Casablanca - In my words (MANY SPOILERS!!!)

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2001)

The other day, I read a debate of sorts where some people were questioning the greatness of Casablanca. They went so far as to call it "overrated" and "overacted". I had been meaning to watch it again, so I thought this time, I'd dig a little deeper to see if it perhaps is an overrated movie. I first saw Casablanca was about 5 years ago, and I've have seen it about six or seven times now. My first experience with Casablanca was very enjoyable. It was a pleasure to finally hear the lines and see the scenes that are so famous. Plus, I thought the movie was very good, and that Ingrid Bergman was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Multiple viewings ensured the movie as one of my personal favorites, especially since the characters, scenes and acting seemed to get better every time. It had been a while since I saw it before last night, and my goal was to try and figure out why I like it so much and whether or not it is "overrated".
The verdict? Casablanca, at it's core just an anti-war propaganda film, is still arguably the best film ever made. It (as a film, not an idea) is flawless in every way and pure joy to watch for the first time or the eighth time.
Surrounding Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca is the greatest collection of character actors ever put together in one movie. Together, along with director Michael Curtiz, they craft a complex and layered plot against the backdrop of the greatest movie plot manufacturer, World War II.
Basically, Casablanca asks you to believe that Rick, a man seems to have a great setup and who claims to stick out his neck for no one, is willing to give up EVERYTHING for the cause of the movement. To make this truly believable, the movie HAS to be perfect. We are to believe that Rick's love for Ilsa was so great that he would have risked capture in France to follow Ilsa if she had told him the truth at the train station. We believe that Ilsa's love for Rick is so great, that she's willing to go through years of torment knowing what she's done to Rick, but that she did it for his own good. Then, we find out that she actually did it because her love (was it love?) was so great for another man, she had to give up Rick for him. When all three clash in Casablanca, Ilsa gives into Rick because her love for him is so great. But ultimately, Rick's desire to stick his neck out for no one, which had been questioned throughout the film through other characters, is abandoned and he makes the ultimate sacrifice in giving up Ilsa, his livelihood, and maybe his freedom and life for "the cause".
Do we believe all this? Well, I do. Primarily, it's the acting of Humprhey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid that does it for me. The looks that Bogart and Bergman give each other are more than enough to convince. Bogart gives us incredible insight to how painful his parting with Ilsa in Paris was, and the incredibly hateful way he treats her in Casablanca shows how much he was hurt by her actions. Bergman, when looking at "Rick", expresses all the desire and regret in the world with the far away look in her eyes. On the other hand, her eyes and actions express an incredible admiration, respect and plutonic love for "Victor", but not a sensual love. It's Bergman's emotion in her portrayal of Ilsa that convinces us of these feelings. Words alone would not have sufficed. When she makes the decisions she does, I buy them because she is so convincing.

All that being said, the character/actor that really makes the whole thing work is Paul Henreid/"Victor". Henreid depicts a person that is so passionate about his calling (leader of the French resistance against Germany), but at the same time, loves Ilsa so much that he is and has been unwilling to leave her no matter what the cost. He did not leave her side when she was sick for two weeks despite the danger it left him in, and he won't leave her in Casablanca. And she won't leave him. Henreid's Victor is a great leader, and unafraid of anything. For such an important character, again, the words are not enough. Action and emotion was essential to the believability of Victor's character, and thus, the whole story. An example of this, and of what makes Casablanca so great, is the scene at Rick's when Victor leads the patrons in the French anthem La Marseillaise. At the time, the members of the German Third Reich that are present at Rick's are singing a rousing Nazi song, The Watch on the Rhine. Victor goes to the band and instructs them to start La Marseillaise. The band members look at Rick for his guidance, and he quietly nods his head in approval. Remember, this is the guy who sticks his neck out for no one. Victor then sings unabashedly, and inspires the predominantly French and French sympathetic crowd to join him, and they drown the Nazi's out. I am sixty years and an ocean removed from this time and place, but am still incredibly moved by this scene nonetheless.
We are convinced with an episode like this that Victor is indeed a great leader, and it is ESSENTIAL that he get out of the inevitable danger that lies in Casablanca. We know this, and more importantly, Ilsa realizes this. She will do ANYTHING, as evidenced by her pulling the gun on Rick to try and force him to give up the letters of transit. But EVEN MORE importantly, Rick realizes what a great leader and important man Victor is, and that Victor loves Ilsa. Rick knows that Ilsa is essential to Victor, she's "the thing that keeps him going". So he must help Victor, and to do so, he must give up Ilsa, who has previously given into him. Remember Rick must "do the thinking for all of us". And not only does Rick have to give up Ilsa to help Victor, he must sell his cafe, hold the prefect at gunpoint and eventually kill a Nazi to ensure Victor and Ilsa leave. He risks the sacrifice of everything for Victor and his cause.
Lost in all this, again, is the great array of characters in the movie. Not the least of which is the Prefect of Police Renault, played by Claude Rains. He behaves much like Rick throughout the whole movie, looking out only for himself. He, like Rick, isn't entirely on the up and up. In the end, of course, he and Rick turn out to be not such bad guys, after all. And Rick and Renault's mutual respect for each other leads, of course, to possibly the most famous line to ever end a movie. Simply magical. Great comic banter is provided by Sydney Greenstreet, who plays Ferrari, a competitor of Rick's, as well as S.Z. Skall, playing the Carl the head waiter.

Great direction by Michael Curtiz, photography by Arthur Edeson (who also did The Maltese Falcon) and a score only add to the perfection of this movie. The real magic is in what was created by Bogart, Bergman and Henreid. Bergman, in particularly, is simply radiant and electric. I can't think of a more beautiful woman that I've ever seen in a particular movie. I also find it simply amazing that the script for Casablanca was practically written as they went along. The movie was shot in sequence with an unfinished script, and the actors and crew didn't know how the whole thing would end. It's amazing because every thought and action exhibited by the principal players, even those early in the film, are consistent with the ultimate destinies of the characters. HOW did they do that??? Casablanca is a flawless work of art and seems almost as if it was destined for greatness by how it all magically comes together. Not only is it great, but it's flat out incredibly fun to watch.