Born in Glasgow and gradually gravitated back here again. Have a young family and an unhealthy obses...
Born in Glasgow and gradually gravitated back here again. Have a young family and an unhealthy obsession with books and films though food and drink aren't far behind!
Member since:03.10.2005
Reviews:13
This is an indisputable classic, constantly near the top of polls on the best and most loved movies of all time. I got hooked in my early teens and before long a six-foot poster of Bogart in classic snappy suit and cigarette in hand looked down on me from my bedroom wall. Watching the film now and looking back (one or two years later!) it's still easy to see how the mixture of humour, style and heroism won me over then and hopefully this features-laden disc will help introduce the film to a new audience.
The story is set in Casablanca, Morocco in 1941 when the city is a vital point in the escape route for refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. From here planes departed for Lisbon and then the United States but official exit visas were needed to embark the plane. Casablanca itself is allegedly under French control but with the Vichy government and the occupation of France, it is the Nazis who exert the main influence.
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) runs a popular club in the city called Rick's. With Casablanca thronging with refugees, crime and black marketeering is rife and Rick's is known as a place where most things can be sourced for a price. Rick himself has to walk the fine line between running a popular club and being involved in anything illegal. His solution is to remain cynical and unattached to any cause, any allegiance, anyone.
Things become more complicated for Rick when he is asked to hold some documents for a local black marketeer who is later shot by the Nazis. These documents are two stolen letters of transit
that will allow the bearers to escape via the Lisbon plane. They are important and valuable documents in any case but the Nazis and their leader Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) are even more anxious to uncover there whereabouts due to the arrival of Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) a celebrated Czech resistance leader whom they wish to detain in Casablanca indefinitely. Rick is stunned when Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the love of his life who disappeared as they fled from Paris and the Nazi invasion, turns out to be Lazlo's wife. She pleads with him to help her husband escape. Will Rick help Lazlo for Ilsa's sake or will he use the papers to try to start a new life for himself with Ilsa? Or will the Nazis or the French under Captain Renault (Claude Rains) find the documents or any substance to their suspicions that Rick is involved in their theft?
There are uniformly excellent performances on display, not just from the three leads Bogart, Bergman and Henreid but also from Rains, Veidt (a celebrated anti-Nazi playing a Nazi), Sydney Greenstreet as one of Rick's rivals and Peter Lorre as the black marketeer who originally has the papers. Memorable also is Dooley Wilson as Sam the piano player although Wilson himself was a drummer.
But they are all helped immensely by a story that keeps the audience guessing right till the end. It's basically a love triangle between the leads and at least part of the suspense over how it will be resolved will have come from the fact that the actors themselves didn't know until just before the airport scene was shot. But there are other layers to the story - Bogart's character has been seen as the embodiment of America, refusing to get involved in the war and pretending it wouldn't impact upon them.
Michael Curtiz was a great director who helmed a number of other classic films such as Angels with Dirty Faces (which also stars Bogart although Jimmy Cagney is the lead), White Christmas and The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. His work is typically regarded as eclectic and his refusal to work within one genre has probably adversely affected his legacy. He infuses Casablanca with a murkiness and sense of danger by embracing some of the elements of film noir and the camerawork and scene composition is enhanced by the restoration and digital enhancement that has been carried out on the film for this disc.
The dialogue in the film has gone down in film history and is now enshrined in modern society. "Here's looking at you kid" is synonymous with Bogart's cool image yet was a line he ad-libbed in the Paris flashback scenes. Curtiz liked it so much it was written in again later in the film. "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship" and "Play it again Sam" are both commonly attributed to Casablanca although to be accurate neither are actually spoken in the film (the latter actually comes from the Marx Brothers film "A night in Casablanca"). "Round up the usual suspects" has been used for it's on film title. And all this from a film who's script was constantly being rewritten as filming progressed.
The soundtrack too has achieved great fame, mainly due to "As time goes by" the song that epitomises Rick and Ilsa's affair in Paris and that Rick has banned from being played in his club until Ilsa returns.
Things that you may not have known include the fact that the respective heights of Bergman and Bogart vary during the film. In real life, Bergman was taller than Bogart so boxes and cushions were used to increase his height while she was asked to slouch in certain scenes. Paul Henreid insisted on equal billing and was given his name above the title along with Bogart and Bergman although his fame has not lasted as long. He argued that anything else would lessen the dramatic tension of the triangle of leads. Near the end of the film in the airport scene, where Bogart delivers his "hill of beans " speech, features a plane in the background. Unable to gain access to an airport for filming, the plane is in fact a carboard model and the people seen were midgets and children used to create the illusion of distance.
The DVD now comes in special edition 2 disc format. The first disc features 2 audio commentaries, one of which is by US film critic Roger Ebert. Ebert is very knowledgeable and provides many insights but his style of delivery is so dry that it can be hard to prevent your attention slipping. The second disc has some deleted scenes and outakes but these are limited. However it also includes two great documentaries, one of the making of the film and the other on Bogart. Both are great viewing for anyone who is a fan and full of great snippets of information (some of which I've used above). An unusual bonus feature comes in the form of the Bugs Bunny episode / homage "Carrotblanca".
Casablanca is a classic under any definition and would be worth purchasing for that reason alone. The Special Edition adds even more enjoyment and becomes, in my view, an essential purchase for anyone with a DVD player.
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Drama - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Shelagh Fraser, Barbara Flynn, Keith Drinkel, Felicity Kendal, Pam Ferris, Colin Douglas
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Amazing film, what a classic, play it again sam... x
clownfoot 17.03.2006 14:18
I really do need to pull my finger out and get round to watching this. One, because it's a reverred classic, but also because the law of film-making highlights that any film featuring Nazi's never fails to impress!! Alboy
This generously filled two-disc special edition presentation ofCasablancafeatures the film ... more
itself in an impressively clean new digital transfer on the first disc, with hiss-free mono sound. It's prefaced by a rather pointless introduction from Lauren B...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
This generously filled two-disc special edition presentation ofCasablancafeatures the film ... more
itself in an impressively clean new digital transfer on the first disc, with hiss-free mono sound. It's prefaced by a rather pointless introduction from Lauren B...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Casablanca: easy to enter but much harder to leave especially if your name is on the ... more
Nazis' most wanted list. Atop that list is Czech resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) a cynical American...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
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