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"They don't make movies like Casablanca anymore." Upon hearing that, I am usually tempted to roll my eyes. How many times have you heard someone utter those words? Far too often. I've tolerated it from the mouths of cinephiles for what seems like ages. But in preparation for this review, I realized just how honest and unmistakably true that thought is. Studios and filmmakers have not made a film like Casablanca since its release.
Humphrey Bogart's cynical Rick sticks his neck out for nobody, Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa reacts to Rick's words, her eyes sparking in the light as tears cloud her eyes. All of it, every frame and line, feels like something out of a perfect dream. For nearly 75 years, Casablanca has been praised as being one of the greatest films of all time. And to be perfectly honest, I'd have to agree with that consensus.
Casablanca is, without a doubt, one of the finest movies to date. Even after so many decades, it sweeps newcomers off their feet and into the mysteriously dangerous - yet somehow peaceful - Casablanca as presented in Michael Curitz's masterpiece. Thieves and vultures, vultures everywhere. Corrupt policemen and Nazis. Overcrowded streets full of immigrants. The occasional echoing sound of a gunshot as someone clinches in pain before falling to the ground followed by slowly forming pools of their own blood.
Yet, somehow, Casablanca is a place reminiscent of an exotic nightlife, where the glamorous manage to reside, and happiness seems to be around every corner. Like I said, it's a perfect dream. Nothing is too quaint, but everything seems just right. Enter Rick, the hero, the one who is always right, the morally justifiable. And Ilsa, his lost love. So it would seem. But Casablanca isn't entirely picturesque.
The characters in this film are undeniably complex. Rick is the most relatable - on the outside he seems to be the good guy, and maybe he is, but on the inside he is incredibly complicated and actually does not fit the stereotype. Ilsa, presented as a "lost love," brings with her to the story political intrigue and desperation above romance and a troubled past. While the love triangle between Rick, Ilsa, and Victor Laszlo - played quietly but, as a result, powerfully by Paul Henreid - is the necessary backbone for this film that works incredibly well in most aspects, it doesn't consume Casablanca.
A series of subplots ultimately connected to the main storyline sees the likes of Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre toe-to-toe with each other and the film's protagonists, which in itself is worth seeing. And there is not a single bad performance in Casablanca as well. Even the occasional one-timer characters deliver incredibly solid performances.
I would also go as far to say that Casablanca is the best-written film I've ever seen. But to me, this is a movie that represents something no longer present in most - if any - films today. It's hard to put a name on what I'm referring to. It's more of a feeling. And Rick's actions in Casablanca remind me of how people can change, how they can rebuild from the ashes and sacrifice all they care about in order to make the world a better place.
Casablanca (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
"They don't make movies like Casablanca anymore." Upon hearing that, I am usually tempted to roll my eyes. How many times have you heard someone utter those words? Far too often. I've tolerated it from the mouths of cinephiles for what seems like ages. But in preparation for this review, I realized just how honest and unmistakably true that thought is. Studios and filmmakers have not made a film like Casablanca since its release.
Humphrey Bogart's cynical Rick sticks his neck out for nobody, Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa reacts to Rick's words, her eyes sparking in the light as tears cloud her eyes. All of it, every frame and line, feels like something out of a perfect dream. For nearly 75 years, Casablanca has been praised as being one of the greatest films of all time. And to be perfectly honest, I'd have to agree with that consensus.
Casablanca is, without a doubt, one of the finest movies to date. Even after so many decades, it sweeps newcomers off their feet and into the mysteriously dangerous - yet somehow peaceful - Casablanca as presented in Michael Curitz's masterpiece. Thieves and vultures, vultures everywhere. Corrupt policemen and Nazis. Overcrowded streets full of immigrants. The occasional echoing sound of a gunshot as someone clinches in pain before falling to the ground followed by slowly forming pools of their own blood.
Yet, somehow, Casablanca is a place reminiscent of an exotic nightlife, where the glamorous manage to reside, and happiness seems to be around every corner. Like I said, it's a perfect dream. Nothing is too quaint, but everything seems just right. Enter Rick, the hero, the one who is always right, the morally justifiable. And Ilsa, his lost love. So it would seem. But Casablanca isn't entirely picturesque.
The characters in this film are undeniably complex. Rick is the most relatable - on the outside he seems to be the good guy, and maybe he is, but on the inside he is incredibly complicated and actually does not fit the stereotype. Ilsa, presented as a "lost love," brings with her to the story political intrigue and desperation above romance and a troubled past. While the love triangle between Rick, Ilsa, and Victor Laszlo - played quietly but, as a result, powerfully by Paul Henreid - is the necessary backbone for this film that works incredibly well in most aspects, it doesn't consume Casablanca.
A series of subplots ultimately connected to the main storyline sees the likes of Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre toe-to-toe with each other and the film's protagonists, which in itself is worth seeing. And there is not a single bad performance in Casablanca as well. Even the occasional one-timer characters deliver incredibly solid performances.
I would also go as far to say that Casablanca is the best-written film I've ever seen. But to me, this is a movie that represents something no longer present in most - if any - films today. It's hard to put a name on what I'm referring to. It's more of a feeling. And Rick's actions in Casablanca remind me of how people can change, how they can rebuild from the ashes and sacrifice all they care about in order to make the world a better place.