Movie-A-Day #9: Casablanca

[Mike Olbinski]

Just wanted to shock the heck out of Chaplin with this one

Wife and I rented this movie on Saturday night, and I completely enjoyed it. Bogart was awesome, I loved the plot, the story, and the humorous parts.

When the head of police shuts them down, stating that he can't believe there's gambling going on, then a guy says "here's your winnings, sir.", I was dying.

(spoilers likely)

For those that haven't seen it, the city of Casablanca is in Africa and is basically a place where you can get visa's to America to flee the German invasion of France, etc., in World War II (right?).

So Bogart has a bar there, and a former love from the past shows up with her husband, and they are desperate to get to America.

Anyways, I loved this movie, probably more than a few other Bogart flicks I've seen, like African Queen (which I really did like).

Still, people say this is the "best movie of all-time"...how do you quantify that? Surely there has been better acting since, better stories, better cinematography, etc. I love Bogart, but honestly, he doesn't change the way he acts much in this one...

What makes this the best movie of all time? Other than the millions of quotes from the movie that people say these days and some (like myself) probably don't realize it was from that movie. "Here's looking at you kid", "Play it again, Sam", and "this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship".

Mike

 

[FischerKing]

That's funny - you saw it Saturday and I was talking about seeing it on Saturday, but passed and watched Groundhog Day instead.

I've always wanted to watch it but never have.

Shawn

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Originally posted by FischerKing
... watched Groundhog Day instead.

Casablanca was almost as good as Groundhog Day

Mike

 

[Chaplin]

Little known trivia: The phrase "Play it again, Sam" NEVER is said in the movie.

This film is one of my favorites. I remember going into it, I thought it was going to be a cheesy romance (this was back in my high school days), but I was totally enthralled by the other things in the movie. I mean, how can you not like Claude Rains after watching this movie? He plays a lot of different roles in other movies (Phantom of the Opera, Invisible Man, Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood--a classic). His portrayal of Louie the police inspector is so good--his comfortability with his role shows in every line, every look from him.

Bergman never looked more radiant (in fact, in later life, she didn't think Casablanca was all that great). Even though most of her dialogue painted her as the damsel needing a strong man to hang on to, you could tell the inner strength she had. It is an underacted performance.

And who can forget Peter Lorre as Ugati, unfortunately a very small role. And Conrad Veidt as the Nazi Major Strasser. (People that have studied movies would recognize Veidt as the "monster" in the classic Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)

This movie is, simply, perfect. There is really nothing wrong with the movie--the performances ring true, and the script (which was written on the fly) is tight and suspenseful.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by Chandler Mike


Still, people say this is the "best movie of all-time"...how do you quantify that? Surely there has been better acting since, better stories, better cinematography, etc. I love Bogart, but honestly, he doesn't change the way he acts much in this one...


Mike

Up until this point, Bogart had basically played a villain in gangster movies. His early career is full of them.

 

[jf-08]

Haven't seen this one either. But I did see "Die Another Day" last night.

If anyone want to discuss Scooby Doo and the CyberChase, I've seen it like 114 times in the past 2 months.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Originally posted by Chaplin
Little known trivia: The phrase "Play it again, Sam" NEVER is said in the movie.

Yeah, you know, I didn't think I heard him say that, but when it was over, my wife said that phrase came from this movie, so I just didn't think about it.

BTW, I just loved the end.

Mike

 

[FischerKing]

Originally posted by Chandler Mike
Yeah, you know, I didn't think I heard him say that, but when it was over, my wife said that phrase came from this movie, so I just didn't think about it.

BTW, I just loved the end.

Mike

Typical! That's just like your "wife" to "hear" things that aren't there. She must get that from you.

Shawn

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Originally posted by FischerKing
Typical! That's just like your "wife" to "hear" things that aren't there. She must get that from you.

Shawn

My ears weren't deceiving me the night you were gagging on pizza you twit

Mike

 

[FischerKing]

Originally posted by Chandler Mike
My ears weren't deceiving me the night you were gagging on pizza you twit

Mike

Nor were your eyes...

ugh - I'm guess I'm not living that down.

Shawn

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Originally posted by FischerKing
Nor were your eyes...

ugh - I'm guess I'm not living that down.

Shawn

Like the many things I'm apparently not living down either

Mike

 

[mdamien13]

This movie's awesome. The last speech that Bogart gives to Bergman is spectacular. So many great one-liners in this movie.

 

[Renz]

Paul Henreid as Victor and Sydney Greenstreet also give great supporting performances.

Has Claude Rains ever given a bad performance? He is one of my favorite actors of all time.

I love the scene when the Germans are singing at Rick's and then Victor gets everyone to sing Les Marseilles.

I've seen this movie probably 20 times (it was one of the first movies I bought on DVD) and it never gets old.

One of the all-time greats!

 

[seesred]

Me and my wife watch this 2-3 times a year. The whole cast is great. My favorite scene is when the Nazis start singing in the bar, and the band at Sams overpowers them with the French national anthem. I understand that many of the people in that scene actualy came from that part of Europe and the emotions are very real on all the faces. THere is no women IMO ever filmed that looked more beautiful than Bergman in Casablanca.