Casablanca, a timeless piece of history comes back to the big screen across America for its 75th anniversary.
The only problem is, I don’t live in America but I didn’t let that matter of geography stop me from watching the “greatest movie ever made”. I needed to feel that spell Casablanca put millions of people under, decades and decades ago.
To this day it still has that magic and it has become more and more powerful with age. It screened three quarters of a century ago and yet it still resonates with different generations. It has marked a spot (an influential one at that) in American film history and everybody who consider themselves film buffs has it instilled in them that Casablanca is mandatory, sort of a prerequisite before venturing into the world of cinema.
When thrown with “Here’s looking at you, kid” as if by default, people know where it’s from with or without having seen the film. Six lines from Casablanca appeared in the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes, making it the most of any film, an additional was even nominated.
While not originally written into the screenplay, “Here’s looking at you, kid” was used a total of four times. It was something Bogart had said to Bergman as he taught her poker between takes.
My grandfather introduced me to the classics, but I introduced him to Casablanca.
I was a bit bitter with the thought of never seeing Casablanca on the big screen but I’m nevertheless quite okay with owning a digital copy and watching it in my room. The first time I saw Casablanca, I wasn’t quite impressed, I just didn’t get the whole fuss: I paused at about an hour into the movie and never bothered to continue the other half…until today.
The first thing I noticed about my re-watch was the spectacular score. The way a breathy instrumental of “As Time Goes By” plays every time Ilsa enters the sequence, how the melody interweaves itself into the scene making Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund sort of magical. Or the recurring chorus of La Marseilles.
One, I’d say, of the most memorable moments of the movie was the bar brawl—if you don’t recall any bar brawl it’s because it isn’t that kind of brawl—it was the confrontation between La Marseilles over Das Deutschlandlied, the former ultimately overpowering. It made my hair stand on end, and it remains the most powerful scene in all of the movie.
The next would be the “Play it, Sam” sequence and then the most parodied and most quoted scenes of all time: the ending.
As for the characters and the stars who play them, it’s hard to ever picture anybody else playing the roles of Rick and Ilsa or any of the other characters for that matter. One of the earliest choices for Ilsa Lund was the actress Hedy Lamarr who turned it down because the script was not yet finished. (The following year Lamarr also turned down the leading role in Gaslight, a role in which Ingrid Bergman earned her first Oscar.) Ronald Reagan was slated for the role of Bogart’s Rick…only turning out to be a famous Hollywood myth.
In my opinion, while Casablanca remains Ingrid Bergman’s most memorable film role, I think it’s the most shallow compared to her other work. Ingrid’s range and versatility wasn’t showcased in Casablanca unlike her characters in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Gaslight or any of her later roles (Anastasia most notably). Or maybe I’m just used to seeing Ingrid Bergman reduced into hysterics.
One of the best exhibitions of Ingrid’s Ilsa’s bad-assery was the “alright, I tried to reason with you” scene. It surprised me in a way that no classic movie has ever surprised me before…holding Rick to a gunpoint…it was just so badass.
What made Casablanca what it is today? Why the unparalleled impact to American film history? Was it the exhibited patriotism? Rick’s heroism? The romance? It’s subjective. I sure don’t have the definitive answer to why it is…but it just is.
Thus concludes my review because quite honestly I don’t know where I’m heading to. That’s the honest to goodness review from a 19 year old kid from a microscopic country in the world. And because it’s an amazing film, I won’t watch it ever again. That’s just how I am when I find a movie quite great and besides I feel nostalgic enough of a bygone era I didn’t even live through. So,
Here’s looking at you, kid.
I rate it: ★★★☆
folksat42 
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