The best - where are the rest?

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2003)

I must have seen this film twenty times; I guess I know the script by heart; every scene, every camera movement is anticipated with pleasure and never disappoints. What kind of magic was worked during this film can only be guessed at. Some unique synergy took place on that Hollywood lot that has never happened since. An ensemble cast that could never be reassembled; craft masters and artisans at the peak of their skill; a world situation of uncertainty and worry, infecting the set with its tension and clarities. Somehow it all gelled; Rick, the world weary warrior; Ilsa, the luminous and virtuous beauty; a cracking script, awesome cinematography, laser edge editing and direction, and That Song.
How do you define the greatest film ever made? The ability to watch it again and again without ever becoming sated? The continued discovery of new things to enjoy? The comfort of knowing that what you are about to see is just as good as it gets? The fact that the gulf between films like this and most of the dross turned out today just gets wider? The perfect mise en scene? I don't know. I do honestly believe that this film will still be watched in two hundred years time and it will still generate the same passion in its viewers as it does today.
Now I really must buy a DVD before my tape wears out.