The Films of Humphrey Bogart
Friday, Feb. 3 – Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012
The inaugural event is a three-day film festival spotlighting Humphrey Bogart and the Golden Age of Hollywood, featuring Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Big Sleep.
Download the program guide for the Humphrey Bogart festival, which includes a biographical essay by author Richard Schickel and introductions by interim director Marc Pachter and curator Dwight Blocker Bowers.
Display Case: You Must Remember This
Feb. 1 – Summer 2012
Artifact Walls, First Floor
Coinciding with the grand opening of the Warner Bros. Theater, this display will showcase 20 feet of Hollywood memorabilia, including costumes worn by Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Clint Eastwood along with Harry Potter’s robe. Visitors will also see objects representing Warner Bros. Studio history such as Jack Warner’s silver telephone and Bugs Bunny animation drawings.
Casablanca
Friday, Feb. 3; 7 p.m.
Tickets Required: Visit the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program
(As of Jan. 3 this event is sold out.)
(Dir. Michael Curtiz, 1942, 102 min) One of the most beloved American films,Casablanca is a captivating wartime drama of adventurous intrigue and romance starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid. Set in Morocco during World War II, Bogart is a cynical American expatriate living in Casablanca. He owns and runs the most popular nightspot in town "Rick's Café Américain", an upscale nightclub that has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America.
When Rick's former lover, who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), Rick is pulled into both a love triangle and a web of political intrigue. Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick may be the only one who can help them.
Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, is among the special guests who introduce Casablanca and take questions from the audience afterward.
The Maltese Falcon
Saturday, Feb. 4; 2 p.m.
Free; First Come, First Seated
(Dir. John Huston, 1941, 100 min.) Adapting Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Maltese Falcon, and rendering the film as close to the original story as the Production Code allowed, rookie director John Huston created what is often considered the first film noir. In his star-making performance as Sam Spade, Humphrey Bogart embodies the ruthless private investigator who accepts the dark side of life with no regrets. One night, a beguiling woman named Miss Wanderly walks into the office and by the time she leaves, two people are dead. Miss Wanderly appeals for Sam’s protection and throughout the movie murder after murder occurs over the lust for a statue—the Maltese Falcon.
The Maltese Falcon was nominated for three Oscars including Best Picture and Best Screenplay, establishing Huston as a formidable double talent and Bogart as the archetypal detective antihero.
One hour prior to the presentation, NPR film commentator Murray
Horwitz will lead a pre-screening discussion highlighting historical tidbits and things to look and listen for in this classic Hollywood movie.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Saturday, Feb. 4; 7 p.m.
Free; First Come, First Seated
(Dir. John Huston, 1948,126 min) Written by Huston as well, this treasure-hunt classic begins as drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) down on his luck in Tampico, Mexico, spends his last bit of money on a lottery ticket. Meeting a fellow indigent Curtin (Tim Holt) they seek lodging in a cheap flophouse and meet a grizzly looking man named Howard (Walter Huston, the director’s father) who enraptures them with stories about prospecting for gold. Sold on the idea, Dobbs and Curtin agree to let Howard join them in their search for gold. The men are successful in finding gold, but bandits, the natural elements and greed make their success more difficult that they expected.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre won John Huston Oscars for both Director and Screenplay, as well as a supporting actor award for his father, Walter. Huston became the first to direct his own father to an Oscar, and it was the first instance of a son and father winning in the same year.
One hour prior to the presentation, NPR film commentator Murray Horwitz will lead a pre-screening discussion highlighting historical tidbits and things to look and listen for in this classic Hollywood movie.
The Big Sleep
Sunday, Feb. 5; 2 p.m.
Free; First Come, First Seated
(Dir. Howard Hanks, 1946, 114 min) Howard Hawks directs Raymond Chandler's first novel of an acclaimed series about Detective Phillip Marlowe. This film noir classic features superb acting by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in this grand black and white thriller.
Private eye Marlowe (Bogart)is hired by the very wealthy, elderly General Sternwood,to protect his youngest daughter from her own indiscretions and along the way there is murder, blackmail, car chases and gun play to deal with. Right smack in the middle of this complex case, Marlowe finds time to fall in love with his client's eldest daughter (Bacall).
One hour prior to the presentation, NPR film commentator Murray Horwitz will lead a pre-screening discussion highlighting historical tidbits and things to look and listen for in this classic Hollywood movie.
