Casablanca

A movie that leaves a lasting impact on its audience is one thing in the realm of film and television, but something becomes truly special when mere lines, shots and characters are permanently ingrained into pop culture and become part of a series of references that will be utilized by various other films and shows down the line. Various fairy tales, Shakespearean plays, and other examples of the sort have been immortalized not only for their stories and presentation, but also have a lasting impression through the writing of their characters and dialogue. It works especially on timeless stories that have room to be molded and retooled into later projects or styles that warrant a reference, so how did a World War II movie become such a quotable film. Set during World War II (and filmed within it as well), American expatriate Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart) own one of the one most successful nightclubs in Casablanca, ‘Rick’s Café Americain’’ which draws in all kinds of people from higher society, mainly German officials and local police captain, Louie Renault (played by Claude Rains), who enjoys the company of Rick and appreciates his neutral stance on political inquiries, especially now that German-occupation of several European states is a common discussion topic around the bar. One such topic is that the bar is filled with refugees who are trying to escape to neutral America, one such person is Victor Laszlo (played by Paul Henreid), a renowned, fugitive Czech Resistance leader who is trying to escape to America with his wife, Ilsa Lund (played by Ingrid Bergman), who Rick had a past relationship with before she abruptly left him when they were both fleeing from France. Feeling bitter over their failed romance, Rick refuses to give them letters of transit which would allow them legal travel from Europe, while German soldiers try to keep Laszlo in Casablanca and prevent him from sparking further resistance. But with the sparks of his old love returning after seeing Ilsa again, will he do the right thing and allow these two to escape to a better life. Casablanca is a classic film that carries with it brilliant directing, engaged actors, striking visuals and presentation and a timeless appeal that made it such a memorable flick for the ages.

Despite the status that the film holds nowadays, nobody who was working on the film at the time had any hopes that the film would be a huge success. Despite the A-list cast it had, the story’s connection with the War that was at the point of filming still going on (the film was rushed out to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied Invasion of North America) might have turned some people off and wouldn’t have drawn in enough people to excuse the large budget the film had. Thankfully, the movie was a surprise hit at its initial release and it was also successful at the Academy Awards (even taking home Best Picture) and this makes sense. The film is a very well told story with a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Phillip G. Epstein and Howard Koch (with uncredited help from Casey Robinson) that cleverly utilizes the close proximity to the real-life Nazi-problem in reality to not only create a sense of easy-to-understand panic for the general public of the time, but its also a dilemma that anyone of any time period can understand, so its narrative never gets dated. The struggles that the people of Europe went through when parts of their continent was overtaken by the Nazis is one that is worth talking about, and the movie shows how people were sometimes taken advantage of when they were just trying to escape to a less-threatening country. How this film ties that plot into a story of overcoming past betrayals and escaping a cynical mindset to fight for true justice works beautifully with how the movie unfolds, carrying shades of a film noir and war drama neatly packaged in with touches of tragic romance. The simple yet relatable struggles of the main characters allow the audience to understand each situation, what’s at stake and how it can be fixed quite easily as the movie goes at a strong pace from beginning to end. While the conclusion is predictable by today’s standard’s, a movie of the era that is set up as a romance to not deliver on the main couple reuniting showed that this was a special picture that was more than just the sum of its parts.

The cast of the film aren’t given a large amount of screen time to flesh out most of their personalities, but the movie does go out of its way to show the grey nature of some of them and how this period of time created several situations where the good weren’t also truly heroic and the bad weren’t always truly selfish. It made for not only a great cast, but a great opportunity for these actors to truly shine in these roles, as every actor in this movie does wonders regardless of the length of their roles, bringing life and raw emotional weight to their scenes. Bogart’s natural suave and confidant energy is flipped on its head in this role with a more sardonic and apathetic titular role that arguably works as one of the film’s antagonist until the last act causes a shift in the dynamic, as his bitterness towards Ilsa and her new love clouds him from saving someone’s life who could help millions. Bergman is also great in this film; relying on her natural beauty and graceful presence to properly carry himself, but is graced with a flawed role which regrets her selfish and emotion-driven past and is trying to redeem herself through a new love and a new life. Side actors like Paul Henreid and Claude Rains bring a lot of personality and life to otherwise basic roles. Even thought there is a German officer who is stalking Laszlo for a majority of the film, the movie doesn’t feel like it has a specific villain, more rather getting past these specific obstacles that are being placed in front of them that need to be removed to get to this happy ending, and the movie works very nicely with this.

For a movie where a majority of its time is spent within a single bar, time will be needed to make this location feeling as lively and pleasant to be around as possible, and it does that very effectively as Rick’s nightclub not only feels genuinely real and authentic to the time period, but it feels like its own individual character with how much goes on in it. Its presented as a typical upper-class social gathering location for those in power to rest, drink and enjoy their time off, but it is filled with a multinational clientele and is also packed with desperate refugees willing to do anything for a better life, underworld hoods who are willing to hustle these people, and even spies from people on both sides of this fight who feel it is a perfect space to retreat and blend in with the crowd. It is bustling with presence and personality and it makes for a great location to be around for the film, also helped out by the brilliant shot-composition by Arthur Edeson and lighting for the film creating some wonderfully dynamic and engaging cinematography that allows the audience to dart and smoothly flow through the bar like it’s a personal tour. It can be up-close and personal in dramatic moments, allowing for serious straight-faced shots, but it can also be highly artistic and allow for shots that feel perfectly lit in a manner that isn’t realistic, but feel correct in conveying the tone of the film and the emotions of the characters. The script for this movie is very solid, getting through a lot of expository dialogue in a seamless delivery while also getting across character and plot in a rapid manner without it being confusing. The snappy and witty nature of the dialogue allows for personality and atmosphere, but its rapid succession makes sense when the original idea was based on a un-produced stage-play, Everybody Comes to Rick’s written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. With this in mind, a lot of the film’s quirks and attributes make sense; the staging of the actors and the focal location point, the wordiness yet attention-grabbing dialogue, the emphasis on lighting and dramatic angles to illustrate something more, and the weirdly campy nature of the story that is held together by its grounding narrative.

Casablanca is an iconic classical film that has several quotable lines and memorable scenes that make it more than just a great classic of the era or a film that took advantage of a dire real-world crisis to connect with its viewer, instead creating a tightly written, expertly directed, wonderfully acted film that has lasted the test of time and still exists in pop culture through several references, as well as in classic cinema for one of the great films. It does have its slight hiccups and for people that aren’t fully into it, it might not be for everybody, but as a whole, this is a bar that’s worth spending a lot of time at.