A Stirring and Splendidly-Made Wartime Film; Very Well-Acted

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2005)

Julius Epstein, one of the writers of "Casablanca's" screenplay, has called his script bad names. On philosophical grounds, I must agree with some of his honest objections. However, the production values and general storyline are so beautifully done in this famous cinematic work of art that the film's sterling qualities easily outweigh its relatively minor defects. Of course, the film is somewhat overrated by most moviegoers; but, its scenes and human relationships rank with some of the finest achievements in Hollywood's history. And the acting is far above average, every last line of it. It is to this presentational aspect--and to the characters' motives within the film that perhaps viewers have always responded unusually favorably. The film was set in occupied North Africa during wartime. Between the Vichy French government and the Nazi occupiers, the criminal element and those desperate enough to be driven to commit crimes, the city was a deceptively-calm-appearing and yet a very-dangerous place to be living in those years. And, incidentally, it provided a fine milieu in which to set a dramatic film whose theme is how men ought to face their responsibilities in emergencies. The only way to escape from Casblanca's oasis of deceptive peacefulness was to have "papers"--legal permission to persuade the authorities to permit such a departure. In fact, the storyline begins with visitors having such papers stolen, by a desperate man who is later killed. The remainder of the plot line can be summed up in two sentences. In the city, an expatriate named Rick runs a large nightspot to whom sooner or later, because he is neutral and accommodating, everybody comes. Enter Ilse, and Viktor Laszlo, she the woman who inexplicably left him in Paris and the man she left him to go back to, a man wanted by the Nazis everywhere as their chief opponent... What happens after this is the outcome of the sorts of people Rick, Ilse and Viktor are, and an enigmatic French police captain beautifully played by Claude Rains. As Rick, Humphrey Bogart is at his best, investing a neutral and too-much-unaccounted-for obvious ex-racketeer with intelligence, a sense of honor and melancholia for his lost love. Ingrid Bergman has little to do but look beautiful and say she is sorry, but she does both wonderfully, as always. Paul Henried as Laszlo is straightforward and capable Others in the very fine cast include Syndey Greenstreet as a rival nightclub owner, S.Z. Sakall the bartender, Leonid Kinskey a larcenous employee, Joy Page as a desperate refugee, Peter Lorre as the unfortunate thief, Dooley Wilson as Rick's segundo and piano player, and able Conrad Veidt as the Nazis' chief. Michael Curtiz's bravura direction controls the film's pace and draws very good performances from his cast. Every element of the film glows with intelligence; the lighting is extraordinary, and the costumes, sets, art direction by Carl Weyl, and Arthur Edeson's cinematography are textbook-class work. Mention should be made of Max Steiner's music and the song "As Times G By", first heard in this feature. Scenes such as the entry of Ilse into Rick's, the roulette wheel payoff, the rival singing of the Marseillaise to drown out the Nazis' song, the killing of the thief, the closing of Rick's and the justly-famous climax at the airport in the fog need no elaboration by me. What is questionable is the ending, in which Rick gives up Ilse, at least for now, because Viktor Laszlo needs her; the stronger ending would have been for Laszlo to give her up to Rick and say, "Do you think so little of me as to imagine I'd let you do a 'sacrifice'? I need only my liberty, as every man does. I have my work--it's enough for me for now. Happiness such as yours and the freedom to enjoy it again is what I'm fighting for. What we're all fighting for! So, we go on together or not at all." But this flaw is less important than the careful build in tension achieved within the film, less vital than the gradual awakening of righteous anger in men who had stayed out of the battle between brutality and justice too long already. The film has a great deal to say about what men should do in the face of evil; and much of the time, it says it very well indeed.