It just gets better with every new viewing!

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2008)

It is very apt that my 200th IMDb comment (I review classic films on here) should be for CASABLANCA, a film that is surely the most iconic of the Golden Age of Hollywood. So much has already been written and said about CASABLANCA that to add anything new would seem perfunctory (even this sentence sounds a little trite!), but I'll just add a few points in as to what makes this film so wonderful.
-Curtiz's direction. Understated, almost invisible and never intrusive, Mike Curtiz directed what seems like hundreds of Warner Brothers studio films without ever letting personal style intrude upon great story-telling. Curtiz was not a showy director, and CASABLANCA is hardly a showy film. Yet I can hardly think of any director who could have handled the final scene of the picture (the airport sequence) with such a fine sleight of hand. Bravo, Mr Curtiz.
-The script, with so many quotable lines. CASABLANCA's script is such a thing of perfection, even more astonishing when one learns that it was re-worked almost daily. Nearly every line (save Bogart's line to Henreid "It seems that destiny has taken a hand"- it really does feel "written")is crisp; the screenplay is a mastery of the art of constructing film dialogue.
-It is still such a "cool" film. Bogart is perhaps the most "cool" of all classic film stars, and CASABLANCA still feels so fresh and modern, despite all the now-classic clichés.
-The duelling anthems scene is the highpoint of the picture, even more so than Bogart and Bergman's romantic scenes. It is truly an inspirational film moment, and has enormous power. Just one more reason to see the film.
-The supporting cast feel as if they haven't been cast in the film, they simply "belong" there. Even bit-characters like Yvonne are so perfectly cast and balanced with the protagonists. Rains is especially superb as Captain Renault, delivering many of the film's best lines.
-Of course, the romance between Bogart and Bergman...forever Rick and Ilsa. For lovers of romantic films, CASABLANCA is a doozy (and if you don't like romantic films, there is still much to admire here). I cannot fail to be drawn in by Bergman's "Kiss me as if it were the last time" of Bogie's "Here's looking at you, kid" every single time.
A film treasure.