One Of The Most Beloved Film

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2012)

One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies standard categorization. Simply put, it is the story of Rick Blaine, a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of World War II.Casablanca is a romantic drama film directed by Curtiz that features Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson.
Set during Second World War, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, love and virtue. He must choose between his love for a woman and helping her and her Czech Resistance leader husband escape from the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault, Rick's cafe has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo and his wife, Ilsa, Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. "You must do the thinking for both of us," she says to Rick. He does, and his plan brings the story to its satisfyingly logical, if not entirely happy, conclusion.
Despite a changing assortment of screenwriters frantically adapting an unstaged play and barely keeping ahead of production, and Bogart attempting his first romantic lead role, Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its characters, dialogue, and music have become iconic, and the film has grown in popularity to the point that it now consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films of all time.An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood's quintessential statement on love and romance, it has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Bogart and Bergman. It has a peculiar magic to it, and it's in the richness of its details that mostly go unnoticed because of the film's pace.Despite of being released in 1942,the appeal of Casablanca shows no sign of diminishing as time goes by.