As time goes by...

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2003)

...this remains one of the very best films ever made. Whether or not it is *the* best is open to debate, but it's easily top ten.
Humphrey Bogart gives the performance of a lifetime - understated yet full of passion and rage simmering under the surface. At first we only see the hard-headed side of him but it isn't long before the artifice starts to crumble and we see the romantic idealist coming through. We realise that the cool, emotionless exterior is really a mechanism for self-protection - protection from the hurt of his own past, but also protecting him from the Nazis, who would probably kill him if they knew where his true sympathies lie.
In the end, he becomes a true hero - sacrificing his own desires for the woman he loves and risking his life to help the Resistance cause. And all the way through, Bogart's acting shows remarkable restraint - it would have been all too easy to play it like Jimmy Dean in Rebel Without A Cause or Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, but while he is just as much of a free spirit as those young hotheads, Rick Blaine is a man of immense wisdom and experience.
On top of all this, we have one of the most memorable scripts Hollywood has ever produced - there's a classic line in every scene. The film also has plenty of humour, and some great characters played by some great actors. Claude Rains is wonderful - he plays his part with a light touch so you can't hate him despite his apparently treacherous exterior, though it only really becomes apparent in his actions in the closing scene that, like Rick, his collusion is mostly an act of self-preservation.
At under 100 minutes, the film manages to cram an awful lot in to a very neat package - there is no padding at all, every second is made to count, and that's one of the reasons why you can never tire of watching it over and over again.
In short, there is nothing to fault with this film. It's perfect.