A pretty decent film that gets better towards the end, but hardly a classic

Rating: 6/10 (8 March 2020)

"Casablanca" is an American black-and-white film from 1942, so this one is already almost 80 years old and it was directed by Michael Curtiz. He won an Oscar for his effort there and the movie also took home the big prize, namely Best Picture. Another win was for the screenplay and three writers received a trophy there, even if we have a total of 7 writers listed here on imdb because this movie is based on a play. The actors and a few other nominees managed "only" nominations, but no wins. The year was 1942 like I already said, so of course World War II was a huge issue and this was a truly contemporarily relevant movie. Maybe this is why many mistook it for a great movie. It is not bad by any definition, but it is also certainly not the classic many people say it is. The subject here is also fairly unusual for a war movie and I cannot really remember any other film that focused primarily on the issue of people getting visas in order to be able to leave Europe/Africa and get to the United States where war hadn't arrived yet. Maybe this uniqueness in terms of subject is another reason why many people like it. We don't get military action or Holocaust stories (obviously because the entire mess was not known at that point yet) here, but something else. As for the cast: The lead actor here was Humphrey Bogart. He was okay overall, but not good enough for an Oscar nomination I'd say. I am glad Ingrid Bergman did not get any because she really was mostly forgettable here and honestly her scenes with Bogart were not the best the film had to offer, but maybe the worst, so it is really bizarre how some talk about this being the biggest romance story ever. If it really was this big, she would not have left him behind (twice!) and he would not agree that it is the right thing to do towards the end. The only solid moment there was when he said that now they have Paris again because he knows her real motivation for letting him go. Actually, I like the idea of this motivation in the sense of a greater cause, even if it is of course debatable if it makes sense that the two split up although they have major feelings for each other, which clearly she does not have for the Hungarian fella. There were at least two occasions when he says he loves her, but she does not say the same back. As for the cast, the second Oscar nomination went to Claude Rains, one of the most influential supporting actors of his time. He was okay too I'd say, but again not good enough for an Oscar nomination. I guess many mistook his surprising twist at the end (when he helps Bogart's character after seeming more like an antagonist all the way before that) for a great performance. But surprising does not equal sublime. His nomination was probably more about the writing than really about the portrayal. And of course that he was a good guy eventually. I must also say something about him becoming good did not make sense entirely. I can see why he was not too angry at Bogart's character for the fact that he let him not have the Bulgarian girl (by the way how did he even know the roulette numbers?), but he says earlier that they have not decided yet if a prisoner committed suicide or was killed while trying to flee (implying murder), which shows that he is definitely one of the bad guys, even if he is not German. The one who is German here is actor Conrad Veidt and his character was pretty much the main antagonist, even if he did not have too much screen time. Really sad how Veidt died shortly after this film was made at a relatively young age. He could have head a great career in Hollywood ahead of him. I think he was sublimely talented. Another (somewhat) German actor here was Peter Lorre. Many people immediately think of "M" when they hear his name, but they do not remember he was in here too and he plays a victim once again. I think his character is a Spaniard? With the black hair it kinda works. Luckily he lives on for a while afterwards. The supporting players are all pretty good here, for example also Sydney Greenstreet, who was nominated for an Oscar too the year this came out, so a fairly impressive cast for sure. It surprises me that Rains is the one we are supposed to believe stood out.
Well, I would not include Lebeau there. She was featured early on only, really early on, to basically show us how all the women love Bogart's character despite (or because of) his shenanigans, but she added nothing. And I already said that I did not like Bergman one bit here either, so this is not a film at all that shows us great character writing for females back then. Also kinda telling when we see how Bogart's character acts towards women and I am the last person who would say something like that if it wasn't entirely true. Snowflakes must melt. Anyway, what else can I say about this one here? I personally felt that it needed a little while to get going and draw me in with the action. I still was not too big on the overall plot, but preferred individual scenes and moments instead, even if some of these scenes also did not make a huge amount of sense. The best example is the shooting at the end. Are we really supposed to believe absolutely nobody saw who pulled the trigger? Oh well, still a good scene, one of the better. There are many other scenes. I liked the Ugarte/Lorre moments. The flashback scenes in Paris were fine too. The two epic quotes of course ("We'll always have Paris." and the recurring "Here's looking at you, kid.", which did not become remotely memorable before the second mention). The scenes with the Black musician were fine as well, even if I must say I am not too amazed by how they treated him, especially Bogart's character. Here and there, we also get an ounce of comedy in this otherwise pretty serious movie and that stems from a pickpocket doing his job. Then there is of course the lengthy sequence with the Bulgarian girl and her lover that was supposed to show us what a good guy Bogart's character really is. Annina is her name. And by the way, she is already living evidence of how the quote that there was never a more beautiful woman than Bergman's character coming to Casablanca is complete nonsense. Oh yeah, another scene I really adored was the big spectacular music scene. This clash between German traditional music and the French anthem was one of the most powerful moments of the movie and showed the resistance against the Nazis in a pretty interesting fashion. Speaking of the music, the film's soundtrack was also nominated for an Oscar and the one who came up with it (Max Steiner) won several Oscars in his career, already had 2 by then and many many more nominations and you can see from the title he was also German (well, Austrian to be exact), but it shows how many German-speaking people were a part of this film, from both cast and crew, and of course all of them are people who had turned their back on Hitler by then. Okay, I guess this should be all then. I enjoyed the watch overall after the film gained pace and the first rather weak 30 minutes were over. So I certainly recommend checking it out and I give it a thumbs-up. You can surely have a pretty decent time seeing this one. Just don't think you will be in for something truly extraordinary because otherwise your great expectations here could end up unfulfilled. Just enjoy it for what it is!