Breaking News
Posted: Monday, November 26, 2007 5:05 PM by Sam Singal
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
The "breaking news" banners are up on all the cable networks as a result of what we learned toward the end of our afternoon editorial meeting, when our own Kelly O'Donnell called in from the White House to report a health abnormality regarding the vice president. While to simply report that he was taken to George Washington University Hospital is a bit misleading, because his doctor is based there, it does appear he has an electrical problem with the upper chamber of his heart -- an irregular heartbeat. Many Americans live regular lives with such a condition (ideally one that is properly treated) but because Vice President Cheney is who he is -- doctors are taking all precautions. We are right now re-arranging the broadcast to fit this story in -- we also have stories tonight about transportation, politics, the economy, Russia and more including the first of our special series on African-American women. Because my time is short and the hour is late, I'm thrilled that this is one of those days when my friend and co-conspirator Andy Franklin has written the great piece below.
As Time Goes By
There haven’t been many movies made so far about the war in Iraq -- or the war in Afghanistan. And the ones that do get made usually struggle to find an audience. That was pretty much the case during the war in Vietnam as well; most of the movies we associate with that war -- Apocalypse Now, Platoon, The Deer Hunter -- came out years after the war itself was over. That wasn’t the case with World War II. Perhaps because it was a more popular war, or because it was fought in an era before television, the Second World War was repeatedly dramatized and mythologized on the big screen even as its battles were being fought. One of the best examples of that also happens to be one of the most beloved films of all time: Casablanca, which premiered in New York City on November 26, 1942 - 65 years ago today.
We think of Casablanca as a timeless classic, but in 1942 it must have seemed like it was ripped straight from the headlines. In fact, few films in history have gotten the kind of topical bounce that Casablanca did. Throughout the making of the film, Morocco and its port city of Casablanca were under the control of Nazi-occupied France. But just two weeks before the movie came out, American forces under the command of Gen. George S. Patton fought their way into Casablanca and liberated it. (Patton himself was the subject of a major motion picture in 1970 -- a World War II movie released during the Vietnam war that became a favorite of President Richard Nixon). The liberation of Casablanca was thrilling news on the home front, and it anticipated by more than a year and a half the D-Day invasion of Europe.
Critics loved Casablanca. The day after it came out, The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther called it “a rich, suave, exciting and moving tale...a picture which makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap...a highly entertaining and even inspiring film.” Audiences loved it too; remember, it came out a little less than a year after Pearl Harbor, and there had been plenty of bad news from the war front since then. America’s military victory in Casablanca was not only welcome news; it also turned out to be a great advertisement for the movie of the same name. But that wasn’t all. Just two months later, with Casablanca still in theaters, the extraordinary news came that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were meeting to map out war strategy at a surprise summit in -- you guessed it -- Casablanca.
The New York Times, 1/27/43
It’s easy to imagine today that Casablanca would have been a hit -- and a classic -- no matter when it came out, or what was in the headlines at the time. But the fact is that it got an enormous boost 65 years ago because of the serendipitous timing of its release -- bringing the kind of favorable publicity (they didn’t call it “buzz” back then) that today’s movie moguls can only dream of.
