Classic

Rating: 9/10 (10 March 2012)

Seeing this movie for the first time, it is easy to understand why it is a much loved classic. The mise-en-scène is superb as is the acting and lighting and camera work. Even though, as with virtually all movies, the drama factor is a bit heightened by the compression of time (story vs. movie), it flows very well. The quality of the acting makes the characters are very believable and enduring. The way Bogart was lit during his close-ups to show the lines of his face, really conveyed his emotional state and Bergman always appeared to be on the verge of tears (no doubt thanks to a special lens or camera effect).
While I knew the movie had been released before the end of World War 2, it didn't occur to me that actually meant the movie was in a position to predict the outcome (or to at least postulate a much hoped for conclusion). A prediction that, thankfully, was correct.