The best film I have ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (12 March 2011)

There is nothing I can say about Michael Curtiz's masterwork Casablanca(1942)that hasn't already been said by thousands, perhaps millions, of cinema lovers over the past 70 years. There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe just how perfectly the story, the characters, the images, the music, the sounds and all elements of the film's production are presented. The thing that sets Casablanca apart from the other films universally considered as being among the greatest of all time including Citizen Kane(1941) and The Godfather Part I(1972)and Part II(1974), among others, is the comedy of the piece. To balance the heart wrenching and soul shattering effects of war, occupation, fascism, betrayal and lost love with so much high quality comedy and so many great jokes is just stunning. Importantly, the comic elements disarm the audience without distracting from the life and death tension of the surroundings of the film. The emotions of the piece all feel very real and genuine and the audience is allowed into the lives of these characters in a way that very few films allow. Bogart's Rick is just about the coolest guy in the history of the world and Bergman's Ilsa it just about the most beautiful and charming woman in the history of the world. Claude Rains contributes a masterfully enigmatic performance as the police Captain Louis Renault and the entire cast of characters makes the place and the era come bursting to life. Curtiz's use of light and shadows sets the perfect tone for this perfect film and all elements of production are perfectly on point. I can't say for certain that Casablanca is the greatest film that has ever been made as I haven't seen them all but there's a pretty damn good chance that it is.