'This story doesn't have an ending yet...'

Rating: 10/10 (10 September 2009)

About 2/3 into Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart's Rick says to Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa that this story doesn't have an ending yet. It is profoundly true, and this could be said of the ending of Casablanca also. Although Rick and Ilsa may well have said their very last goodbyes, the stories of these, and many other characters, in Casablanca are far from over at the 'end' of the film. What happened after Ilsa and Laszlo got on that plane? Did Louis and Rick's beautiful friendship last beyond the runway? And whatever happened to Sam? This is what makes Casablanca a truly unique film; you could make another three or four films about what happens to the characters after Louis and Rick walk off into the mist and it wouldn't get boring. It also gives Casablanca not just a great ending but one of the best in cinema history because it ties up the main story but leaves lots of other stories and questions unanswered before the events of the film as well as after like Rick's shady past in the US before he came to Casablanca.
It shouldn't have worked though and how it did is still a mystery. The script was changed on a daily basis during shooting and many people, including Ingrid Bergman herself, thought the film was second-rate and nothing more. Still, almost seventy years on the film still remains among the favourites of film lovers around the World and at the pinnacle of many people's film collections, mine included. It manages to capture the fear, the suspense and the intensity of the situation in and around Europe at the time and how it reverberated to places like Casablanca and eventually, the World. It encapsulates the power of film that it can take us back to this corrupt, dangerous and unsure World and this again makes Casablanca stand out from the crowd as it does this with such power and conviction. It is no coincidence that it was shot during the war and so this also adds to the air of realism the film has to offer.
Casablanca is one of those rare films that gets better with every watch. The pace of film is very much non-stop from the word go whilst the plot has many twists and turns, so it is almost inevitable that a first time viewer will miss something important or some of the smaller details that the film has to offer. On multiple viewings the film seems to become even darker and more cynical than I had thought before and yet it is still very uplifting in parts. In other words, it's a roller-coaster of a film. It needs to be seen if you have even a passing interest in film. It's one of the essentials and for good reason. Haven't seen it? Get watching!