Truly one of the more memorable romantic movies of all time.

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2004)

Casablanca
Casablanca is one of the few remaining parts of an unoccupied France, still the german are around there. Casablanca is also one of the few places where it is possible to get free of charge to American, the free country during the war. Rick's Cafe is the coolest place in town. One day a known Czech underground leader arrives with his beautiful wife, Ilsa, to whom Rick once had a short but wonderful affair in Paris.
Finally! Finally, i had the chance to view one of the most famous movies in the history, Casablanca. Some may say it's a mother to all future romantic movie, and there are indeed many things in the movie that have been copied one way or the other, but that is mainly because this movie seems to have written a small manual for how to make an interesting love drama. I haven't seen many movies this old, so who am I to judge, but there is no doubt this movie has aged like a very fine wine, even today, black and white as it is, this is still a movie that will always stand as a remarkable romantic movie, maybe even the mother of all romantic movies. I can at least say that even now, so many years after, and my young age taken in consideration, this movie still has an effect on me, and it never gets boring at all, it keeps the perfect pace for all 110 minutes, which is quite outstanding.
Now for those who think Casablanca is just a romantic movie, it's not, actually it has many others aspects to it. And i think that is why this movie works so well, we see other problems being taken up, perfectly they are adjusted so there are not too many of them and the romantic issue is still the main theme, but the sub problems works well. Especially i noticed how the movie always got our interest opened for something that feels kept as a secret, for example the past of both Rick and Ilsa, before they met in Paris. That single thing was never revealed until very late in the story, which for me meant that i was constantly curious to find out more throughout the movie.
The movie is quite good directed, the director have found an nearly perfect pace for the movie all along, it never gets boring and manages to be entertaining and interesting all the way through, something that i think is quite amazing, the time flew by so fast I was amazed when it ended. And that is indeed a good thing, i hate it when movies have to bring up boring sequences, and it's something that for me drags down a lot in my overall opinion, but Casablanca really impressed me on that.
The acting is also quite good for this movie, acting in the earlier days are usually very different than modern days. That goes for this movie too. Best was Mr. Bogart, i actually thought he did a very good job playing a cynic man, who deep within had a heart of gold, all it took for it to open was the one woman. Ingrid Bergman played a fine role too, although i disliked her false tears, they didn't look very convincing to me.
To sum it all up a bit. There is no doubt this one of the greatest romantic movies of the history, and it is the work of a perfectionist, every single detail seem to be thought through, and the movie works fantastically well and has very few flaws. The movie has aged perfectly, I think one of the main reasons to this is that there are barely any use of special effects in the movie, something that is very easy to spot now a days, but this movie can be watched without problems, even now a days. If i had to point a negative side out, which I have to do naturally, the movie didn't make me cry and really feel with my heart as I was hoping for, the movie is good no doubt, but i never really fell in love with the characters. Something that i think is necesarry for a romantic movie to succed to a top grade, but there is no doubt anyway, if i get the chance, then I will watch this movie again.
8/10