The fact that this movie came out years before World War II ended makes the message of this movie completely breathtaking. What do you think of Casablanca?
You really need to see The Great Dictator starring, directed, and written by Charlie Chaplin. It's his first talking film, and he ridicules Hitler During the war, which was just unheard of. It's well worth a watch.
@@amandaasbury3688 It is generally true that not too many Hollywood films took on Hitler before America entered the war, there were a few that did. Casablanca came out shortly after America entered the war but was based on a play (Everyone Comes to Rick's), which came out in 1938. Another good anti-Nazi movie that came out early in the war is the 1942 Lubitsch comedy: To Be or Not to Be (starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard). Another favorite of mine is the mostly forgotten suspense film, Underground (1941), which is beautifully shot and has many moments of true drama.
Great film. There's two films I'd like to suggest: One is Citizen Kane if you've not seen it. Casablanca and it are always in the top 10 greatest American films ever made. The other is Notorious made in 1946 and directed my Alfred Hitchcock (also starring Ingrid Bergman who played Ilsa in Casablanca as well as Claude Rains who played Renault as well as Cary Grant) and her role in Notorious is my personal favorite performance of hers
@@robertjewell9727 Citizen Kane is one I plan to watch in a month or so. I also will be including more Hitchcock as I go because I enjoy his style a great deal. One day I will definitely get to notorious!
There are a few problems with Casablanca: "Who's that boy playing the piano" (absurdly out-of-character American racism inserted into a European communist's wife) "Veuve Cliquot is a good choice" (obvious product placement). It also suffers a bit from a certain over-masculine fascistic tendency in movies of that time, which is why people respond to it, hyper-masculinity seems really "cool" when you've never seen it before. It also suffers from pedestrian cinematography and pedestrian direction, although the acting is the best of the era. But, all in all, it's still a great film. The films without these issues are the socialist ones, 1947's "Lady From Shanghai", 1943's "Journey Into Fear".
You won't get an argument from me. I first saw it in 1979 when I was 18. Went with a friend who was a huge Bogart fan. I soon found out why and became a huge fan myself. If you haven't watched it yet I highly recommend Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Some believe it was Bogart's best performance ever although personally I lean more towards the Caine Mutiny.
The best movie ever full stop! Note that Conrad Veidt was a German actor who escaped with his Jewish wife to America and Hollywood. He took the part of Major Strasse on the condition that the character was shown in the worst light possible as he, for obvious reasons, hated the Nazis fervently. He, unfortunately, died the following year (1943) of a heart attack on the golf course in LA.
And he also played the title character in the silent movie "The Man Who Laughs" which is about a circus performer whose face is forever frozen into a smile. Although his face is forever of a tortured smile, Veidt's sad yet wonderful performance conveys so much depth and personality despite it. And that character was the inspiration for the Batman villian of The Joker.
@@Hexon66 This movie has so many great moments. There will be no argument from me on your suggestion. Movies back then had to be well written, well acted and well directed to make money. Not much in the way of the special effects eye candy we get these days. Now don't get me wrong. There have been several great movies over last 30 years. And several of them have some kind of eye candy, but the directors never let it become the focal point of the movie. A good example of the CGI being the centerpiece of the movie has to be Jurassic Park. The writing and the acting was mediocre with the exception of Jeff Goldblum. Great actor. But we accepted that because CGI was in its infancy and we were wowed by the visuals as well we should have been, but CGI has too often been the lazy man's way out of trying to make a blockbuster. Many of them flop because everything else that makes a great movie is played down or just totally absent. There are many great movies from the modern era that are already or will eventually be classics. Some of my favorites are:. Unforgiven, The Departed, Silence of the Lambs, Platoon, Raging Bull among several others. But unfortunately these kind of movies, as far as I've seen are becoming harder and harder to find.
If you enjoyed Casablanca, I recommend The Maltese Falcon (1941), which also has Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. I’m particularly fond of Lorre’s characterization of Joel Cairo.
Key Largo would be a better bet if you are set on seeing the two of them together in a film, although I have other recommendations that proceed this film.
As many may have pointed out, Casablanca is really about the isolationism in the US before the US joined the war effort with Rick being a metaphor for the US. So your comment about everyone looking to Rick was actually pretty insightful and probably intentional on the part of the filmmakers.
To this day, still my favorite movie. Can't count how many times I've watched it over the years, and I find something new to appreciate every viewing. Plus the whole history of the movie itself is fascinating. It went through so many rewrites and directors. No one knew at the time they were creating a masterpiece. There Considering this movie was made in 1942 when the Germans still occupied France, and for all the world knew, the Nazis and the Japanese might win, the stakes of the story felt real. It wasn't a historical movie, it was the present. That's part of what made than scene at Rick's with the French anthem competing with the German one so powerful. Many of the actors and extras in that scene were actual refuges from Europe who had escaped to America. For them, that scene was real!
Yes! You captured why this movie was so significant upon release so well and I think that carries over and can still be felt even today. It’s beautiful.
"They are throwing a lot of history here at the beginning...' It's history now...in 1942 when this was made it fell squarely in the realm of current events.
Absolutely! That is part of why I struggled at the beginning, because it is so specific to the time period I was really worried I didn't know enough to appreciate it. And as I've learned more following the movie my appreciation and awe for this film as skyrocketed.
And so many great throwaway lines: "Are my eyes really brown?"; "What waters? We're in the desert"/"I was misinformed"; "Your winnings, sir."/"Oh thank, you very much"; etc., etc., etc. This is a classic because so many marvelous aspects: the cast; the writing; the cinematography; the direction; All these things came together at Rick's Café Américain.
Back before we had cable or a VCR, my parents took me to a screening of Casablanca at a nearby college. As I recall, 12yo me was less than thrilled to be dragged to some old movie. But by the end I was thinking this was one of the best movies I’d ever seen. 40-odd years later, I still feel that way.
I have seen Cassablanca at least a dozen times and I never tire of it! I love your reactions and the simple setting that doesn't distract! You have new subscriber! Keep up the great work! 👏👏👏😁😁😁
Thank you for this reaction to a truly great film. Casablanca was based on a play called Everybody Comes to Rick's. The movie was filmed after the U.S. entered the war, but the play was written before then. You can see the perspective in the structure of the story. The neutrality of the U.S. was like Rick's attitude that he sticks his neck out for nobody. At one point Rick says, "I'd bet they're asleep in New York. I'd bet they're asleep all over America." In other words, America was asleep with respect to what was going on in the world. Captain Renault is an interesting character. Through most of the movie he's an amoral opportunist, but at the critical point at the end of the movie he decides he must take sides with the loyalists against the Nazis. His throwing the bottle of Vichy water in the trash is symbolic of his decision. Many of the actors in Casablanca were war refugees. Madeleine Lebeau, who played Yvonne, is a notable case. She and her husband had fled Paris ahead of the invading Nazis. They traveled to Lisbon, where they got visas to Chile. But on their way to that country, they got stuck in Mexico when it turned out the visas were forgeries. They somehow managed to get temporary Canadian visas, and used these to enter the United States. The similarity of Yvonne's story to her own was not lost on Mme. Lebeau. Her tears as she sang La Marseillaise were real.
Thank you for such an informative comment! All of that makes this film that much more incredible! Absolutely love seeing that perspective and growth of the characters throughout moving from neutrality to fighting.
14:26 I love how the young Bulgarian woman's question directly drives the plot forward in the situation, but on a second level it touches Rick's feelings so directly because he relates her description exactly to his situation with Ilsa. Since he is still hurt, he initially rejects the young woman, but shortly afterwards his human side takes over and he helps her husband at roulette, as a foreshadowing of his later selfless decision. Exceptionally good script with believable character development, of which this is just one example of countless.
Bogart was an incredible actor. To see tough guy Rick break down in tears because his lost heartbreaker reappears is believable because of Bogey's acting skills. Amazing!!
It's wonderful to see your appreciation of one of the most influential films ever made. Far too many people might dismiss it as being cliche, but that would ignore the fact that so many films and shows referenced Casablanca because it came first and originated many of those "cliches." I wonder if you've noticed how the character of Rick inspired another famous lovable rogue character. In a cantina in the desert a hero of the resistance and his companion meet an aloof cynic who they ask to help them arrange transport for themselves. He's turned to smuggling in order to make a living while trying to stay out of the looming war. But that cynical smuggler deep down hates the military power and uses his skills to help the resistance and joins the fight against evil.
It's clear this movie created those cliche's and that is worthy of respect. It's hard not to make a comparison to Rick and many such characters that followed, but reading your description you can't not see Han Solo forever more. 🤣
Also a note on the acting and emotions of some of the cast. There were a fair percentage of Casablanca's cast who were refugees from the war in Europe (and actors in European Cinema). For example IIRC the actress playing Yvonne fled France to America...so her emotion during the scene where La Marseilles drowns out Wacht Am Rhein is about as real as it gets.
When I took screen writing in college, the only script we analyzed during the whole semester was Casablanca. Its one of, if not, the best screenplay ever written. It is a masterpiece.
Easily one of my favorite movies of all time. It's bloody perfect, casting, directing, the fantastic script, with those great dialogues, brilliant lines, the cinematography...everything. I hope more classics are to come.
And yet, a lot of it was accidental. The script was being revised practically up to the moment they shot it, and the actors were often just the people the studio had free that month. (When the studio first announced it, they apparently said that Ronald Reagan would be playing Rick.) And Ingrid Bergman said that the reason she looked so torn was that she couldn't work out who her character actually loved, and the scriptwriters couldn't tell her either. It was a real case of catching lightning in a bottle.
Casablanca ‘Casablanca’ is renowned and is acknowledged as one of the most romantic films of all time but it is much more than a story of a love triangle. Of course, it shows that the power of love can affect the human psyche, as demonstrated by Rick’s metamorphosis. This film has so many levels to it that it takes many viewings to appreciate them. The main theme is not romance but self-sacrifice as its message to the world at war is to give up the personal agenda for the common cause. It reminds wartime audiences, many of whom have loved ones fighting abroad, that their situation is the same as that of Rick, Ilsa and Victor. The screenplay is so intelligently written. It is a masterpiece of complexity, containing subliminal political opinions and messages all carried along on a thrilling plot with brilliant one-liners, comedic elements, and contemporary, social commentaries. Basically, the film is politically motivated because it is a plea to America to join the war. Please note that the action takes place in December, 1941. This is the the first non-musical movie to use music almost as an another protagonist, (which Tarantino does now). For example, ‘As Time Goes By’ is a valuable recurring theme and, in Paris, Rick and Ilsa dance to ‘Perfidia’ which means untrustworthiness. The direction is multi-faceted: Documentary, Film Noir, German Expressionism, Flashback etc. POINTS OF INTEREST AND NOTES FOR SUBSEQUENT VIEWINGS. Rick’s initial selfishness is a metaphor for USA indifference. It must be remembered that the events and politics are hard to comprehend and put into perspective for modem audiences than in the actual time when the film was made. It The script is a 'State of the Union' address, both for home and foreign policies. There are references to Civil Rights as embodied in Sam and, of course, the debate about America’s involvement in the conflict. Each character represents a country e.g. Two Japanese plotting . The Italian on the tail of the German. American indifference. French collaborators, the British robbed by foreign policy. Even the Balkans are mentioned via the Bulgarian couple. Rick actions symbolise the USA in its change in policy from isolationism to participation and ‘….the beginning of a beautiful friendship…’ is the USA and Europe joining forces to fight Nazism. There is subtle direction. For example, Ilsa wears black and white clothes and is cast in shadows and in a mirror which portrays the ambiguity of her role. The ‘La Marseillaise’ scene is the pivotal moment in which both Ilsa and Rick realise that saving Victor is more important than their own personal relationship. It also comes in just as Rick and Victor are about to argue over Ilsa but both drop the issue when they hear the music. This scene is rousing now but imagine how it must have felt for audiences right in the middle of the war when Germany seemed invincible and we need to put it in perspective in terms of world events full of Nazi domination. The fascial close-ups used throughout the film speak a thousand words: but particularly note Ilsa during ‘La Marseillaise’ when her expressions show her admiration of Victor’s power and her realisation that this must be preserved at all costs. In any case... there is so much alcohol!!!! POINTS TO WATCH ‘It’s December, 1941 in Casablanca: what time is it in New York?... I bet they are asleep all over America’. PEARL HARBOUR ‘Even Nazis can’t kill that fast’ CONCENTRATION CAMPS The Bulgarian couple keep appearing as symbols of hope and determination. In the bar room fight over Yvonne, Rick attacks the German only and not the Frenchman. Just one example of the excellent and complex scriptwriting occurs immediately after the roulette scene. The girl thanks Rick for letting her husband win and Rick replies, ‘He’s just a lucky guy’, which, on the face of it, refers to the gambling, but, in Rick’s mind, means that he’s lucky because his partner truly loves him.
"Whatever happens, won't you please remember that I..." Isla says this to both men, to Rick in Paris after she finds her husband is alive, and to Victor before going to Rick's Cafe, probably intending to sleep with Rick in order to get her husband out of the country, with or without her. In neither case does she finish her plea, but we know she means to say "...love you."
A Timeless Classic. a work of art that has withstood the test of time and remains a cultural milestone. Casablanca......sealed with movie quotes now engraved in Hollywood history.
What a fantastic cast, many of them worthy of a deeper dive -- Ingrid Bergman, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, Claude Rains. For more Humphrey Bogart -- African Queen, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Big Sleep (to be followed by The Big Lebowski) and The Maltese Falcon.
While you are journeying through films of the 30's and 40's, look for the name Michael Curtiz as Director. He was responsible for directing far more great films than many people recognize.
A lot of people point to the scene between Bogart and Joy Page (the Bulgarian couple) where she asks Rick if she agrees to sleep with Renault, will he keep his word and give the couple exit visas, then asks that if she did something like that to insure her husband's happiness would it be alright? His response that no one ever loved him that much, and his decision to help them was the beginning of him no longer just feeling sorry for himself and recognizing that he could make a difference for the people he cared about. For a look at life after the war, might I suggest "The Best Years of Our Lives."
I can't think of any movie with this many levels of complexity. The closest I can think of is Braveheart. Other great black and white movies are "Stalag 17" - "Key Largo" - "The Blackboard Jungle" 🎥 💓 🍿
It funny I’m over 60 and have seen most of the parts of this classic but never from beginning to end but I will someday thanks for sharing your reaction! African Queen I have seen many times and in my opinion one of the greatest love adventure stories ever filmed thanks
I agree. If you want to continue down the rabbit hole of Casablanca’s earnest but unlikely romance, and can’t get enough of the rough, brooding masculinity of Humphrey Bogart, African queen is must watch!
As a classic movie buff, my favorite Bogart/Bacall is "To Have and Have Not", though there are several that are quite good. On a different note, William Powel movies are fantastic and I'd love to see some reactions to them; "My Man Godfrey" for the zany laughs, but the "Thin Man" movie franchise are multiple movies of enjoyment.
Love this reaction . You must see Ingrid Bergman (illsa) and Cary Grant( north by northwest) in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” Also Claude Rains who played the captain is in it . It’s another great classic!
The crying woman during the singing of "La Marseillaise" in Rick's Cafe is Madeleine Lebeau a real-life refugee from the Nazis, as were many other actors in the movie incluing Major Strasser, played by Conrad Veidt. Madeline died in 2016, the last surviving named cast member.
Love seeing people react to this classic for the first time. Some trivia: the German actor Conrad Veidt, who played the menacing Colonel Strasser was very much anti-Nazi and donated and raised much money in the war effort against them.
Sadly Conrad Veidt died within six months of the end of filming of Casablanca. He dropped dead while playing golf, shortly before Casablanca won the best picture oscar (1943).
My mom and grandmother saw Casablanca a couple of months after it came out in early '43 while my grandfather was overseas in the war, and they said the audience was loudly cheering along and applauding during many scenes like Laszlo leading the French national anthem and Louis telling his men to "Round up the usual suspects" near the end. The war weighed heavy on everyone's mind so this movie was a real jolt of patriotism like when Rick joined the fight. Before this movie came out and the war, most Americans had never heard of Casablanca the city. That changed when US President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, Free French Generals Giraud and Charles De Gaulle (De Gaulle the one whose signed the 'letters of transit' in the movie and who later became president of France), and the host nation Morocco sovereign Sultan Muhammad V all met at the so-called Casablanca Conference to discuss Allied war plans, which was heavily covered by the media at the time. Producers timed the nationwide release of "Casablanca" to coincide with the news coverage of the conference that occurred in mid Jan 1943, and people responded! Though Casablanca is considered a romance movie, it very much is a war movie too. A couple more Bogart classics, "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) premiering only 2 months before the Pearl Harbor attack, and "To Have and Have Not" (1944) another romance-war movie where Bogey starred with his future wife, Lauren Bacall. ✌😎
I can only imagine the feeling of watching this upon release with so much still unresolved and uncertain. It is by far the most moving part of this experience. At its face it is a fairly simple, yet very well done love story, but it is given extra gravitas and significance because of the greater story found in Rick's arc to join the resistance!
@@CasualNerdReactions Definitely Chris! That "start of a beautiful friendship" scene between Rick (America) and Louis (Free France) was symbolic with the actual conference of allies then, a scene I'm sure resonated with the public as with a lot of other things in the movie. Enjoyed your reaction to another awesome classic here, so keep doing these and the cool contemporary movies you haven't seen yet. I recall you sounded a little down not having watched some movie when you were a kid first, instead of now. I can imagine that. But I have to say we viewers are sometimes a little jealous of you first time reactors because you're about to get the thrill of experiencing an awesome movie like this one for the first time! We can only remember that, watching a favorite movie over and over. I used to host movie watching parties because it was fun watching their reactions, and sometimes getting introduced to new awesome movies by a guest. I watch a lot of you reactors these days and I have to say many of us really appreciate what you do. Thank you! 👍
You are right that the more times you watch it, the better it gets. I've bought the movie at least 4 times over the years (from VHS to Blu-ray) and probably seen it 30 or 40 times. Twice in theatres where they were showing classic movies. In both of those times the entire audience burst into applause when Renault tells his men to "round up the usual suspects" after Rick shoots Strasser. To this day I get tears in my eyes when the airplane engines start up, and Rick and Ilsa look at each other for the last time.
A bit of trivia... A lot of the extras had actually escaped Nazi persecution , so the emotions and tears were real when they're singing the French anthem over the Germans.
Such a brilliant screenplay. Everything’s basically a metaphor for the war and the US doubting wether it should get involved. But at the same time it works so wonderfully on the surface level as a heartfelt love story with super sharp dialogue. I never get tired of it.
I'm so glad that you and many others on TH-cam who are reacting to movies they are watching for the first time are bending more to the older movies. Films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s were all done by many pioneers of filmmaking. Notice the camera flow that director Curtiz uses. Spielberg would bring that back in the movies he created. The movies that came out of Warner Bros. during this time period were polished to the point that they have become classics. The actors are all classic icons: Humphrey Bogart did many films for Warners ("The Maltese Falcom," "All Through the Night," and he was the bad guy in "The Petrified Forest," and "Brother Orchid."). Ingrid Bergman did films for Hitchcock, Paul Henreid can be seen in "Now Voyager" with Bette Davis, Peter Lorre was in dozens of films for Warners right up to this final film with the studio "The Beast with Five Fingers" when his contract with the studio ended. Conrad Veidt, who played the German major, made his film debut in the German silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" as the somnambulist. For more information about this movie I would recommend to you and everyone on here the book "We'll Always Have Casablanca" by Noah Isenberg. After seeing this film and ,then, reading the book you'll be seeing this film in a clearer picture and make you love it more. On a personal note, I took my fiance to see this film thinking she never saw it but she did and she was so glad I did that we enjoyed it doubly more. It's one of my fondest memories of her. Two months before we were to get married she died in a tragic car accident. Since the invention of Beta, then VHS, and now DVD I watch this film every June 23rd in her memory.
Great reaction ! It is heart warming to see people from your generation discover these classics and share your thoughts, Keep up the great (and important) work......thanks.
Woody Allen created that line as a play, and later film, title in 1969, because he wrote a character who emulates Bogart (hence 'again'). I've yet to see it misidentified as a Casablanca quote prior to that.
It's often touted as the greatest film to ever come out of the "studio system", that is, all the production, writing, casting, music, etc., was done "in house" at Warmer Brothers. It also did better at the Oscars than expected winning for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay.
Captain Renault's last line, "round up the usual suspects"...likely a few folks would enjoy you reacting to The Usual Suspects which is titled from said line.
That's a really good suggestion. I haven't seen it, although I DO know which actor is the killer in the film, so I feel like that would negatively impact the reaction.
@@CasualNerdReactions There isn't exactly a "killer" to be unmasked. You might be conflating it with Se7en which has a surprise actor as the killer, who is also in Usual Suspects. *Cough*. Excuse me, this gaslight I just turned on is getting to me. *Cough*
@@gggooding I'm pretty sure KS was a killer, no? Maybe better to say, the master villain. And Gaslight is okay, but the Bogart film 'Conflict' has, in my opinion, a better gaslight story.
@@Hexon66 You're obviously not wrong about Soze being a killer - I was attempting to gaslight CasualNerd as he hadn't seen Usual Suspects yet but *had* seen Se7en. Not to be mean, but just so he could be surprised by and enjoy Usual Suspects totally - which seemed to work. Dig his reaction to TUS, it's solid!
Great reaction video! I especially resonated with what you said at the end, that with a true classic, the more you see it, the more you love it. That is certainly true of this movie. I've seen it more times than I can count, and every time I see it, it feels just as fresh as the first time. And rewatchings only deepen my appreciation for it.
21:13 - "He (Lazlo) is possibly the noblest person in any film I've ever seen." You might be right. Two others I'd like to submit for your consideration - there's Jimmy Stewart in 'It's A Wonderful Life' and Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. I know you just watched "It's A Wonderful Life". If you haven't seen "To Kill A Mockingbird" I'd bet you'd love it! (Atticus Finch topped the American Film Institute's list of "100 Greatest Film Heroes". George Bailey and Rick Blaine also made the top ten, by the way.)
Incredible combo of acting, screenwriting and directing. Worthy of rewatch for so many reasons, and I think it can still engage with a modern audience due to the complexity of the plot and the snappy dialogue.
I must have seen this movie 50 times. So many great moments, oft quoted lines, stunning camera work. The costumes are sublime- the clothes worn by Ilsa Lund would in no way be less classy in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s or in any fashion era from then til now. But my favorite moment in the movies is just a look by Rick. When Renault closes the café then the cashier delivers his winnings. Renault says"Oh, thank you very much," and turns away you can see in the background Rick gives the cashier this crazy "WTF?" look. Hilarious!
This cast was chock full of some of the greatest Hollywood actors. Even in the 80 s and 90s, when I was in my twenties and thirties, Humphrey Bogart was still a huge cultural icon. I admit it makes me feel old, and a little sad, that most of the younger reactors I have watched have never heard of him. Good for you for exploring these great old movies though!
Even though this entire movie was filmed on the Warner Bros. lot it absolutely feels like it's an entirely different country, and the great set design and the actors have a lot to do with that
Great reaction to the movie. This is a classic and for good reason. Imagine you are in a theater watching this movie in 1942. The audience got a hint of why we were fighting not just in the Pacific against Japan, but also against Germany. This movie is one of the most quotable movies of all time. Instant tension in the scene where Rick (Humphrey Bogart) first sees Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Just look at the emotions in his face. He doesn't have to say a word. It is all in the subtle movements of his face. Ingrid Bergman's expression says it all, too. Humphrey Bogart was a huge star of this era. To see more Humphrey Bogart watch The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Key Largo, and Angels With Dirty Faces. The last in this list features another superstar of the era in James Cagney. The movie also features The Dead End Kids in the cast.
I saw this film for the first time last year. I had heard a lot about it but watching it myself just blew me away. I have watched it a couple more times since!
Just discovered your channel and watched this reaction first. Now I have to subscribe. This is my favorite movie of all (actually it's tied with The Big Lebowski--another dialogue-rich film--for that honor). In looking at the rest of what you've reacted to, I can see we have the same taste, another reason I subscribed. Thanks.
Here are some classic films with loads of complexity: 1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 2. The French Connection (1971) 3. The Day of the Jackal (1974) 4. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
At the beginning you commented how unusual it was for an American classic film to be set outside the US, but even more unusual is that most of the main characters, except for Bogart, were played by foreigners or foreign born actors, many of whom had recently fled the Nazis. Also, the script was still a work in progress throughout the filming. The actors didn't even know what was going to happen. At one point, Ingrid Bergman confronted the Epstein brothers, who wrote all those lines which are still recognizable today, and demanded they at least tell her which man her character was in love with and they told her they didn't know yet. A great movie.
Re-watching this... please do it dude. I've only seen it 12 million times haha. One of my favorite movies ever. It's from a play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's". Interestingly the song "As Time Goes by" that Sam sings wouldn't have been in the movie if the musical director Max Steiner had his way. Jack Warner told him it stays. Good thing too... it's iconic. Oh yeah and Ingrid Bergman is so so beautiful in this. Here's looking at you kid. 😍
This is my number one favorite movie I watch it once a year. The bar scene makes me cry every time. a little note, all of the extras and crew experienced the war in Europe, and experienced a lot of loss and deprivation. The scene was very emotional for both cast and crew because of that life experience. All of the actors are A level, and not a weak performance among them. I still say Claude Rains stole the movie. Very much an adult movie.
As a German, I have always felt very sensitive about the sad and horrible history of my country and have always admired the underground fighters from back then, the resistance on both side, German and French, of which there were so many in real life, just like Lazlo. My grandfather was part of a German resistance group called Kreisauer Kreis. This movie has always been a massive inspiration for me. I was born in the 70s but the history of my country feels oddly close. Movies like this remind us how important it is to work on a better future together so we don't repeat the past, regardless of the countries involved. It's very important to work on international friendship. I think the internet is a powerful tool to connect us in a meaningful way, regardless of our nationality. We all love movies, we all love art. It's an absolute joy to watch you, you have such a likeable and charming way to narrate and comment on what you see and your thought processes are very wholesome. I hope you are going to go live at some point with us, how fun would that be!
It was wonderful to hear your thoughts on this film and your story. Thank you for sharing with me. I will definitely be going live again at some point. I hope to do it once a month or so, but it may be a little more spread out than that.
@@CasualNerdReactions That's great news! Your channel is so, so good, it will blow up, I have no doubt! Thank you for your very kind answer. Have a lovely day 😊🌻
Great reaction, seeing you piece together the story and really get into their relationships was really entertaining. I love classic films from the 30’s to the 60’s. Casablanca is one of the great achievements from the era. In my opinion the greatest filmmaker ever was Billy Wilder and would recommend his films. In particular The Apartment (1960), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Double Indemnity (1944) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He wrote and directed all of them. For my money The Apartment is the greatest film ever and all four are masterpieces. Incredibly he also has many other movies that he wrote and directed that are “merely” great or really good.
Excellent reaction/review. It is very heat warming to see people of your generation discover these great classics. Keep up the great (and important) work....Thanks.......Happy New Year.
One of tightest scripts ever written. To think several movie studios turned it down and it almost never got made. Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains have the best quotable lines of the movie. Fun Fact: Casey Robinson, who re-wrote the romantic scenes between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, was offered screen credit but turned it down because at the time he was only taking credit for scripts he wrote entirely by himself. By declining credit, he did himself out of an Academy Award.
I can imagine some studios not being gutsy enough to green light a film so entrenched in current events. I’m so glad it was made though. Definitely one of the most quotable films ever.
@@CasualNerdReactions In 2005 the AFI (American Film Institute) published a list of the 100 most memorable movie quotes from the first 100 years of film. This movie had six of them, four by Rick Blaine, one from Captain Louis Renault, and one from Ilsa Lund. Only two other movies had as many as three, both from 1939, “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.” Here are the quotes: "Here's looking at you, kid.", "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.", "Round up the usual suspects.", "We'll always have Paris.", "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.", "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'" The last quote is almost always misquoted as “Play it again, Sam.” One of my favorite lines from the movie is Renault’s response to Rick when he says he has a gun pointed at his heart: “That is my least vulnerable spot.”
You made my night man! The commentary and insight was great as usual. I hope you help others to build their awareness of great movies, (and sometimes bad ones too)
Such a great movie, glad you enjoyed it. Some other pre-60s classics I’d recommend: Rashomon (1950), Citizen Kane (1941), M (1931), and 12 Angry Men (1957).
My favorite movie, all time. For 60+ years this was the most quoted movie in popular culture, even if people didn't know the quote came from this one. Casablanca holds up today, despite being from the 40s. An all-star cast, with trivia that rivals any modern movie. And one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the Silver Screen and one of the most manly actors to walk the actual streets of Hollywood.
Now you've seen Casablanca, I recommend following it up with Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam. Full of Allen's manic but insightful wit, it's a very funny but sincere love letter to Humphrey Bogart in general and Casablanca in particular. A perfect double bill.
One of my favorite movies, a true classic, & its good they didca little history & geogrphy at the beginning, so u know Casablanca is in Morroco.Ingrid Bergman was in another classic movie Gaslight, Paul Henreid was in the classic, Now Voyager with Betty Davis & Humphrey Bogart in numerous films like To have & have not, The Maltese Falcon.
Two observations on this film: This movie was made when the war in Europe and the Pacific was going full blast with the outcome of both still in doubt. Many people in the 1942 movie audience had been forceably separated from their Fathers, Sons, Husbands or Boyfriends who were off fighting somewhere. You can understand how this film had even more emotional impact back then. The other thing that made the movie so suspenseful and gripping was the love triangle between Rick, Elsa and Victor. All three characters were shown to be equally heroic, likable, and deserving of having a happy ending. Usually, in Hollywood movies, the romantic tension was between the leading man and leading lady, with the third party having some obvious flaw or shortcoming. In the case of Casablanca, you wanted Elsa to end up with both men. Writing a suitable script ending that would satisfy both the Hays Office (U.S. film studio self-censorship) and the theater audience must have been very difficult.
Casablanca is tied for my all time favorite movie with The Thin Man, which I think you might like. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone react to it, now that I think about it! It's the gold standard classic for clever dialogue wrapped in a murder mystery with one of the greatest movie couples of all time.
I also adore The Thin Man! TCM does a New Year’s Eve marathon of Thin Man movies, and I would definitely recommend the first two in the series. I think the Casual Nerd would enjoy the noir-style murder mystery, and Nick and Nora are an absolute hoot to spend time with. (A martini or non-alcoholic cocktail is a must while watching) Cheers!
@@CasualNerdReactions I know this was a misspell, but it tickles me that there is a version of “the thin man” called “the thing man” where Nick and Nora go about 1940s New York solving murders and drinking cocktails, as well as absorbing unsuspecting victims with their alien DNA. Someone make this movie!
CS Lewis said that a 'classic' is a book that re-rewards you each time you read it. Sounds like you're saying something similar about classic movies, and I agree with both of you.
Another great reaction to a great film. I think you got it absolutely right with your comments after the movie ended. You are right about having to watch this movie again and again. Another great movie with a twisted plot is another classic, "The Maltese Falcon" again with Humphrey Bogart. You will really understand why he was so cool. One more Bogart film, "Treasure of The Sierra Madre". Classic!
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The fact that this movie came out years before World War II ended makes the message of this movie completely breathtaking. What do you think of Casablanca?
You really need to see The Great Dictator starring, directed, and written by Charlie Chaplin. It's his first talking film, and he ridicules Hitler During the war, which was just unheard of. It's well worth a watch.
@@amandaasbury3688 It is generally true that not too many Hollywood films took on Hitler before America entered the war, there were a few that did. Casablanca came out shortly after America entered the war but was based on a play (Everyone Comes to Rick's), which came out in 1938. Another good anti-Nazi movie that came out early in the war is the 1942 Lubitsch comedy: To Be or Not to Be (starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard). Another favorite of mine is the mostly forgotten suspense film, Underground (1941), which is beautifully shot and has many moments of true drama.
@@Bfdidc I'll see if I can find Underground, thank you very much!
Great film. There's two films I'd like to suggest:
One is Citizen Kane if you've not seen it. Casablanca and it are always in the top 10 greatest American films ever made. The other is Notorious made in 1946 and directed my Alfred Hitchcock (also starring Ingrid Bergman who played Ilsa in Casablanca as well as Claude Rains who played Renault as well as Cary Grant) and her role in Notorious is my personal favorite performance of hers
@@robertjewell9727 Citizen Kane is one I plan to watch in a month or so. I also will be including more Hitchcock as I go because I enjoy his style a great deal. One day I will definitely get to notorious!
“You despise me, don’t you.” “If I gave you any thought, I probably would.”
What an unbelievable insult. One of the best in film history.
Yes. Just about my favorite cinematic insult!
People loved Peter Lorre for his fine acting where he absolutely would make you despise the character he played on stage.
I have ALWAYS thought that was a monumental insult. The writer of that scene is a genius!
Humphrey Bogart and Petter Lorre were good friends in real life. :-)
One of the best burns in cinematic history.
A minor criticism : You should have included, "I'm shocked, shocked, to find there is gambling going on here! " "Your winnings."
I personally believe that "Casablanca" is the greatest film ever made. I strongly advise you to learn about the cast, it is a collection of genius.
I completely agree! And you know, Bogie, Greenstreet, and Lorre were also all together in The Maltese Falcon too!
I Agree
It's the 2nd greatest film. Cool Hand Luke is the greatest.... imo
There are a few problems with Casablanca: "Who's that boy playing the piano" (absurdly out-of-character American racism inserted into a European communist's wife) "Veuve Cliquot is a good choice" (obvious product placement). It also suffers a bit from a certain over-masculine fascistic tendency in movies of that time, which is why people respond to it, hyper-masculinity seems really "cool" when you've never seen it before. It also suffers from pedestrian cinematography and pedestrian direction, although the acting is the best of the era. But, all in all, it's still a great film. The films without these issues are the socialist ones, 1947's "Lady From Shanghai", 1943's "Journey Into Fear".
You won't get an argument from me. I first saw it in 1979 when I was 18. Went with a friend who was a huge Bogart fan. I soon found out why and became a huge fan myself. If you haven't watched it yet I highly recommend Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Some believe it was Bogart's best performance ever although personally I lean more towards the Caine Mutiny.
One of my favourite films that I love so much. I never get tired of watching it.
It's important in serious drama to have occasional humor spaced throughout the movie. In Casablanca it comes up in naturals ways. Masterfully written.
I LOVED the song-off, during which the French National Anthem, La Marseille crushes The Watch on the Rhine…Die Wacht am Rhine.😘
The best movie ever full stop! Note that Conrad Veidt was a German actor who escaped with his Jewish wife to America and Hollywood. He took the part of Major Strasse on the condition that the character was shown in the worst light possible as he, for obvious reasons, hated the Nazis fervently. He, unfortunately, died the following year (1943) of a heart attack on the golf course in LA.
Veidt: the best evil grand vizir ever (Jaffar in 1940's The Thief of Bagdad).
My favorite as well.
And he also played the title character in the silent movie "The Man Who Laughs" which is about a circus performer whose face is forever frozen into a smile. Although his face is forever of a tortured smile, Veidt's sad yet wonderful performance conveys so much depth and personality despite it. And that character was the inspiration for the Batman villian of The Joker.
The best movie quote of all time- "I'm shocked, Shocked!! to find out there is gambling going on in this establishment"!
Immediately followed by his winnings. So classic!
You left out the best part that immediately follows. "Here are your winnings, Monsieur",. "Oh, thank you"
@@jjackomin The better part is Rick's reaction in the background, staring down Emil after he gave Renaud the money.
@@Hexon66 This movie has so many great moments. There will be no argument from me on your suggestion. Movies back then had to be well written, well acted and well directed to make money. Not much in the way of the special effects eye candy we get these days. Now don't get me wrong. There have been several great movies over last 30 years. And several of them have some kind of eye candy, but the directors never let it become the focal point of the movie. A good example of the CGI being the centerpiece of the movie has to be Jurassic Park. The writing and the acting was mediocre with the exception of Jeff Goldblum. Great actor. But we accepted that because CGI was in its infancy and we were wowed by the visuals as well we should have been, but CGI has too often been the lazy man's way out of trying to make a blockbuster. Many of them flop because everything else that makes a great movie is played down or just totally absent.
There are many great movies from the modern era that are already or will eventually be classics. Some of my favorites are:. Unforgiven, The Departed, Silence of the Lambs, Platoon, Raging Bull among several others. But unfortunately these kind of movies, as far as I've seen are becoming harder and harder to find.
If you enjoyed Casablanca, I recommend The Maltese Falcon (1941), which also has Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. I’m particularly fond of Lorre’s characterization of Joel Cairo.
How could you not reccomend THE BIG SLEEP as well as the Maltese Falcon
~really, the writing of Dashill Hammond isn’t my favorite.
Key Largo would be a better bet if you are set on seeing the two of them together in a film, although I have other recommendations that proceed this film.
As many may have pointed out, Casablanca is really about the isolationism in the US before the US joined the war effort with Rick being a metaphor for the US. So your comment about everyone looking to Rick was actually pretty insightful and probably intentional on the part of the filmmakers.
And in light of Rick being a metaphor for the USA, Rick’s Cafe Americain is a metaphor for America’s soft power.
@@illinoisan Some of what he did to help people could be analogous to lend-lease.
To this day, still my favorite movie. Can't count how many times I've watched it over the years, and I find something new to appreciate every viewing. Plus the whole history of the movie itself is fascinating. It went through so many rewrites and directors. No one knew at the time they were creating a masterpiece. There Considering this movie was made in 1942 when the Germans still occupied France, and for all the world knew, the Nazis and the Japanese might win, the stakes of the story felt real. It wasn't a historical movie, it was the present. That's part of what made than scene at Rick's with the French anthem competing with the German one so powerful. Many of the actors and extras in that scene were actual refuges from Europe who had escaped to America. For them, that scene was real!
Yes! You captured why this movie was so significant upon release so well and I think that carries over and can still be felt even today. It’s beautiful.
"They are throwing a lot of history here at the beginning...' It's history now...in 1942 when this was made it fell squarely in the realm of current events.
Absolutely! That is part of why I struggled at the beginning, because it is so specific to the time period I was really worried I didn't know enough to appreciate it. And as I've learned more following the movie my appreciation and awe for this film as skyrocketed.
You're right, CN. I've seen this movie at least 30 or 40 times, and with every viewing it just gets better -- the mark of a genuine classic.
And so many great throwaway lines: "Are my eyes really brown?"; "What waters? We're in the desert"/"I was misinformed"; "Your winnings, sir."/"Oh thank, you very much"; etc., etc., etc. This is a classic because so many marvelous aspects: the cast; the writing; the cinematography; the direction; All these things came together at Rick's Café Américain.
And a great visual gag, when that "vulture" accidentally bumps into Carl.
Back before we had cable or a VCR, my parents took me to a screening of Casablanca at a nearby college. As I recall, 12yo me was less than thrilled to be dragged to some old movie. But by the end I was thinking this was one of the best movies I’d ever seen. 40-odd years later, I still feel that way.
It's amazing how so much we don't get excited about as kids can end up being the best things.
Glad to hear it. When I liked it as a kid of 13 I was kinda embarrassed that I enjoyed a chick flick that much. 🤣
I have seen Cassablanca at least a dozen times and I never tire of it! I love your reactions and the simple setting that doesn't distract! You have new subscriber! Keep up the great work! 👏👏👏😁😁😁
Thanks for the sub! I definitely enjoy creating these videos so I’m so glad there are those who enjoy them.
Thank you for this reaction to a truly great film.
Casablanca was based on a play called Everybody Comes to Rick's. The movie was filmed after the U.S. entered the war, but the play was written before then. You can see the perspective in the structure of the story. The neutrality of the U.S. was like Rick's attitude that he sticks his neck out for nobody. At one point Rick says, "I'd bet they're asleep in New York. I'd bet they're asleep all over America." In other words, America was asleep with respect to what was going on in the world.
Captain Renault is an interesting character. Through most of the movie he's an amoral opportunist, but at the critical point at the end of the movie he decides he must take sides with the loyalists against the Nazis. His throwing the bottle of Vichy water in the trash is symbolic of his decision.
Many of the actors in Casablanca were war refugees. Madeleine Lebeau, who played Yvonne, is a notable case. She and her husband had fled Paris ahead of the invading Nazis. They traveled to Lisbon, where they got visas to Chile. But on their way to that country, they got stuck in Mexico when it turned out the visas were forgeries. They somehow managed to get temporary Canadian visas, and used these to enter the United States. The similarity of Yvonne's story to her own was not lost on Mme. Lebeau. Her tears as she sang La Marseillaise were real.
Thank you for such an informative comment! All of that makes this film that much more incredible! Absolutely love seeing that perspective and growth of the characters throughout moving from neutrality to fighting.
Funnily enough, the play was, I believe, never actually staged. And the film script rewrote a lot of it.
The pkay was never produced and totally rewritten. It's a bit of a stretch to say the film has much to do with it.
I was a little worried when you didn’t know Bogart, Bergman, etc. But after hearing your comments, I think you will be OK.
We all have to learn sometime :)
"Casablanca" was my mother's favourite movie. 🙂
14:26 I love how the young Bulgarian woman's question directly drives the plot forward in the situation, but on a second level it touches Rick's feelings so directly because he relates her description exactly to his situation with Ilsa. Since he is still hurt, he initially rejects the young woman, but shortly afterwards his human side takes over and he helps her husband at roulette, as a foreshadowing of his later selfless decision.
Exceptionally good script with believable character development, of which this is just one example of countless.
Bogart was an incredible actor. To see tough guy Rick break down in tears because his lost heartbreaker reappears is believable because of Bogey's acting skills. Amazing!!
It's wonderful to see your appreciation of one of the most influential films ever made. Far too many people might dismiss it as being cliche, but that would ignore the fact that so many films and shows referenced Casablanca because it came first and originated many of those "cliches."
I wonder if you've noticed how the character of Rick inspired another famous lovable rogue character. In a cantina in the desert a hero of the resistance and his companion meet an aloof cynic who they ask to help them arrange transport for themselves. He's turned to smuggling in order to make a living while trying to stay out of the looming war. But that cynical smuggler deep down hates the military power and uses his skills to help the resistance and joins the fight against evil.
Yes, V&I inspired L&O-WK and R was the basis for the character of HS. Totally!
It's clear this movie created those cliche's and that is worthy of respect. It's hard not to make a comparison to Rick and many such characters that followed, but reading your description you can't not see Han Solo forever more. 🤣
No movie has ever generated more famous lines than Casablanca.
Great reaction.
Watch the "Maltese Falcon". It's the cornerstone of all film noir.
It was most definitely quotable! I actually reacted to Maltese after watching this one :)
Also a note on the acting and emotions of some of the cast. There were a fair percentage of Casablanca's cast who were refugees from the war in Europe (and actors in European Cinema). For example IIRC the actress playing Yvonne fled France to America...so her emotion during the scene where La Marseilles drowns out Wacht Am Rhein is about as real as it gets.
That is truly amazing!
Furthermore: ALL the actors singing in that scene were refugees/escapees from Nazi-controlled France.
And Yvonne was married to the actor who played the roulette croupier.
When I took screen writing in college, the only script we analyzed during the whole semester was Casablanca. Its one of, if not, the best screenplay ever written. It is a masterpiece.
A lot of great stories concerning the writers and how they came up with the ending.
Easily one of my favorite movies of all time. It's bloody perfect, casting, directing, the fantastic script, with those great dialogues, brilliant lines, the cinematography...everything. I hope more classics are to come.
It is iconic to be sure! Will definitely continue Including occasional classic on the channel.
And yet, a lot of it was accidental. The script was being revised practically up to the moment they shot it, and the actors were often just the people the studio had free that month. (When the studio first announced it, they apparently said that Ronald Reagan would be playing Rick.) And Ingrid Bergman said that the reason she looked so torn was that she couldn't work out who her character actually loved, and the scriptwriters couldn't tell her either.
It was a real case of catching lightning in a bottle.
Casablanca
‘Casablanca’ is renowned and is acknowledged as one of the most romantic films of all time but it is much more than a story of a love triangle. Of course, it shows that the power of love can affect the human psyche, as demonstrated by Rick’s metamorphosis.
This film has so many levels to it that it takes many viewings to appreciate them. The main theme is not romance but self-sacrifice as its message to the world at war is to give up the personal agenda for the common cause. It reminds wartime audiences, many of whom have loved ones fighting abroad, that their situation is the same as that of Rick, Ilsa and Victor.
The screenplay is so intelligently written. It is a masterpiece of complexity, containing subliminal political opinions and messages all carried along on a thrilling plot with brilliant one-liners, comedic elements, and contemporary, social commentaries. Basically, the film is politically motivated because it is a plea to America to join the war. Please note that the action takes place in December, 1941.
This is the the first non-musical movie to use music almost as an another protagonist, (which Tarantino does now). For example, ‘As Time Goes By’ is a valuable recurring theme and, in Paris, Rick and Ilsa dance to ‘Perfidia’ which means untrustworthiness.
The direction is multi-faceted: Documentary, Film Noir, German Expressionism, Flashback etc.
POINTS OF INTEREST AND NOTES FOR SUBSEQUENT VIEWINGS.
Rick’s initial selfishness is a metaphor for USA indifference. It must be remembered that the events and politics are hard to comprehend and put into perspective for modem audiences than in the actual time when the film was made. It The script is a 'State of the Union' address, both for home and foreign policies. There are references to Civil Rights as embodied in Sam and, of course, the debate about America’s involvement in the conflict.
Each character represents a country e.g. Two Japanese plotting . The Italian on the tail of the German. American indifference. French collaborators, the British robbed by foreign policy. Even the Balkans are mentioned via the Bulgarian couple. Rick actions symbolise the USA in its change in policy from isolationism to participation and ‘….the beginning of a beautiful friendship…’ is the USA and Europe joining forces to fight Nazism.
There is subtle direction. For example, Ilsa wears black and white clothes and is cast in shadows and in a mirror which portrays the ambiguity of her role.
The ‘La Marseillaise’ scene is the pivotal moment in which both Ilsa and Rick realise that saving Victor is more important than their own personal relationship. It also comes in just as Rick and Victor are about to argue over Ilsa but both drop the issue when they hear the music. This scene is rousing now but imagine how it must have felt for audiences right in the middle of the war when Germany seemed invincible and we need to put it in perspective in terms of world events full of Nazi domination.
The fascial close-ups used throughout the film speak a thousand words: but particularly note Ilsa during ‘La Marseillaise’ when her expressions show her admiration of Victor’s power and her realisation that this must be preserved at all costs.
In any case... there is so much alcohol!!!!
POINTS TO WATCH
‘It’s December, 1941 in Casablanca: what time is it in New York?...
I bet they are asleep all over America’. PEARL HARBOUR
‘Even Nazis can’t kill that fast’
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
The Bulgarian couple keep appearing as symbols of hope and determination.
In the bar room fight over Yvonne, Rick attacks the German only and not the Frenchman.
Just one example of the excellent and complex scriptwriting occurs immediately after the roulette scene. The girl thanks Rick for letting her husband win and Rick replies, ‘He’s just a lucky guy’, which, on the face of it, refers to the gambling, but, in Rick’s mind, means that he’s lucky because his partner truly loves him.
My favorite movie of all time. As close to perfect as a movie can get. The dialog is off the charts.
You’re absolutely right about the dialogue. Some of the sharpest I’ve heard.
Ilsa never said she loved Victor. She was naive when she married him. She was committed to her marriage but she was in love with Rick.
"Whatever happens, won't you please remember that I..." Isla says this to both men, to Rick in Paris after she finds her husband is alive, and to Victor before going to Rick's Cafe, probably intending to sleep with Rick in order to get her husband out of the country, with or without her. In neither case does she finish her plea, but we know she means to say "...love you."
Every single time. 😭
@@sjw5797 She means to say..., but would she mean it both times is more to the point.
The snappy dialogue was very entertaining. "What kind of man is Captain Renault?" "Like any man....only more so."
A Timeless Classic. a work of art that has withstood the test of time and remains a cultural milestone. Casablanca......sealed with movie quotes now engraved in Hollywood history.
What a fantastic cast, many of them worthy of a deeper dive -- Ingrid Bergman, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, Claude Rains. For more Humphrey Bogart -- African Queen, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Big Sleep (to be followed by The Big Lebowski) and The Maltese Falcon.
What a star studded picture, Humphrey Bogart, Claude Raines, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Ingrid Bergman, PaulHenreid……..one of best ever.
Along with The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca contains more memorable quoted lines in Hollywood history.
It really does! I was amazed at how many I recognized, but also how many incredible lines I'd never heard.
And after that comes Airplane! Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. But maybe that's a generational bias on my part.
While you are journeying through films of the 30's and 40's, look for the name Michael Curtiz as Director. He was responsible for directing far more great films than many people recognize.
Dialogue in movies from back then was often incredibly good. They don’t call it the Golden Age of Hollywood for nothing.
Honestly, yes! This movie has some of the best lines I’ve ever heard.
A lot of people point to the scene between Bogart and Joy Page (the Bulgarian couple) where she asks Rick if she agrees to sleep with Renault, will he keep his word and give the couple exit visas, then asks that if she did something like that to insure her husband's happiness would it be alright? His response that no one ever loved him that much, and his decision to help them was the beginning of him no longer just feeling sorry for himself and recognizing that he could make a difference for the people he cared about.
For a look at life after the war, might I suggest "The Best Years of Our Lives."
Perhaps the greatest film ever made. Great in every way, plus Humphrey Bogart was an incredibly good actor.
Another great B&W film from in the WWII era is The Third Man. Darker, but also totally involving. And wonderful unique music throughout.
I can't think of any movie with this many levels of complexity. The closest I can think of is Braveheart.
Other great black and white movies are "Stalag 17" - "Key Largo" - "The Blackboard Jungle" 🎥 💓 🍿
It funny I’m over 60 and have seen most of the parts of this classic but never from beginning to end but I will someday thanks for sharing your reaction! African Queen I have seen many times and in my opinion one of the greatest love adventure stories ever filmed thanks
I agree. If you want to continue down the rabbit hole of Casablanca’s earnest but unlikely romance, and can’t get enough of the rough, brooding masculinity of Humphrey Bogart, African queen is must watch!
As a classic movie buff, my favorite Bogart/Bacall is "To Have and Have Not", though there are several that are quite good.
On a different note, William Powel movies are fantastic and I'd love to see some reactions to them; "My Man Godfrey" for the zany laughs, but the "Thin Man" movie franchise are multiple movies of enjoyment.
Casablanca is simply the best!!
You’re vibing on this picture on all points!!
It was amazing. It caught me by surprise, that’s for sure!
This has always been one of my favorite classics.
Love this reaction . You must see Ingrid Bergman (illsa) and Cary Grant( north by northwest) in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” Also Claude Rains who played the captain is in it . It’s another great classic!
EVERYBODY was perfectly cast in this movie.
I absolutely agree!
The crying woman during the singing of "La Marseillaise" in Rick's Cafe is Madeleine Lebeau a real-life refugee from the Nazis, as were many other actors in the movie incluing Major Strasser, played by Conrad Veidt. Madeline died in 2016, the last surviving named cast member.
That is particularly moving. Thank you for sharing.
Love seeing people react to this classic for the first time. Some trivia: the German actor Conrad Veidt, who played the menacing Colonel Strasser was very much anti-Nazi and donated and raised much money in the war effort against them.
Veidt was also the original visual template for the Batman villain, The Joker, in a movie called The Man Who Laughs.
Veldt also demanded that the Strasser character be played as a pure villain, with no redeeming qualities. He hated Nazis that much.
Sadly Conrad Veidt died within six months of the end of filming of Casablanca. He dropped dead while playing golf, shortly before Casablanca won the best picture oscar (1943).
My mom and grandmother saw Casablanca a couple of months after it came out in early '43 while my grandfather was overseas in the war, and they said the audience was loudly cheering along and applauding during many scenes like Laszlo leading the French national anthem and Louis telling his men to "Round up the usual suspects" near the end. The war weighed heavy on everyone's mind so this movie was a real jolt of patriotism like when Rick joined the fight. Before this movie came out and the war, most Americans had never heard of Casablanca the city. That changed when US President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, Free French Generals Giraud and Charles De Gaulle (De Gaulle the one whose signed the 'letters of transit' in the movie and who later became president of France), and the host nation Morocco sovereign Sultan Muhammad V all met at the so-called Casablanca Conference to discuss Allied war plans, which was heavily covered by the media at the time. Producers timed the nationwide release of "Casablanca" to coincide with the news coverage of the conference that occurred in mid Jan 1943, and people responded! Though Casablanca is considered a romance movie, it very much is a war movie too. A couple more Bogart classics, "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) premiering only 2 months before the Pearl Harbor attack, and "To Have and Have Not" (1944) another romance-war movie where Bogey starred with his future wife, Lauren Bacall. ✌😎
I can only imagine the feeling of watching this upon release with so much still unresolved and uncertain. It is by far the most moving part of this experience. At its face it is a fairly simple, yet very well done love story, but it is given extra gravitas and significance because of the greater story found in Rick's arc to join the resistance!
@@CasualNerdReactions Definitely Chris! That "start of a beautiful friendship" scene between Rick (America) and Louis (Free France) was symbolic with the actual conference of allies then, a scene I'm sure resonated with the public as with a lot of other things in the movie. Enjoyed your reaction to another awesome classic here, so keep doing these and the cool contemporary movies you haven't seen yet. I recall you sounded a little down not having watched some movie when you were a kid first, instead of now. I can imagine that. But I have to say we viewers are sometimes a little jealous of you first time reactors because you're about to get the thrill of experiencing an awesome movie like this one for the first time! We can only remember that, watching a favorite movie over and over. I used to host movie watching parties because it was fun watching their reactions, and sometimes getting introduced to new awesome movies by a guest. I watch a lot of you reactors these days and I have to say many of us really appreciate what you do. Thank you! 👍
Great perspective. My loss as a child is potentially your gain as a viewer. Thank you.
@@CasualNerdReactions I didn't intend to seem crass or make that comparison. Poor wording on my part. Sorry.
I didn’t take it that way at all, sorry if my wording seemed like I was offended in any way :) I genuinely thought it was a great perspective
You are right that the more times you watch it, the better it gets. I've bought the movie at least 4 times over the years (from VHS to Blu-ray) and probably seen it 30 or 40 times. Twice in theatres where they were showing classic movies. In both of those times the entire audience burst into applause when Renault tells his men to "round up the usual suspects" after Rick shoots Strasser. To this day I get tears in my eyes when the airplane engines start up, and Rick and Ilsa look at each other for the last time.
A bit of trivia...
A lot of the extras had actually escaped Nazi persecution , so the emotions and tears were real when they're singing the French anthem over the Germans.
You can absolutely see it in there faces, amazing!
Such a brilliant screenplay. Everything’s basically a metaphor for the war and the US doubting wether it should get involved. But at the same time it works so wonderfully on the surface level as a heartfelt love story with super sharp dialogue. I never get tired of it.
I love your take on the movie.
This is one of the most rewatchable movies ever made. It really never gets old.
I'm so glad that you and many others on TH-cam who are reacting to movies they are watching for the first time are bending more to the older movies. Films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s were all done by many pioneers of filmmaking. Notice the camera flow that director Curtiz uses. Spielberg would bring that back in the movies he created. The movies that came out of Warner Bros. during this time period were polished to the point that they have become classics. The actors are all classic icons: Humphrey Bogart did many films for Warners ("The Maltese Falcom," "All Through the Night," and he was the bad guy in "The Petrified Forest," and "Brother Orchid."). Ingrid Bergman did films for Hitchcock, Paul Henreid can be seen in "Now Voyager" with Bette Davis, Peter Lorre was in dozens of films for Warners right up to this final film with the studio "The Beast with Five Fingers" when his contract with the studio ended. Conrad Veidt, who played the German major, made his film debut in the German silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" as the somnambulist. For more information about this movie I would recommend to you and everyone on here the book "We'll Always Have Casablanca" by Noah Isenberg. After seeing this film and ,then, reading the book you'll be seeing this film in a clearer picture and make you love it more. On a personal note, I took my fiance to see this film thinking she never saw it but she did and she was so glad I did that we enjoyed it doubly more. It's one of my fondest memories of her. Two months before we were to get married she died in a tragic car accident. Since the invention of Beta, then VHS, and now DVD I watch this film every June 23rd in her memory.
Great reaction ! It is heart warming to see people from your generation discover these classics and share your thoughts,
Keep up the great (and important) work......thanks.
Lovely reaction. So many great quotations from this movie, including one that wasn't really in it: "Play it again, Sam."
Woody Allen created that line as a play, and later film, title in 1969, because he wrote a character who emulates Bogart (hence 'again'). I've yet to see it misidentified as a Casablanca quote prior to that.
It's often touted as the greatest film to ever come out of the "studio system", that is, all the production, writing, casting, music, etc., was done "in house" at Warmer Brothers. It also did better at the Oscars than expected winning for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay.
20:00 "What is this movie?" Probably the best movie ever made, that's what!
Captain Renault's last line, "round up the usual suspects"...likely a few folks would enjoy you reacting to The Usual Suspects which is titled from said line.
That's a really good suggestion. I haven't seen it, although I DO know which actor is the killer in the film, so I feel like that would negatively impact the reaction.
@@CasualNerdReactions There isn't exactly a "killer" to be unmasked. You might be conflating it with Se7en which has a surprise actor as the killer, who is also in Usual Suspects. *Cough*. Excuse me, this gaslight I just turned on is getting to me. *Cough*
@@CasualNerdReactions useless trivia: the term "gaslight" comes from a 1944 movie titled simply Gaslight - and stars the dame from Casablanca.
@@gggooding I'm pretty sure KS was a killer, no? Maybe better to say, the master villain. And Gaslight is okay, but the Bogart film 'Conflict' has, in my opinion, a better gaslight story.
@@Hexon66 You're obviously not wrong about Soze being a killer - I was attempting to gaslight CasualNerd as he hadn't seen Usual Suspects yet but *had* seen Se7en. Not to be mean, but just so he could be surprised by and enjoy Usual Suspects totally - which seemed to work. Dig his reaction to TUS, it's solid!
Great reaction video! I especially resonated with what you said at the end, that with a true classic, the more you see it, the more you love it. That is certainly true of this movie. I've seen it more times than I can count, and every time I see it, it feels just as fresh as the first time. And rewatchings only deepen my appreciation for it.
21:13 - "He (Lazlo) is possibly the noblest person in any film I've ever seen." You might be right. Two others I'd like to submit for your consideration - there's Jimmy Stewart in 'It's A Wonderful Life' and Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. I know you just watched "It's A Wonderful Life". If you haven't seen "To Kill A Mockingbird" I'd bet you'd love it! (Atticus Finch topped the American Film Institute's list of "100 Greatest Film Heroes". George Bailey and Rick Blaine also made the top ten, by the way.)
Really great reaction… you caught all the clues and got all the characters on the first run-through, which is very impressive!
Youre very lucky that you can see a classic like this for the first time. An absolute favorite.
Incredible combo of acting, screenwriting and directing. Worthy of rewatch for so many reasons, and I think it can still engage with a modern audience due to the complexity of the plot and the snappy dialogue.
I must have seen this movie 50 times. So many great moments, oft quoted lines, stunning camera work. The costumes are sublime- the clothes worn by Ilsa Lund would in no way be less classy in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s or in any fashion era from then til now.
But my favorite moment in the movies is just a look by Rick. When Renault closes the café then the cashier delivers his winnings. Renault says"Oh, thank you very much," and turns away you can see in the background Rick gives the cashier this crazy "WTF?" look. Hilarious!
This cast was chock full of some of the greatest Hollywood actors. Even in the 80 s and 90s, when I was in my twenties and thirties, Humphrey Bogart was still a huge cultural icon. I admit it makes me feel old, and a little sad, that most of the younger reactors I have watched have never heard of him. Good for you for exploring these great old movies though!
Quite possibly a perfect movie. I never get tired of watching it. Thank you for the reaction.
Even though this entire movie was filmed on the Warner Bros. lot it absolutely feels like it's an entirely different country, and the great set design and the actors have a lot to do with that
There were definitely a couple of shots that had me convinced they were on location! Impressive.
Great reaction to the movie. This is a classic and for good reason.
Imagine you are in a theater watching this movie in 1942. The audience got a hint of why we were fighting not just in the Pacific against Japan, but also against Germany. This movie is one of the most quotable movies of all time.
Instant tension in the scene where Rick (Humphrey Bogart) first sees Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Just look at the emotions in his face. He doesn't have to say a word. It is all in the subtle movements of his face. Ingrid Bergman's expression says it all, too.
Humphrey Bogart was a huge star of this era. To see more Humphrey Bogart watch The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Key Largo, and Angels With Dirty Faces. The last in this list features another superstar of the era in James Cagney. The movie also features The Dead End Kids in the cast.
I saw this film for the first time last year. I had heard a lot about it but watching it myself just blew me away. I have watched it a couple more times since!
An all-star cast of unrecognized names.
Were they unrecognized at the time? Clearly they are very recognizable to most today lol
Just discovered your channel and watched this reaction first. Now I have to subscribe. This is my favorite movie of all (actually it's tied with The Big Lebowski--another dialogue-rich film--for that honor). In looking at the rest of what you've reacted to, I can see we have the same taste, another reason I subscribed. Thanks.
Welcome to the Channel! The Big Lebowski is actually one I haven’t seen, but is now one I have to include one day.
I consider it the greatest film ever made. The dialogue is also just fantastic, and funny.
15:40
*"Would he really not give it to them? Because of past hurt? Yeah, actually, that checks out!"*
Sorry, I had to pause and laugh.
Here are some classic films with loads of complexity:
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2. The French Connection (1971)
3. The Day of the Jackal (1974)
4. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Loved Dr. Strangelove.
At the beginning you commented how unusual it was for an American classic film to be set outside the US, but even more unusual is that most of the main characters, except for Bogart, were played by foreigners or foreign born actors, many of whom had recently fled the Nazis. Also, the script was still a work in progress throughout the filming. The actors didn't even know what was going to happen. At one point, Ingrid Bergman confronted the Epstein brothers, who wrote all those lines which are still recognizable today, and demanded they at least tell her which man her character was in love with and they told her they didn't know yet. A great movie.
A convenient fiction, at least in the later stages of filming. The Hays Code would have tied their hands, requiring a butchering of the backstory.
A quality movie, excellent plot, script, actors...something you don't see very often any more.
Re-watching this... please do it dude. I've only seen it 12 million times haha. One of my favorite movies ever. It's from a play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's". Interestingly the song "As Time Goes by" that Sam sings wouldn't have been in the movie if the musical director Max Steiner had his way. Jack Warner told him it stays. Good thing too... it's iconic. Oh yeah and Ingrid Bergman is so so beautiful in this. Here's looking at you kid. 😍
I loved the song! It made the connection to the past that much more real for me. Thanks for your comment.
You made a good summary after one watch. Speaking of watches, this one's Swiss-made. Best. Leo.
This is my number one favorite movie I watch it once a year. The bar scene makes me cry every time. a little note, all of the extras and crew experienced the war in Europe, and experienced a lot of loss and deprivation. The scene was very emotional for both cast and crew because of that life experience. All of the actors are A level, and not a weak performance among them. I still say Claude Rains stole the movie. Very much an adult movie.
As a German, I have always felt very sensitive about the sad and horrible history of my country and have always admired the underground fighters from back then, the resistance on both side, German and French, of which there were so many in real life, just like Lazlo. My grandfather was part of a German resistance group called Kreisauer Kreis. This movie has always been a massive inspiration for me. I was born in the 70s but the history of my country feels oddly close. Movies like this remind us how important it is to work on a better future together so we don't repeat the past, regardless of the countries involved. It's very important to work on international friendship. I think the internet is a powerful tool to connect us in a meaningful way, regardless of our nationality. We all love movies, we all love art. It's an absolute joy to watch you, you have such a likeable and charming way to narrate and comment on what you see and your thought processes are very wholesome. I hope you are going to go live at some point with us, how fun would that be!
It was wonderful to hear your thoughts on this film and your story. Thank you for sharing with me. I will definitely be going live again at some point. I hope to do it once a month or so, but it may be a little more spread out than that.
@@CasualNerdReactions That's great news! Your channel is so, so good, it will blow up, I have no doubt! Thank you for your very kind answer. Have a lovely day 😊🌻
Great reaction, seeing you piece together the story and really get into their relationships was really entertaining. I love classic films from the 30’s to the 60’s. Casablanca is one of the great achievements from the era.
In my opinion the greatest filmmaker ever was Billy Wilder and would recommend his films. In particular The Apartment (1960), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Double Indemnity (1944) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He wrote and directed all of them. For my money The Apartment is the greatest film ever and all four are masterpieces. Incredibly he also has many other movies that he wrote and directed that are “merely” great or really good.
Thank you so much! One day I would definitely like to check out your suggestions.
Excellent reaction/review. It is very heat warming to see people of your generation discover these great classics.
Keep up the great (and important) work....Thanks.......Happy New Year.
One of tightest scripts ever written. To think several movie studios turned it down and it almost never got made.
Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains have the best quotable lines of the movie.
Fun Fact: Casey Robinson, who re-wrote the romantic scenes between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, was offered screen credit but turned it down because at the time he was only taking credit for scripts he wrote entirely by himself. By declining credit, he did himself out of an Academy Award.
I can imagine some studios not being gutsy enough to green light a film so entrenched in current events. I’m so glad it was made though. Definitely one of the most quotable films ever.
@@CasualNerdReactions In 2005 the AFI (American Film Institute) published a list of the 100 most memorable movie quotes from the first 100 years of film. This movie had six of them, four by Rick Blaine, one from Captain Louis Renault, and one from Ilsa Lund. Only two other movies had as many as three, both from 1939, “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
Here are the quotes:
"Here's looking at you, kid.", "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.", "Round up the usual suspects.", "We'll always have Paris.", "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.", "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'"
The last quote is almost always misquoted as “Play it again, Sam.”
One of my favorite lines from the movie is Renault’s response to Rick when he says he has a gun pointed at his heart: “That is my least vulnerable spot.”
You made my night man! The commentary and insight was great as usual. I hope you help others to build their awareness of great movies, (and sometimes bad ones too)
Thanks so much! I definitely hope to help people find great movies.
Such a great movie, glad you enjoyed it. Some other pre-60s classics I’d recommend: Rashomon (1950), Citizen Kane (1941), M (1931), and 12 Angry Men (1957).
Citizen Kane and 12 angry men are two I am very interested in watching this year.
My favorite movie, all time. For 60+ years this was the most quoted movie in popular culture, even if people didn't know the quote came from this one. Casablanca holds up today, despite being from the 40s. An all-star cast, with trivia that rivals any modern movie. And one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the Silver Screen and one of the most manly actors to walk the actual streets of Hollywood.
The Bridges of Madison County evokes some of the same feelings as this movie.
Now you've seen Casablanca, I recommend following it up with Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam. Full of Allen's manic but insightful wit, it's a very funny but sincere love letter to Humphrey Bogart in general and Casablanca in particular. A perfect double bill.
One of my favorite movies, a true classic, & its good they didca little history & geogrphy at the beginning, so u know Casablanca is in Morroco.Ingrid Bergman was in another classic movie Gaslight, Paul Henreid was in the classic, Now Voyager with Betty Davis & Humphrey Bogart in numerous films like To have & have not, The Maltese Falcon.
A great and wise reaction, and a fine edit of highlights from a wonderful film. Top work.
Thanks so much!
Claude Rains was brilliant as the captain of the police. He was a remarkable versatile actor and one of the true great Hollywood stars.
Two observations on this film:
This movie was made when the war in Europe and the Pacific was going full blast with the outcome of both still in doubt. Many people in the 1942 movie audience had been forceably separated from their Fathers, Sons, Husbands or Boyfriends who were off fighting somewhere. You can understand how this film had even more emotional impact back then.
The other thing that made the movie so suspenseful and gripping was the love triangle between Rick, Elsa and Victor. All three characters were shown to be equally heroic, likable, and deserving of having a happy ending. Usually, in Hollywood movies, the romantic tension was between the leading man and leading lady, with the third party having some obvious flaw or shortcoming. In the case of Casablanca, you wanted Elsa to end up with both men. Writing a suitable script ending that would satisfy both the Hays Office (U.S. film studio self-censorship) and the theater audience must have been very difficult.
Casablanca is tied for my all time favorite movie with The Thin Man, which I think you might like. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone react to it, now that I think about it! It's the gold standard classic for clever dialogue wrapped in a murder mystery with one of the greatest movie couples of all time.
The thing man Is definitely one I plan to watch before the (new) year is out!
I also adore The Thin Man! TCM does a New Year’s Eve marathon of Thin Man movies, and I would definitely recommend the first two in the series. I think the Casual Nerd would enjoy the noir-style murder mystery, and Nick and Nora are an absolute hoot to spend time with. (A martini or non-alcoholic cocktail is a must while watching) Cheers!
@@CasualNerdReactions Excellemt. I hope you have fun with it.
@@johnanderson5558 Just line up the martinis on the table for me, so I can be like Nora.
@@CasualNerdReactions I know this was a misspell, but it tickles me that there is a version of “the thin man” called “the thing man” where Nick and Nora go about 1940s New York solving murders and drinking cocktails, as well as absorbing unsuspecting victims with their alien DNA. Someone make this movie!
CS Lewis said that a 'classic' is a book that re-rewards you each time you read it. Sounds like you're saying something similar about classic movies, and I agree with both of you.
I loved your reaction to this. This movie is amazing and oddly applicable, even now.
Thank you so much! I completely agree.
So glad you watched this movie. Yes, it is a great movie! Great love story!
The dialogue in this film is next level.
Another great reaction to a great film. I think you got it absolutely right with your comments after the movie ended. You are right about having to watch this movie again and again.
Another great movie with a twisted plot is another classic, "The Maltese Falcon" again with Humphrey Bogart. You will really understand why he was so cool. One more Bogart film, "Treasure of The Sierra Madre". Classic!