Casablanca

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2005)

I have seen this enough times to have the same opinion every time, it could be a little better, nevertheless I did see this film featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, from Oscar winning director Michael Curtiz (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mildred Pierce). Basically, set in World War II, many Europeans are trying to get into America to escape the threat of the Germans, but to do that they have to go to Casablanca, Morocco and get a visa. A hot spot in the town is Rick's Cafem run by American exile Rick Blaine (Oscar nominated Humphrey Bogart), who is shocked to see his past lover Ilsa Lund (Ingrib Bergman) walk into his place. He has a flashback about what he and Ilsa used to get up to when they were in love, and now she is married after running away to Paris. He has other problems however, Ugarte (Peter Lorre) has given him important transit letters, Nazi officer Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) is snooping around, and police Captain Renault (Claude Rains) tries to make the Nazi happy detaining Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). In the end, to save her husband's life, Rick forces Ilsa to board a plane leaving the country, the letters are given to the right people, and when Rick looked like he was going to be in trouble he was saved by his new friend. Also starring Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari, S.Z. Sakall as Carl, Madeleine Lebeau as Yvonne and Dooley Wilson as Sam. I personally think that this film is a little overrated, Bogart is really good, Bergman is beautiful and the supporting cast all do good too, and the score is great. My concern is that the only thing I will ever remember are the memorable catchphrases and little love story in amongst everything else which I find a little confusing and too political, but it's not a bad film at all, it is a classic wartime romantic drama to see. It won the Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay and Best Picture, and it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Music for Max Steiner. It was on 100 Years, 100 Quotes at number 67 ("Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."), number 43 ("We've always got Paris."), number 32 ("Round up all the suspects."), number 28 ("Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'"), number 20 ("Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."), and number 5 ("Here's looking at you kid."), "As Time Goes By" was number 2 on 100 Years, 100 Songs, Ingrid Bergman was number 68, and Humpherey Bogart number 36 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Bogart was also number 1 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Men, Bergman was also number 4 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Women, Rick Blaine was number 4 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, "As Time Goes By" was number 2 on 100 Years, 100 Songs, the film was number 35 on The 100 Greatest Tearjerkers, it was number 37 on 100 Years, 100 Thrills, it was number 30 on The 100 Greatest War Films, it was number 1 on 100 Years, 100 Passions, it was number 32 on 100 Years, 100 Cheers, it was number 2 on 100 Years, 100 Movies, and it was number 16 on The 100 Greatest Films. Very good!