Rediscovering Casablanca
“Everybody comes to Rick’s.”
I probably first came to Rick’s as a very young child, nowhere near old enough to understand or appreciate Michael Curtiz’s deep and timeless classic that is Casablanca.
Years later, early in 2019 at the age of 13, I returned to French Morocco, so to speak, to give this beloved film another look. The original review of Casablanca that I handwrote in my special “Blue Book of Movie Reviews” is as follows.
Review #8 Casablanca
Year: 1942
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman
Plot Summary: “Everybody comes to Rick’s.” Or so they say. It’s the middle of World War II, and one evening a certain lady walks into Rick Blaine’s popular cafe. She requests piano player Sam to play “As Time Goes By”, and well, that’s when Rick’s life starts to really get complicated.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Genre: Drama
Acting: Very good cast is, I think, part of what makes this film so memorable. My only complaint is, how could they do something so stupid as killing off Peter Lorre within the first quarter of the film?!
Writing: There’s a reason people cite this is one of the best films ever made. Besides a great cast, its script is truly well-written and moving.
Two and a half years later, I’m still reviewing movies. In fact, I’m still handwriting many of my reviews in the same “Blue Book” and am currently at #239. I still use the same categorical review format as shown in the above example, too. The difference is, I know that two more years of movie watching and reviewing have helped me improve, and my reviews have gotten better, more comprehensive, and more intelligently written. I try to do 100 reviews each year, and this will be the third and last year before the “Blue Book” finally runs out of space. Unless the binding totally falls apart before the end of year.
But back to the subject at hand. That is, Casablanca.
I just watched it again last week, this time on a beautiful Blu-ray transfer. It felt good to look at the film yet again, and to rediscover — or perhaps discover for the first time — the themes and characters and the hundreds of minute details that make the film stand out.
When you think about it, it’s both a very deep film — and a surprisingly shallow one! Because on the surface, what is it? It’s a 1940’s Hollywood drama about two people who need airline tickets.
Ah, but deeper lies a touching love story. Deeper lies a story of courage, daring, and yes — even compassion. The film’s female protagonist, Ilsa Lund (played by the ever-beautiful Ingrid Bergman), is a woman of resilience and strong moral fiber. She fell in love with Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart, of course) believing her husband, Victor (an understated Paul Henreid), to be dead. When she discovered that he was still alive, however, she knew where her duty lay and she left Rick to return to Victor.
The world of Casablanca is populated with many memorable characters, and not just the three leads caught in the eternal triangle, either. Claude Rains is one of the best character actors ever to grace Golden Era Hollywood. His performance as Captain Louis Renault is shady and unscrupulous, and yet he shapes up in the end. Conrad Veidt’s Major Strasser is nasty, and the enigmatic Sydney Greenstreet, as Signor Ferrari, has a small role but makes a big impression. Peter Lorre, as the sniveling Ugarte, is also a standout.
Before going into some details about the writing of the film, allow me to do a bit of brief myth-debunking. Casablanca contains probably one of the most widely-misquoted lines ever. Humphrey Bogart never said, “Play it again, Sam.” The line is, “Play it, Sam,” and it was said by Ingrid Bergman.
The screenplay, co-written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, went through many rewrites, even while filming was taking place! Today, this one film contains a high number of the most famous movies lines ever, including the iconic ending, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
So the next time you’re in the mood for a great film, or like me, feel like experiencing this remarkable piece of cinema once again, come to Rick’s Cafe Americain.
It’s still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.
