Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch from a play by Murrey Burnett and Joan Allison
1942/USA
Warner Bros
Repeat viewing/Warner Home Video DVD
#165 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Rick: 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. Someday you’ll understand that.[/box]

Unless you have reached this blog by mistake, you undoubtedly know this film and exactly why it is a timeless classic.

You also know the story, but here goes.  Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is a cynical, heart-broken American who cannot return to his native land for some unspecified reason.  He has retreated to Casablanca, now ruled by the Vichy French in the form of Prefect Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains).  Casablanca has become a way station for a grab bag of European refugees hoping for escape to pre-War America.  Rick entertains these at his Cafe Amercain and maintains a strict neutrality.

The excitement begins when we learn that two German couriers have been murdered for valuable letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle.  (It is never explained why the Vichy Government or the Nazis would feel compelled to honor such letters of transit..)  Ugarte (Peter Lorre), a black marketeer, has come into possession of them and hopes to sell them for a phenomenal price to resistance leader Victor Lazlo (Paul Heinreid) and his companion Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman).  Just prior to his arrest, Ugarte hides the letters with Rick.

We immediately learn that Ilsa is the woman that broke Rick’s heart in Paris.  He remains very bitter and is unwilling to stick his neck out for her or Lazlo.  Will he come around? With Conrad Veidt as Major Strasser, the Gestapo Officer on Lazlo’s trail, and Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari, the corrupt owner of a rival night club.

When viewed for the twentieth time, one begins to see some pretty glaring plot holes in this movie and to be troubled by the astonishing civility of the Nazis it portrays.  (Why does Strasser care a hoot about letters of transit?)  But those just don’t matter and I spent the last half of the film, once again, with mist in my eyes.  Everyone is just so beautiful and the dialogue so perfect.  This is really one of the glories of the studio system and must-see viewing.  My DVD has a couple of excellent commentaries.  I can highly recommend the one by Roger Ebert.

Casablanca won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay.  It was nominated in the categories of: Best Actor (Bogart); Best Supporting Actor (Rains); Best Cinematography; Black-and-White, Best Film Editing; and Best Score (Max Steiner).

Clip – La Marseillaise – just one of the many great emotional moments in the film