of classic to another, with a film that I’ve been looking forward to for over 200 episodes. Until then, happy listening and remember – the line is play it, Sam…