A magical journey into the movies - Part II

“Play it again, Sam.” The most famous line, from one of the most famous movies, that was never said. By now, a majority of the population knows when they quoting this line that it was never in the movie, they have heard from one source or another that about the false memories we convince ourselves are real, but it still makes for a pretty good Bogart impression. In this sense, the fact that Casablanca is represented in The Great Movie Ride is fitting, since The Great Movie Ride also presents us with false memories.

While every scene within The Great Movie Ride raises a terrific memory, some of the scenes are actually unions of several of the film’s elements. The two most glaring false memories within the Great Movie Ride come from Singin’ in the Rain and The Public Enemy.

In the Singin’ in the Rain scene, Gene Kelly’s Don Lockwood is witnessed singing the film’s title song while hanging from a lamppost. While a few lines are belted out from this lamppost in the movie, the line, “I’m singin’ in the rain,” was crooned elsewhere on the street. Though it is understandable that the lyrics would continue or start early for Gene Kelly’s audio-animatronic, as two lines would not allow for enough time for the ride vehicles to pass, even as brief as this scene is.

James Cagny’s Tom Powers, from The Public Enemy, is sending a message to Putty Nose (Murray Kinnell), who has left Tom and his friend Matt (Edward Woods) out to dry, through a thug at the door. In this scene in The Public Enemy, Tom and Matt are in workman jumpers, not the dressed-to-the-nines suits they become accustomed to wearing as they climb the ranks of the underworld. It is this same stylish suit that Cagny is fitted with in The Great Movie Ride, making this scene a true false memory.
Though these scenes may blur the line a little, just like Casablanca’s famous “Play it again, Sam,” they are fantastic memories and reminders of the films of yesterday that are still relevant and powerful today. May they keep on singin’, threatening, and playing for years to come.


UPDATE: Some of you may remember that my film goal for this year is to gather every film that is represented in the Great Movie Ride, prior to the final montage. Then, after my collection is complete, my wife and are going to have The Great Movie Ride Film Festival Weekend. (That’s right, my wife found out about my secret plan and is now my Igor, albeit much more attractive, in my search.) I’ve made it through a few more films, but I am still missing the following:

Footlight Parade
The Searchers
1930s and 1940s horror films
Tarzan the Ape Man

The horror film category has been plaguing me as of late. I wanted to find a horror film that paid homage to the tomb scene that represents the horror films in The Great Movie Ride. Yet, with hours of research behind me, the only film I can find that even remotely resembles that scene is Universal’s The Mummy (1932). While I was trying to stay away from Universal films, not because I think they are any less deserving, but because they are not represented anywhere within The Great Movie Ride, I think I may have to succumb to what makes for the best option based on what is presented within the attractions. However, thanks to Foxxfur for giving me some fantastic horror films that I will definitely be checking out in the future.

For those of you playing along at home, here is the complete list of films from The Great Movie Ride, in the order they appear:

Footlight Parade
Singin' in the Rain
Mary Poppins
The Public Enemy
The Searchers
Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
Alien
Raiders of the Lost Ark
1930s and 1940s horror films (The Mummy)
Tarzan the Ape Man
Casablanca
Fantasia
The Wizard of Oz