Casablanca (Snap Case)
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Movie Reviews of Casablanca (Snap Case)
Movie Review: Here's Looking at you kid!
Summary: 5 Stars
Casablanca is one of Hollywood's most beloved classic's. Even watching it now it's not hard to tell why it's a classic or why it won an acedemy award for best picture. It's perfect, has memorable dialogue, well done humor, well written characters with real emotion, pride and dignity, and an intriguining plot. It's also very romantic and shows that a movie could end satisfying without the hero getting the girl. The main character Rick Blaine (Humprey Bogart) changes a lot by the time the movie ends, he goes from being self-centered to doing the right thing and letting the on he loves get on a plane without him to possibly never see her again.
Movies these days just aren't that smart, especially not any of the Romantic ones you get. You mostly always get guy gets girl, the end. If the guy doesn't get the girl you're not satisfied but here you are because Rick still has his dignity at least.
Casablanca may be one the most romantic movies ever made it surprisingly has a bit of a march tone to it. It's mushy enough for women to enjoy with the excellent chemestry and dialogue that Humphray Bogart and Ingrid Bergman share.
Bogart in a way is like John Wayne where he makes you want to be just like him. These days a character can't make a point without cursing and yelling but all Bogart has to do to look depressed or tough and make his point is just make a motionless expression.
So Casablanca works for both sexes, guys can relate to Bogart's Rick. Any women who fell in love but at the wrong time can relate to Bergman. Can't really think of any actor's that actually draw you in more into their roles than Humphrey Bograt and Ingred Bergman do in this movie.
Besides the acting being very good Michael Curtiz's direction is splendid. You actually feel as if you're there, with the big flashing lights pointing towards Rick's pub as people enter or walk out of it, also when a charcter is standing by the window you see that light flashing by. That light gives a presence that the Nazi's are there and that eventhough it's Rick's pub they pretty much have all the control over it. You feel the fear and emotion of the people in Rick's pub, they fear that they'll be taken by the Nazi's to one of their war camps.
Curtiz's also makes you feel as if you're at the airport at the end saying good-bye right along with Rick as well. He holds your complete attention right to Bogart's classic line at the end, "Louie, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship". There's no wonder why Casablanca is such a huge favorite to so many, it's just perfect.
Movie Review: One of the Best Movies Ever Made and Definitely Bogart's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a 1942 movie that marks the high mark in the Bogart career of approximately 75 movies, many filmed at Warner Brothers in Hollywood. It received 3 Oscars, but Bogart did not get his own acting Oscar until African Queen about a decade later. Bogart made a name for himself in the 1930's as a gangster and in smaller supporting roles in Bette Davis movies. In 1941 he played Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon. This became his breakout movie along with High Sierra. The Falcon movie was directed by his buddy John Huston. After the Maltese Falcon, he graduated to more complex parts including love stories, far removed from the early gangster roles. His next movie was the bittersweet love story Casablanca and the multiple Oscars.
Casablanca has all the extras and special effects, and in its day it was a big budget movie made factory style, completely on the lot at Warners. Casablanca is a wonderful and fascinating story of an American living in Casablanca during World War II running a nightclub. He is visited by his old girlfriend, Elsa, now married and played by Ingrid Berman. They are still in love, but of course Elsa is married.
Bogart appears in virtually every scene, and the movie is carried almost completely by Bogart. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are perfect for their supporting parts and they add a certain attraction and exotic flair, and depth and mystery to the movie. There is some continuity with the prior movie Maltese Falcon, where Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre had important roles in that movie as well. Here Greenstreet plays the black market travel document dealer Mr. Ferrari and Lorre is the document thief. After Bogart and Bergman, the French police chief Louis Renault played by Claude Rains is the dominant actor.
The special effects, the fog, the music "As Time Goes By" played by Dooley Wilson are all beautifully done, and when Lazlo and his wife (Bergman) walk out to the plane through the night fog to escape to Lisbon and on to America with Rick's blessing (Bogart) one cannot help but shed a tear.
Interestingly the writers did not like the movie, the writing was chaotic often being completed just a day before shooting - all piece work - and there are many technical errors such as a wine bottle with the top appearing and disappearing, and the rain suddenly vanishing from Bogart's rain coat. But it all comes together to make magic.
Possibly the best movie ever made, and definitely in the top 10, and the best of the 1940s film noir era. Also, I recommend Double Indeminity, made a few years later, and another great film noir movie. This present Casablanca DVD has excellent extras.
Movie Review: Casablanca
Summary: 5 Stars
**may contain spoliers**
I think the main draw and popularity of the film Casablanca is its memorable "feel." The atmosphere that the film creates in memorable for some reason. Though in times of conflict, there is a certain warmness in Rick's nightclub that draws you in, and has been imitated in films and real life afterwards (there is a replica of Rick's Cafe Americain in Cancun, Mexico). The actors in the film pulled off a film that most others would not be able to. Would Casablanca be the popular cult film that it is today if Ronald Reagan had played Rick? I doubt it. Humphrey Bogart WAS and still is Rick, and no other actor could have played the role better.
Dialogue is another key part of Casablanca. It's quoted quite often (and sometimes misquoted); one who hasn't even seen the film probably knows some of its lines. Some of the lines can almost be seen as "downright cheesy," such as "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," yet the work in the context of the movie and from the actors (especially Bogart) that deliver them.
Humphrey Bogart is a classic cult film icon because he's charming, suave, astute, very self confident, and believable. Seeing this film for the second time, I could compare him to my own cult hero Bruce Campbell. Both actors show a sort of arrogant confidence, even in the most troubling times. Both actors have cheesy, yet memorable lines that are delivered so dead-pan that one cannot help to think, "Wow." Where an actor in a mainstream film would be laughed at for a line such as Bruce Campbell's, "Gimme some sugar, baby," or Bogart's, "Here's looking at you kid," cult heroes are praised and cheered. Bogart's got a dry sense of humor. He doesn't just blurt out ridiculous things, or fall down doing slapstick. He is sly in his comments, where you aren't sure if you should laugh at the humorous thing he just said.
The mainstream audience might look directly at the love story between Rick and Ilsa. Yet cult fans know that there is much more than that to make a great film. Everything ties the movie together, from the dialogue and actions to the music. Each interacts with one another to put together a single piece that stands on its own.
Casablanca has remained a popular cult film for the above reasons. Though slow at times, it is a memorable film, with memorable characters and dialogue. At times sappy, the film delivers an almost-believable love story, that most actors could not make work. Yet with the actors we have, the film works as a whole, mainly based upon Bogart and Bergman's ability to "pull off" their parts.
Movie Review: "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Summary: 5 Stars
I promise somebody I would watch this before the year end and I was fortunate enough to see this early this afternoon. I was quite surprised when I first watched Casablanca to find that I practically could already quote the last ten minutes. So much of this film is engrained into our cultural consciousness from the countless spoofs and references that have come since then. And for good reason.
In World War II, Casablanca is the place where displaced refugees find themselves in. Getting out is the hard part. A cynical American, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) runs the most popular gin joint there. Things are going good for him as he deigns to keep out of business that doesn't concern him. That all changes when a French underground leader, Victor Lazslo (Paul Henreid), comes to town with his wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). It seems that Rick and Ilsa have a past together, and with the Nazis looking for some transit papers Rick happens to have and also trying to detain Victor, Rick finds himself in a tough spot.
After watching this I realized that's there's nothing staggeringly original or innovative about this film. It's how human the characters and the plights they find themselves in are, and the dry humor they throw out in the process. The conflict inside Rick whether to look after his best interests or help the woman he still loves is certainly compelling stuff, but that isn't all. There are so many memorable characters, from the ingratiating Captain Renault (played with relish by Claude Reins) to the weasely Ugarte (Peter Lorre). While the story isn't so much about Casablanca, a little bit of everything is worked in. Not the least of which being the sticky politics and smoldering national pride for Nazi occupied France. The romance is also ... well, the reason why this movie is so timeless. And then there's the script. Though there are numerous lines that are justifiably classic, the rest is a rare work of brilliance as well. The dark humor, the slow eroding of Rick's resolve, all result in classic scenes, one after another. It has it all.
Bogart and Bergman, a rare pairing that results in one of cinema's greatest romances. What more is there to say? They take what could have been completely conventional roles and make them truly human. A great supporting cast rounds out the crowd; there are more than just two memorable performances given. This was a film done in the old Hollywood studio system by all the rules, yet it inexplicably raises itself above and beyond that. It is a remarkable motion picture masterpiece. If you haven't seen it yet, I whole-heartedly recommend it.
Movie Review: The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship....
Summary: 5 Stars
Because I've been reading Michael Walsh's novel As Time Goes By, I recently decided to watch Casablanca again on DVD. I was amazed to see how this 1943 Oscar-winning film remains powerful and moving 60 years after its release.Almost everybody knows its plot of of wartime intrigue and its doomed romantic triangle of bitter American saloonkeeper Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), the beautiful Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), and her idealistic husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). This trio is supported by a wonderful and varied cast of characters, including Police Prefect Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Rick's faithful friend and piano player Sam Waters (Arthur "Dooley" Wilson), the conniving Ugarte (Peter Lorre), the Russian bartender Sacha (Leonid Kinsky), and the loveable maitre d' Carl (S. Z. Sakall).
The heart of the movie revolves around the conflict created in Rick's heart by World War II. When his former flame Ilsa arrives in Casablanca, does he help her and her husband Victor escape to Lisbon, or does he allow German Major Strasser (Conrad Veldt) to capture the fugitive Czech resistance leader so Rick can take Ilsa to America himself? Or do his natural good instincts surface and get Rick to do the honorable thing?
This movie has a little bit of everything: suspense, drama, comedy, an exotic setting, and lots of music, including renditions of "It Had To Be You," "The Very Thought Of You," and a thrilling duel between Germans singing the "Watch On The Rhine" and the Allies belting out "The Marsellaise." Other songs heard in the film include "Knock On Wood," and the unforgettable "As Time Goes By."
Another crucial element is the snappy and memorable dialog written by the Epstein twins and Hal B. Wallis for this movie:
Rick: I came here for the waters.
Louis: Waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: Obviously, I was misinformed.
Ilsa: (to Sam) Play it. Play "As Time Goes By."
Rick: (to Sam) Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
Louis: (pretending to be surprised) I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling in here!
Casino Dealer: (handing Louis some money) Your winnings, sir.
Louis: (takes the money) Thank you.
Rick: (to Ilsa) Now, now...here's looking at you, kid.
With all these ingredients, director Michael Curtiz and producer Jack Warner came up with a recipe for a movie that became a beloved classic, a status recognized when the Library of Congress named Casablanca as one of the most important American films.