’)A few weeks ago I saw for the first time that American classic, Casablanca. I’ve heard my entire life that this is one of the greatest films in American history, a milestone of filmmaking whose catchphrase, “play it again, Sam” will forever be etched on the walls of film lore. Yet, I didn’t think the movie lived up to the hype. It is clearly a good movie, but I didn’t feel that it was a great movie. It drags at times, the plot is more complex than it needs to be, and the movie swings between romance, comedy, and serious drama. I feel like we never get to the heart of Humphrey Bogart’s Rick, and that should be central to the story.
This is the second such great American movie I haven’t been super-impressed by (I didn’t like Dr. Strangelove at all) and I would chalk it up to excess hype, but then I loved Citizen Kane which is a mega-hyped film.
I also recently saw Touch Of Evil and that was kick-ass. Maybe I’m an Orson Welles fanboy.
The line isn’t “Play it again, Sam.” It’s “You played it for her, you can play it for me! {Well, I don’t think I can remember . . .} Play it!”
And that’s after Ilsa says, “Play it, Sam, for old time’s sake.”
The movie works because it’s Bogey playing both with and against type. If you feel that you never get to the heart of who Rick is, that’s because, in addition to being a studied manipulator of others, Rick is having the same problem in real time. The uncertainty of his motivation at any given point (greed, lust, patriotism, nobility?) is what makes this a great movie.
Touch of Evil is, indeed, badass, even with Charlton Heston playing a Mexican. Seriously underrated movie.
Given the frequency of your quoting Captain Renault, I’m shocked – SHOCKED! – that you’ve never seen it before.
And he never said “Play it again, Sam.”
I second everything Mr. Thompson wrote, above.
Legend has it that Ronald Reagan was the studio’s first choice for Rick. That would have been a different movie.
Possible Spoilers:
He wants us to believe he’s a man who “sticks his neck out for no one.” But as Laszlo tells him, “You sound like a man who’s trying to convince himself of something he doesn’t believe.” We know he’s always fought for the good guys even when the bad guys would have paid him more. He lets the struggling husband win at roulette and lets Laszlo sing down the Nazis. He’s bitter at losing Ilsa unti he learns why and then he does the noble thing and lets her go. And don’t forget, Louie decides it’s time to quit supporting the Vichy.
Not overrated over exposed. How many times has it been played on TCM in the past year? “It’s a Wonderful Life” one of my favorite feel good movies has lost some of it’s appeal because before it’s rights were bought(I believe NBC owns it) it was shown at least 30 time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
That opening shot of Touch of Evil is something else. And the real greatness in Casablanca is the screenplay, imo. Subtext four and five layers deep in spots. Honestly bypasses the subconscious if you’re just watching it.
*bypasses the conscious, on its way to the subconscious, I mean to say.*
I’d tend to side with Oliver in that it’s a good movie but not as great as it’s status in film lore would suggest.
But, although I’ve seen all of the movie a couple of times I’ve never seen it all the way through in one sitting. I’ve always fallen asleep before it ended or found it while channel surfing and come into it in the middle.
I rented A Touch of Evil once and while it had a nicely crafted opening scene I found it generally boring and stopped watching after about 45 minutes.
Citizen Kane, however, was great.
The restored Touch of Evil is an amazing film, one of the greats. Casablanca is overrated – it is a good movie, but I agree that it’s a bit uneven in places. I have the same problem with On the Waterfront, which I consider to be a good but not great movie.
Sean, as with any excellent movie, you need to catch it from the very beginning. Very important with this one.
Another very important factor; did you see one of the many god-awful, third generation copies which have been around, or did you see the restored version. It’s a revelation, and you need to make sure that’s the version you see. The movie is absolutely beautifully filmed, really amazing in how to use black and white, and you hardly see that in a pre-restoration copy.
I fell asleep during Lawrence of Arabia as well. Good movie and all, but lean could have trimmed about 40 minutes of padding out of it.
12 minutes to convey that the frikkin’ desert is hot.
Cut to guy on camel.
Cut to shot of hot sun.
Rinse and repeat.
Casablanca lets new fans down because it’s been inspirational to so much that came after it.
Watching it now it feels very derivative, but that’s because it’s the original.
Watching it now it feels very derivative, but that’s because it’s the original.
Pretty common phenomenon, I think. Can you imagine being in the original audience when Janet Leigh gets whacked in Psycho?
For a Bogart movie I DID like that I had never heard of before, check out Sahara. Turner Classic Movies is so much better than AMC now, especially NO COMMERCIALS.
Feel how you want but movies should have more than one element — you can have drama and romance and bits of comedy if it’s done right, and few films are done MORE right than “Casablanca.” Its 20th best line is better than most best lines, and it’s got one of the best lead character intros ever. Plus, you know, there’s Ingrid Bergman.
As for Rick, he’s basically a metaphor for America before WWII. He sticks his neck out for no one. Then he does. First he’s isolationist, then he’s involved. He’s us.
But I think there’s a reason some movies resonate for generations and it helps if there’s a seeming contradiction, or irony to the ending. Take “The Godfather.” Michael loses by winning. He beats the others but in doing so he loses his soul.
Rick is the opposite: He wins by losing. He loses, gives up, Ingrid Berman, but in doing so he wins so much more.
I could go on. It’s one of my favorites. Oliver, if you haven’t, see “The Third Man,” which is a kind of anti-”Casablanca” but also one of the best movies ever made.
Casablanca is a work of art but I think a wee bit overrated.
Here’s one interesting note of trivia on the Casablanca set.
Look closely at the airplane scene toward the end of the film.
It’s reported that the plane was a scale model miniature and the crew around the plane were “little” people. This was done to accomadate the set.
The next time you look at the film, see if you can tell.
“Can you imagine being in the original audience when Janet Leigh gets whacked in Psycho?”
I recently watched the original King Kong again. How on earth did that get released in 1933?!
-Screaming, falling, and bouncing people
-A man eaten alive by a dinosaur
-Topless women
-People crushed beneath Kong’s feet or in his jaws
Boggles the mind.
Just saw Casablanca for the first time myself not too long ago. Good…not great. And at points, downright cheesy.
For my money, a better Bogart flick was Key Largo. Bogey, Bacall and Edward G. Robinson trapped in a Key West hotel during a hurricane. Pretty tight movie.
Oliver,
So what did you think of the opening scenes of Touch of Evil. It was done with one camera and no cuts. Gasses my mind every time I see it.
Touch Of Evil’s opening shot is one the most phenomenal things I’ve ever seen.
Favorite Lines:
“Tell me, Rick,what brought you to Casablanca?”
“I came for the waters.”
“But, Rick, we’re in a desert.”
“I was misinformed.”
If you like Orson, get hold of a copy of “Prince of Foxes”. Welles plays Ceasare Borgia.Everett Sloane plays the perfect Renaissance Italian assissino and Tyrone Power plays the lead. Black and White, superb cinematography. This movie gets no hype, but it is terrific.
I recently watched the original King Kong again. How on earth did that get released in 1933?!
No Standards & Practices in 1933. Did you see the guy near the elevated tracks that gets squished between Kong’s toes?
Now you want an opening scene? How about “Once Upon a Time in the West”?
When Bronson starts blowing that harmonica, it’s just surreal.
Is Casablanca Overrated? Heresy!
Touch Of Evil’s opening shot is one the most phenomenal things I’ve ever seen.
You might judge a piece by how often its quoted by later artists. Boogie Nights, Goodfellas, Children of Men, Snake Eyes, etc. Probably none of them the equal of Welles’ work in Touch of Evil, except maybe – and it’s a shaky maybe – Children of Men.
Thanks for the recommendation re Prince of Foxes, RC.
With regard to Casablanca, as others have pointed out, there’s the basic question of why the Nazis don’t simply shoot Laszlo the first chance they get.
By the time I watched Enter the Dragon, I had seen so many parodies, imitations, and outfight copies that it didn’t have the same effect as it would have if I had watched it before hand.
I think this is true here.
If they did that, there wouldn’t be any story.
Also, Vichy France was at least nominally sovereign territory. The Nazis didn’t officially have the right to go around blowing people away. If they starting expressly violating that sovereignty, especially in North Africa, there was a risk that the Vichy territory would go over to the Allies. De Gaulle was around and there was still a strong nationalist streak in the colonial French. So it makes sense that Major Strasser would attempt to influence the local French constabulary to do his work for him.
Casablanca is a great movie. But as with all art, the greatness lies in the eye of the beholder. Also, 67 years have passed since this movie was released; the fact that you can still consider it a good movie with such a generational gap between your experience and its time speaks to how truly great it is.
Duros,
Missed that. Off to youtube i go now.
Watching it now it feels very derivative, but that’s because it’s the original.
Reminds me of the story about the matron who has been to see Hamlet for the first time, and tells her friend, “Well, it was very dramatic, and dreary in parts — but my dear, it was so utterly full of cliches.”
No Standards & Practices in 1933.
Actually, there was the Production Code (aka the “Hays Code”), which existed from 1930 to 1968.
RKO may have snuck a lot of violence past the Hays Office with “Kong.” But remember, audiences were not allowed to see Frankenstein’s Monster throw a little girl into the water two years earlier.
Never seen “Casablanca,” even though I own the Warners DVD. I’ve always thought that “Gone With the Wind” was wildly overrated, as well as “Wonderful Life” (I have no use whatsoever for Christmas movies, except for Alistair Sim’s Scrooge).
“Kane” is perfect, though. The thing blew me away when I was 14 years old and Channel 20 in DC ran it, hyping it as The Greatest Movie Ever Made. (And at that age I HATED dramas.)
Plus, you know, there’s Ingrid Bergman.
If you dig Ingrid, you have to see Hitchcock’s “Spellbound.” The picnic scene is awesome.
I’ve always thought that “Gone With the Wind” was wildly overrated,
Ditto.
Try watching Casablanca again, keeping in mind the time and place. Be sure you have the unedited version in which Rains’ character takes advantage of the young bride. It was a nasty time in history, with nasty people. In the background is the Holocaust, Vichy France, the War, the Resistance, etc. At the time the movie was considered a brave statement, considering the conservative forces in the US, like Ford, Lindbergh and the Bushes. Many Americans would have let Hitler have his way in Europe and not help Britain. Roosevelt knew we had to Do Something no matter how many lives were lost. The Japanese in the Pacific just added another plot point.
What erik said.
You best give it another chance, Oliver. You’re a patriotic romantic. Casablanca was made for you.
If you think it’s overrated, you might enjoy Umberto Eco’s essay on How To Make a Cult Classic, in the collection How to Travel with a Salmon. He takes it down pretty thoroughly, and I can’t help being entertained by the essay, though I admire the movie.
Six years ago a bunch of people came over to the house to celebrate the 21st birthday of a certain person here. Freedom Fries were in fashion at the time, and we talked of serving some, but didn’t get around to it. We did drink some decidedly nice Freedom Wine from 1982. Then we watched Casablanca, which most of the crew had not seen; and of course we duly stood for La Marseillaise.
Of course the movie is a bit old and creaky — what do you expect of something that’s as old as I am? — but I think its wind is still good, and it will carry on for a while.
And you do have to watch out for that Derivative stuff in old movies. I had seen The Cocoanuts more than once, and noticed how the choreography looked like Busby Berkeley with the overhead shots and all, before I found out that it was Berkeley’s work that was derivative from Cocoanuts (specifically, Alan K. Foster, I see in looking it up).
Now you want an opening scene? How about “Once Upon a Time in the West”?
The opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West is marvelous as a form of movie exposition but the technical work involved in shooting the scene is fairly standard. Welles’ achievement in the opening of A Touch of Evil, i.e, one camera and no cuts, raised the aesthetic bar a bit.
Claude Rains was a great actor, and I always make a point of seeing any film I notice he is in on TV. Conrad Veldt was a pretty good actor too (see Contraband in which he plays the good Danish sea captain sorting out the Nazi threat). As too was Sydney Greenstreet.
I think this is a great film, but I love propaganda. Sahara is also a brilliant Bogey propaganda film. I also love the way that they moved Sherlock holmes to the 1940’s to fight Nazis and deliver stirring speeches about subjects such as Canada!)
Does anyone watch foreign films? Because “La Grande Illusion” was so good the Nazis banned it!
I would also reccommend “The 5000 fingers of Dr. T” (T in red lettering), Dr Seuss screenplay musical kids film with an anti-communist undertone.
To return, the Vichy water, the “such much!”, the use of a song from an unsuccessful 1930’s show (“As time goes by”). The propaganda, the good but aloof Rick coming around. This is a great film. Easily in the top 1000 (I think there are at least ten times that many ‘great’ movies, so top thou is not as bad as you’d think).
30’s films? Cagney (any). Marx Brothers (any). Laurel and Hardy (most). Renoir (any including the one that was remade as “down and out in Beverley Hills in the 1980’s).
Silent? Phantom of the Opera, the General, Metropolis.
Sorry, almost forgot Peter Lorre.
Does anyone remember 2 bugs bunny cartoons, one with Edward G Robinson and Peter Lorre spoofs and the other with Humphrey Bogart and a silent Lauren Bacall (It ends with Bugs voluntarily putting himself into a sandwich because that’s what Bacall wnats to eat!)?
Subtext four and five layers deep in spots. Honestly bypasses the subconscious if you’re just watching it.
I totally agree. If you don’t get that Casablanca is actually Rick’s coming out story, you’re totally missing it.
The start of a “beautiful friendship”, indeed.
I think part of what hurts Casablanca is that it has been copied so much that a lot of it seems cliched now.
I actually think the similarly themed Notorious with Cray Grant and Ingrid Bergman is better, but Casablanca is still very good.
And ditto the Touch of Evil love, amazing film, who would ever imagine that Charlton Heston could be so good in a subtle performance rather than his usual grandiose style.