A True Classic

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2002)

`They don't make em like that anymore!' is a well known saying normally associated with an older person commenting on something done by the younger generation. In the case of 1942's Casablanca, the comment is sadly true. That Casablanca is one of the all time great films is accepted fact. That it is a great story set solidly in its unique times and was done by several of the finest actors and actresses of any era is also accepted fact. What is not well known today is that expectations were low for this film before its New York premiere in November of 1942. Casablanca was a great war time morale builder for a United States of America still reeling from the sucker punch of Pearl Harbor. It remains today a film of intrigue, patriotism, love and human drama. That it holds up so well after 60 years may be its greatest accomplishment, and among Casablanca's many accomplishments are three academy awards. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) owns Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, a port city in French Morocco with no small amount of back-stabbing and double dealing going on, but an important one because it is a major gateway to freedom and the west. Into his cafe and life walk freedom fighter and ex-concentration camp prisoner Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his beautiful wife and Rick's ex-lover Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Soon we are caught up in a three way love triangle, desperate escape attempts, menacing Nazi officers, roguish police officials (Claude Rains) and Casablanca `business' men (Sydney Greenstreet). I believe I can assume that most people reading this have seen the film so I will just say that Casablanca has a semi-happy ending as we learn that there are many situations in life that we do not understand because they are not always what they seem. In the end, 60 years after its release Casablanca holds up because it is a fine human drama made oh-so-believable and real to us by its all-star cast. The wartime atmosphere is really only icing on the cake, but what fine icing it is.
And what a cast. Humphrey Bogart. What man would not pay a hefty price to be able to look into the mesmerizing eyes of Ingrid Bergman and say, `Here's lookin' at you, kid.' Ingrid Bergman, the finest actress of her generation and, in the history of cinema's Grand Dames, perhaps the Grandest Dame of all, for those innocent dark eyes could make any man melt in his shoes. Claude Raines, dapper and elegant even in within the roguish role of the corrupt police Captain Louis Renault. (Isn't it interesting that yesterday's `bad guys' are in many ways more admirable than the so called `heroes' of today? Another sad commentary on our jaded times. However, in fairness I should point out that, although we suspected it all along, by film's end Renault turned out to be a better man than director Michael Curtiz wished us to think). Peter Lorre, in a small but important role as the weaselly Ugarte, gives the impression he would knife his grandmother for her church donation. Last but not least, Sydney Greenstreet, in my opinion the most menacing presence ever on the big screen, as the opportunistic Senor Ferrari turns in his usual masterful performance. It is a pity that Mr. Greenstreet's body of work in film was not greater. Still, many of the dozen or so he appeared in before his death in 1954 are considered classics today. So -- great story, superstar cast, wartime propaganda (slanted toward America and her allies. I wonder, what would have happened to Casablanca had Germany been victorious? I suspect it would be known only to a few film historians and most copies would have been destroyed. But, Germany didn't win and we do have one of filmdom's greatest readily available on VHS and DVD). Allow me a last comment on one of Casablanca's most memorable scenes. Late in the story, the Nazis are drunk in Rick's Cafe and singing loudly. I can just imagine the reaction of the 1942 theatergoers when suddenly Laszlo appears in the cafe, sees what is happening, and leads the rest of the cafe patrons in an impromptu singing of the Marseillase. The scene is powerful today, in 1942 it must have been emotional beyond description. As Bogey might have said, such is the stuff that film legend is made of! For an excellent in depth review of Casablanca, obtain a copy of 50 Classic Motion Pictures, copyright 1970 by David Zinman.