Casablanca at 60

Rating: 10/10 (28 January 2002)

With the possible, arguable, exception of Citizen Kane, this is THE finest piece of celluloid ever to exist. I give it a notch over Kane because it has the romantic interest of Bergman and Bogey (Elsa and Rick) as a second powerful sub-plot. The casting is perfect, the story is exciting, supporting characters have (in the ensuing 6 decades) become as memorable and important as the leads. If you buy DVD's, get this one or Kane first. These films will be the basis on which to compare all others that have come before or after. If they are dated..well then so be it. Great stories transcend time (how many remakes of Romeo & Juliet exist for example?) and Casablanca is such.
The multiple tales of human folly, fear, death, hate, love and living for a higher purpose are seamlessly integrated into a hundred-odd minutes of magical story telling. Will anyone make a film like this again? No...that would be impossible. Perhaps come close but never exceed this perfect example of the motion picture arts. And art it is. If it were a painting it would hang in the Louvre, if a song, comparable with Beethoven's 9th, if a book, it would be on the shelf next to Shakespear's First Folio. Enough...see the movie...again. Charles