I bet Hemingway wished he had written it

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2013)

Casablanca was designed to encourage the USA into war against Germany in WW2. It failed wholeheartedly, but it didn't matter, the Japs and Hitler invited them in to the fray.
It was also a vehicle for the stupendously subservient actress Ingrid Bergman. Her eyes water every time a male performs a miraculous act such as serving a drink or lighting a cigarette, or god forbid singing a national anthem. The use of cigarettes and booze to create an atmosphere is the primary reason why this movie is so detested today. Those habits simply don't gel with the health-conscious viewers of the 21st century.
But see past that and the characters in this movie are still absorbing. Asides from Bogie, Claude Rains and Peter Lorre represent people we all know. What is a bit of mystery, is why the movie was not set in Lisbon rather than Casablanca. Lisbon was infamous as the spy capital of the war and was the historical source for Ian Fleming's James Bond romp in Casino Royale(re-located to western France in the book). Perhaps it was because it was already known that the Torch landings were to take place in Morocco.
One of my favourite Bogie movies, but only 3rd behind To Have And Have Not and Key Largo. Bacall pairs up so much more effectively with Bogie than Bergman does.