Assessing a film like Casablanca
is a difficult task for movie critics.
It’s easy to go along with the other critics and applaud the film. On the other hand, it’s too easy to label classic
films such as this as quaint, overrated, melodramatic and dated. Obviously, the reviewer is not doing their
job by parroting what others say. But to
be fair, a reviewer does need to review such a film on its own terms – whether they
praise or criticize the film.
Casablanca appeared
right in the middle of World War II while the occupation of France actually
took place. It’s unusual for a film’s
message to not completely miss its mark under such circumstances. That we still watch this beloved phenomenon
in 2018 indicates that the directors and producers exceeded their own
expectations.
I doubt few people who have seen this movie over and over
can imagine the lead parts played by anyone but Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid
Bergman. Bogart is the tough and cynical
entrepreneur, Rick Blaine, and who everyone believes is apolitical at a time
when it was almost impossible not to take sides. Bergman plays Ilsa Lund, the beautiful wife
of a legendary French resister, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Not surprisingly, both the colorful Rick and colorless
(but always virtuous and heroic) Victor love Ilsa almost to their detriment.
In one of those improbable plot twists that you either buy
or let destroy the film-watching experience, Ilsa manages to love both men
relatively innocently. For in the
flashback, when she has her love affair with Rick in Paris just prior to the
Nazi invasion, she is under the belief that Victor died in a concentration camp. Only right when the Nazis enter Paris does
she discover otherwise. This leaves Rick
and his faithful Sam (Dooley Wilson) waiting for her at a train station only to
find out she will not leave Paris with them.
Obviously, they meet again in the nation of Morocco on Vichy-controlled
soil in the city of Casablanca. Rick by
now owns a successful bar. Rick tries
not to offend those residing in the city trying to avoid Nazi persecution. He also does not want to offend the Gestapo
presence who have the power to shut his bar down. But though always pretending he will not take
risks to assist anyone, Rick manages to scavenge up visas for Ilsa and Victor
so that they can fly out of Casablanca and continue with their resistance work. Rick does this against his own selfish desire
to have Ilsa remain in Casablanca with him as the two are still in love with
each other. (As an aside, the Nazis
could have arrested Victor at any time in Vichy territory without creating much
of a stir. Also, the visas supposedly
signed by de Gaulle, himself, had no authority in Casablanca. For what it’s worth.)
Like Rick, also caught up between the evil and good forces is
the other most important character in the move, Captain Louis Renault (Claude
Raines), referred to by Rick throughout the film as Louie. Louie must take the side of whoever happens to
be in power in Casablanca at the time (and in this case the Nazis) or risk
losing his life. Much more than Rick,
Louie is an opportunist. Yet like Rick,
in the end, Louie takes the side of the good by helping make certain Victor and
Ilsa can escape, and by helping Rick escape punishment for aiding the fleeing
couple.
Raines, by the way, probably performs the best acting in the
film only because his role is more understated. Bogart gets to utter all the ham-handed and
memorable lines in the film. (“Of all
the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” “I stick my neck out for nobody.” “Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it
doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount
to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” And “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a
beautiful friendship.”) Ingrid Bergman
gets to shed a beautiful tear at all of the best moments. It is the job of Raines to not overact and
bring some measure of balance and humor to the film.
Music plays an important part in the film. Sam must again and again play on the piano As Time Goes By as the two leads request
him to also sing the song. Victor
directs the band at Rick’s bar to play La
Marseillaise while Nazi officers on the opposite side are trying to sing
the German tune The Watch on the Rhine.
There are a number of legends concerning this film. Allegedly, neither Berman nor Bogart liked
the script or the dialogue. Bergman was
in fact taller than Bogart, so Bogart likely wore platform shoes. Purportedly, many of the characters singing La Marseillaise were actually individuals
fleeing Nazi persecution. And supposedly,
the script went through revisions day to day while filming took place.
Short by today’s standards, the film was 102 minutes
long. Other great actors played minor roles
in the movie including Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. And while directing the more than 170 films
in his 50-year career as a director, movie watchers will always remember Michael
Curtiz best for directing this Hollywood film.
No one would talk about the making of this film, its
discrepancies and even controversies in such detail without understanding this
was a classic movie. With the exceptions
of Gone With the Wind, and possibly Citizen Kane, there’s more commentary on
Casablanca than any other film. It is still watchable and capable of captivating
its audience. Importantly, we still
remember the story and its characters more than 75 years after filming. We want Rick to succeed, and we wish he could
remain with his Ilsa – despite knowing in advance that the two cannot remain
together.
December 29, 2018
