Gotta say from a technical perspective this film does the simple things right. Nothing too flashy. However it's the fantastically well written romance and acting that I now understand why this film is a classic!
Gotta admit that you being a film student and not seeing this took me by surprise. I took a some film classes and the teacher didn't just have us watch it but talked about it the way literature teachers talk about Shakespeare. Great reaction.
The most amazing part of Casablanca is that the script was being written/rewritten daily during the shooting of the Film... And It Won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay... And I think it should have Won Best Film Editing...
@@eliemoses When the academy listed the 100 greatest movies quotes of all time there were a couple of films that had 2 quotes, 2 movies that had 3 quotes in the top 100, which was the second highest amount... ... Casablanca has 6! 6% of the top 100 quotes were Casablanca!
Many years ago I had a roommate who also loved classic film, but she hadn't yet watched Casablanca (which I already loved). We rented it and she did love it. Her only criticism was that there were too many clichéd lines in the dialogue. She was amazed when I told her all those lines had originated from Casablanca. ❤
Yep. It's not cheating if the husband is dead. She thought Victor was dead. So it wasn't cheating - as soon as she found out Victor was alive, she left Rick, even though she loved him. Casablanca is truly a classic, one of the best movies ever made.
The best thing about Louis is just how brazen he is. "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" "your winnings, sir" "oh, thank you very much". Or that bit at the end "Major Strasser's been shot, round up the usual suspects!" while they're literally standing over the body with a smoking gun.
This « Orthodox Cross » is actually « la Croix de Lorraine », the flag of the Underground (Résistance) ; when earlier in the movie, they shot the man whose papers were expired, when they search him, you could have noticed he had leaflets with this Cross on him. Salute from France 🇫🇷
When the patrons of Rick's Café are singing the French national anthem with such passion, it was completely real because the war was actually going on at the time they made this...
Some Casablanca trivia for you: many the actors in the film were actually themselves refugees from Nazi occupation. Paul Henreid (Victor Lazlo), Conrad Veidt (Major Strasse), Peter Lorre (Ugarte), S.Z. Sakall (Carl the waiter), Marcel Dalio (Emil, the croupier at the roulette wheel), Helmut Dantine (Jan Brandel, the young man trying to win enough money at the roulette wheel to buy their exit visas), Madeleine Lebeau (Yvonne, the girl Rick dumps and who cries while singing "La Marseillaise.") I can't imagine what it must have been like to escape Nazi Europe and then performed in a film about what the horrors they fled from.
I saw this during WW2 and I believe the reason that it became such an instant classic is that the theme and story truly hit a nerve with the audience members. Everyone identified with the story because in 1942 suddenly husbands and wives, young men and their lovers were being forcefully separated by the war and the draft.
You keep saying that everything in this movie was perfect. This movie is exceptionally well done, but this is classic movie making from a time when there were VERY finite resources for a run of the mill movie. The difference is that these were true professionals who knew what they were doing. They didn't have the option of getting sloppy or taking a hundred takes to get that perfect take. There was no expectation that this was going to be a great film. This was a studio film with a contract cast. But even the run of the mill films look great compared to so much of the crap that gets put out today. This movie is lightning in a bottle. Perfection.
One last note: There were only three American actors in this film; Bogart, Dooley Wilson (Sam), and Joy Page (the Bulgarian girl). All of the rest of the cast were foreign, many who had fled to the United States to avoid the Nazis, even Conrad Veidt (Major Strasser) fled Germany to protect his Jewish wife.
It absolutely is an allegory and not just a love triangle story. I studied this film in a class called Politics Propaganda and Cinema many many years ago. Rick represents American isolationism prior to Pear Harbor. There is a reason it’s set in December 1941. ( I stick my neck out for no one) to his realization that there are things worth sticking your neck out and the problems of “ three little people “ don’t amount to a hill of beans. Victor welcomes Rick ( the US) back to the fight saying he is sure now our side will win. Renault dumping the Vichy water as he gains a spine and a conscience. The movie doesn’t end on the love story it ends on the two cynics doing the noble thing and going off to fight the Nazis. I can’t imagine this message being lost on anyone at the time. It’s an amazing film , and probably one of the best political propaganda films presented as a great love story. It’s my favorite film.
An absolute stone cold classic. Rick is symbolic of the American isolationist view towards the war in Europe at the time, and his realization that it is not a tenable situation, that it actually is affecting his life. If you have not watched the I will suggest "M" (1932), a German crime/thriller with excellent reflections of society in general, and Harvy (1950), a touching comedy/fantasy that is also reflective of social mores and living ones life.
The :theme: of Casablanca: is explicit in the song Sam sings for Rick and Ilsa: "It's still the same old story A fight for love and glory, a case of do or die...
Amazingly, the script was still being written as the movie was being shot. None of the actors knew how it would end even as they were learning their lines each day. You may be too young to have heard all the quotations that used to be common from this movie. But perhaps you'll recognize them in the future...this may be the most quoted movie ever.
‘Casablanca’ is renowned and is justly acknowledged as one of the most romantic films of all time but it is much more than the tale 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 the film’s 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 and memorable quotes, comedic elements together with 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 pre-Pearl Harbour, 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. Michael Curtiz’s direction is multi-faceted: Documentary, Film Noir, German Expressionism, Flashback etc. He is the master of creating the plot via seamlessly connecting a series of rapid-fire vignettes. POINTS OF INTEREST AND NOTES FOR SUBSEQUENT VIEWINGS. Rick’s initial selfishness, (I stick my neck out for nobody’), 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. 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’s 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 facial 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 ‘I don’t buy or sell human beings..’ CIVIL RIGHTS 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. Captain Renault dumps the bottle of Vichy water to represent his rejection of the Nazi- collaborating French Government which was located in Vichy. 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 the husband is ‘lucky’ because his partner truly loves him.
Ilsa loved Lazlo, but it was a different kind of love. She loved him for his qualities--duty, sacrifice, honor, and so on. In today's film, she would be running off with Rick and such a film would be forgotten. She loved Rick more, or maybe differently. As far as an affair goes, she did not know Victor was alive. She thought he had died in the concentration camp. When she found out he was alive, she could not abandon him. I don't think she needed to tell her husband what happened with Rick when Victor was in the camp. There's a war going on and there's work to do. These are problems of three little people in a world gone mad.
If you can recall, she never told Victor that she loved him. Even when he said it to her, her reply was "I know." Howevér her she was committed to him, just as Laslow was committed to his work
This is one of those films, you happen to catch a minute of it on TV and you just wind up sitting there & seeing the whole thing, again. it’s just so Damm watchable. The story just zips right along, even today’s kids with Tik-Tok attention spans who find the pacing of 80’s action thrillers to be almost unbearably slow find them selves caught up in this hokey old movie. And the thing is, this was never meant to be a movie for the ages, it was just one more on the assembly line on the Warner Brothers lot that week. The director was just a reliable craftsman who knew how to get a scene set up, shot, move on to the next one quickly & under budget, I’ve read people who claim that any real vision for the film came from producer Hal Wallis, he made (or at least approved) most of the creative decisions regarding the film, but he mostly just let the massive Warner Brothers movie machine do it’s thing: a huge room full of writers who knew just how to write for the many lead & character actors they had under contract (Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet (Ferrari) and Peter Lore (Ugarte) had all previously appeared together in The Maltese Falcon and likely many other WB films of the era), set designers & lighting techs who knew exactly how to turn a single saloon set into an exotic depiction of North Africa, camera operators who didn’t really need to be told which side to shoot Ingrid Bergman from to make her look her best, and by sheer luck on this occasion everything just happened to click. The story, the cast, their chemistry, and yes, the real-life events happening at the time (the real Casablanca was liberated by the Allies just shortly before the film’s Premire) all just came together to produce one of the most acclaimed films of all time almost by accident.
Michael Curtiz was hardly "just a reliable craftsman." He was Warner Brothers top director and filmed some of the greatest movies of all time including, among many others, Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy, This is the Army, and later White Christmas. Curtiz had often not gotten the attention he deserves, largely, I believe, because he tackled so many different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole him.
This movies was rushed through production to take advantage of the Allied invasion of French Morocco and capture of Casablanca just a few week earlier. As the film was released, Churchill and Roosevelt were meeting in Casablanca. The film was both critical and box office success. The historical setting is Vichy French Morocco, Vichy France ( sometimes called " Unoccupied France " ) is officially neutral but under the control of Nazi Germany. Rick is American, but fought on the side of the communists in Spain, and ran guns to Ethiopian rebels. America was largely sympathetic to the Fascists and Nazis at that time and Rick would have been " unwelcome " back home.
This movie needs at least three viewings to be taken in effectivly. Every other viewing is an opportunity to catch the small things you missed every time prior.
As a film student, you owe it to yourself to watch "Sunset Blvd." (1950), if you haven't already. It speaks of Hollywood as it was pre-1950, in 1950 ... and today. Btw, *no one* has ever been more adamant about having a better side than Barbra Streisand.
You are typically missing all the famous quotes from this masterpiece because of your young age. If you're film student you'd better learn them all, or you really don't know film. First Bogart NEVER said "Play it again Sam" yet so many people claim he did, but you just saw him say "if you can play it for her you can play it for me, play it!" The other famous quotes are:" Here's looking at you kid" repeated at least 4 times in the film. "I stick my neck out for no one." "Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." [Great line for parties when friend comes through the door]. "Round up the usual suspects" [don't know how many elementary school principals have said that lol]. "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." and the name of the book the movie is from "Everybody comes to Rick's" said by Captain Renault early in the movie. Quiz at 11. Can't believe you did not show a reaction to the funniest line in the movie where Renault says he's closing down the Cafe because of gambling and then the guy hands him his winnings.
It was known as "Unoccupied France" but that was only because the Germans didn't station large numbers of troops. The Vichy government that was set up was French in name only, it was a puppet government for the Nazis that did what it was told. That's what made that scene at the end a little more hard hitting when the police captain threw that bottle in the trash, it was Vichy Water.
This film is always in the top five of the American Film Institute list of greatest American films of all time. Director Michael Curtiz was known for his artistic and powerful use of shadows, high contrast black & white, and for fusing stories with both strong action and emotional elements. Many of the cast and crew were refugees from Europe at that time so the scene when they all sing La Marseillaise was filled with genuine emotions. Vichy represented the ruling government which cooperated with the Nazi occupation; when Captain Renault kicks the bucket at the end after dumping the bottled Vichy water in it, it signals that he has decided to stop being a tool of the occupying German forces and will join the Free French movement (its symbol was on the ring that the Swedish man showed to Victor Lazlo when he first arrived in the bar.) Scripts for this were constantly being changed; the Allies were losing at the time (it was before the D-Day invasion) and people were genuinely worried about what the future held. Ingrid Bergman has discussed that no one knew whether she would go or stay and the final decision was made late in the filming process. This film is known for having some of the most iconic and memorable lines.
Madeleine Lebeau, who played Yvonne, actually lived a story very similar to the refugees in Casablanca. She fled Paris as the Germans were marching in with her Jewish husband, making it to Lisbon, though without going through Africa and caught a boat to the Americas, eventually making it to California. Her husband also had an uncredited role in the film, he plays the croupier who tells Louis, "Your winnings sir".
I was fortunate to see this with a live orchestra and it was an amazing experience. If anyone loves this film, like me, if you have a chance to see your local orchestra do it, go.
Great reaction to this absolute classic, Elie. I always loved the direction of Michael Curtiz, as he always had great shot composition and used shadows so well. Looking forward to more classics!
Casablanca is widley considered one of the top 2 films of ALL time, with only Citizen Cane sometimes being ranked #1. I agree that it is at minimum #2.
You were talking when Rick and Ferrari discussed Sam and the rest of the employees of Rick's. They would all continue to be employed and Sam would receive 1/2 of the profits. Sam was his friend.
This is not only one of the greatest classic Old Hollywood movies and greatest movies ever made period but it’s definitely way up on my all time favorites movie list. It never gets old. So many memorable iconic lines of dialogue, incredible acting performances by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as well as the entire cast. Also love the As Time Goes By song by Dooley Wilson. I really believe this is one of those classic all time great movies that would be impossible to remake anywhere near as good as the original. It’s an untouchable movie. I also recommend you watch Ben-Hur 1959 version that won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture. That an incredible classic film. It stars Charlton Heston.
Since you are interested in looking at 'greatest' lists, I'll add another for you. A few years ago, the AFI put out a list of the 100 greatest lines in film history. Casablanca had 6 of them. The next most quoted film had 2 or 3. The interesting part is the 6 do not include all of the well-known lines from this movie. I guess they had to stop somewhere. 😊
This is my favorite film of all time. Rick's decision was foreshadowed in other ways that would've been obvious at the time, but which would only be known to a history buff who views the film, today. The reason the German's had a file on Rick was because of his activities in North Africa and Europe, in the years leading up to the war. In North Africa, Rick sold guns to the Bedouins fighting against Mussolini's Italian Army, which he sent to "recapture" the former territory held by the Roman Empire. In Spain, Rick provided weapons to the "Loyalist" forces. The Loyalists in Spain were those who fought for the lawfully-elected socialist government of Spain during the Great Depression, against the Nationalist Forces in the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists were conservative monarchists who despised Spain's shift to democratic parliamentarian form of government and hated the socialist "Popular Front" that won the 1936 election. The Nationalist Front was backed by Hitler's NAZI government in Germany, which supplied them with weapons and training, and even used the Spanish Civil War as a "test bed" for the development of "Blitzkrieg" warfare. The Blitzkrieg required the close coordination of air power, infantry, and mobile armor elements in the first really successful example of the military doctrine of "combined arms," and the Spanish Civil War is where the Germans put on the final polish. So, during the decade before the war, Rick had first provided guns to the enemies of the Axis powers in North Africa, and then the enemies of the Fascists in Spain. And that meant the reason he couldn't return to the United States may have had to do with labor union activity -- which frequently turned violent during strikes -- during the 1920s. As such, the U.S. government may have had him tagged as a socialist agitator; he was certainly anti-fascist. Also, this film is a lot more than just a " *cult* " classic. It won three Academy Awards, and was selected in 1989 by the U.S. Library of Congress for historical preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." So, it's not a "cult" classic; it is one of the finest English-language film ever lensed.
The now generation has difficulty grasping the reality and depth of those times. If you're serious about movie making, stop giggling and understand this movie. I guess 80 plus years later today's generations cannot grasp what people of the forties experienced.
Always great to see the classics. You should definetely check out Touch of Evil (1958) by Orson Welles (the opening sequence will blow your mind), and The Naked City (1948) - shot almost entirely on location in New York in 1947, when most movies were made in film studios (and pretty interesting in how it was made, also won 2 Oscars iirc). For a film student, those are a must see. Also The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart - absolute joy to watch.
" Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." At that moment, Japanese bombers and fighters were inbound for Pearl Harbor. That's what I was told a long time ago, anyway. (I like to think it's true.)
Remember this overlooked Rick quote from early on: "If it's December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in America? I'll bet they're asleep all over America." So the film is set in the first week of December, '41.
The reality is that real gunshot wounds are seldom large and never throw the victim ten feet backward through a window. They are puncture wounds that often do not bleed. Modern movies get it very wrong indeed.
It is an allegory. Rick represents the USA. Rick's personal journey from isolationism to commitment to the Allied cause was one of things America's wartime censors liked about about this film. Not an Orthodox Cross; that's the Cross of Lorraine. It was the symbol of the Free French during WW2. The film is very well acted. All the leads were talented A list actors, and in a moment of inspiration the filmmakers used used actors who were real actual refugees from the Nazis, all of whom were A listers in their original countries to play the minor characters. This made those characters also well acted. Captain Renault was trading sex for Visas. The morality censors wanted that out of the film, because that was immoral. Meanwhile the War Office censors liked that bit in the film; for reasons. Casablanca was ruled by Vichy France. Germany was free to operate as they pleased in Vichy territory. Vichy Franc cooperated 100% with Nazi Germany. The War Office people liked the Ilsa story line. This film was made very early in the WW2, and they knew that American men and women would be separated for years, and infidelity was going to happen. People needed to be introduced to the idea gently, and shown how to deal with it. (footnote: I was taught that according to the War Department the average American G.I. had sex with 18 women in the European Theater) Way why back when I took a ! unit college course (for an easy A) that was only about this movie. It is surprisingly multilayered film. It wasn't meant to be. It just happened. Foreground love story, with subtle wartime propaganda which modern audiences mostly miss. (the man shot a few minutes into the film dies in front of Petain. the President of Vichy France who surrendered to Germany. The bottle of Vichy water Capetian Renault throw away at the airport. there are too many examples to list) Entire books have been written about the making of this film. You might want to hunt one down. It employed many techniques used by 1940's Hollywood. For example, the plane in the airport at the end is actually a scale model with children and midgets working on it to keep the perspective accurate. (the fog also helped keep that hidden) I agree with you that filmmakers rely on blue screen too much these days, and they lack the feel of old movies.
Love this movie! Another interesting aspect is that many of the supporting cast immigrated to America to escape the Nazis. Plus the fact that the war was not over, so no one knew if the Nazis would ultimately win.
I think it's a great idea to watch as many as you can of the best-loved movies. I watched some of your Buffy reactions and was a little surprised that as a film student most of your film references were to Marvel superhero movies. It can only help you in the film industry to get a wider knowledge of the craft. And now that you've seen this, I think you'll pick up on some references and quotes to it still being made in popular culture.
They didn't show the impact of bullets in part to the Hayes Code. The chess game Bogart is playing was one he was playing by mail in real life. He was an avid chess player.
You asked why Captain Reynaud collaborated with the Germans. His character represented the Vichy government. When Germany invaded France they divided the country in two. One part became occupied France, completely under control of the Nazis. They installed a puppet government in the other part, headed by Marshal Petain and based in Vichy. That government was loyal to the Germans, and represented the French people only as a fiction. Captain Reynaud stood for the Vichy regime, both literally and symbolically. In the end, Reynaud decides he's through with Vichy and sides with Rick and the loyalists.
At the beginning of the movie, when the man is shot running away, there is a picture of Pétain with the ironic caption: “Je tiens mes promesses memes celles des autres.” (“I keep my promises, just as I keep those of others.”) 64.media.tumblr.com/0b8c8dd9586b2deaef6e62ec5e0fbe3f/tumblr_n7uis94q0w1sry590o1_1280.jpg
Good response! It's a case where the studio system worked just about to perfection. Ingrid Bergman is a legendary beauty. Warner's traded Olivia De Haviland to MGM to get Bergman for this film. Bogie has matured as an actor in this. His hurt and loss as he's drinking alone except for Sam, having him play that song that tears his heart out. I've seen one response video where the woman doing the response tears up at the final airport farewell scene.. she got it, and it got to her. The are books and documentary videos about Casablanca. So many individuals' stories. So many epic lines! "Of all the gin joints in all the world, she walks into mine!" "Here's looking at you, kid." I'd like your thoughts on the camera work. I've read that there was some very subtle and good camera movement for the time around the closeups.
The film was released in the same month or so that Gen Paton invaded North Africa via Morocco, so the interest in the movie set 12 months earlier while the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbour and Rommel was getting beaten at El Alamein .....was intense!
In watching your reactions, I've inadvertently watched you grow up and it's clear to me that you're much less immature and much more perceptive and observant about these movies than you were a few years ago. Your analysis was very perceptive, particularly for someone who was born so long after the movie was made. Bogart was a good, understated actor.
Second comment: max Steiner's genius excelled here. He did more things with "As Time Goes By"! Love theme, loss, pain, longing, hope, joy. Also bits of "Deutchland, Uber Alles" and "La Marseillais", with scoring to shift emotions. They would have used the Nazis' "Horst Wessel Song", but everyone detested the idea of paying Nazi Germany a royalty on it! So they used that song "The March on the Rhine". Steiner did not like "As Time Goes By", pitched a fit, wanted it out, until "fate took a hand!" and Bergman was already back at MGM working on her next film, and had had her hair cut short for that part. She was already in a key scene, humming it for Sam! So they had to keep it! Film history!
Max Steiner wrote the score, as well for Gone With the Wind and so many others. He changed the way movie music is made, to go with the mood and the script, and not just for transitions between scenes or to fill in the silence between conversations. No Max Steiner, no John Williams IMO. He was from Austria, was once taught by Gustave Mahler and others. I am currently reading Steve Smith's book on Max Steiner, released in 2020. Film schools should teach the history of cinema and include this book...there is a lot to be gained by knowing the history of your craft, not just the techniques. As a former music teacher and still a musician, i can identify almost every old tune in this flick...in the flash back they are dancing to Perfidia, for example. What if you're making a period film involving WWII and needed music from the era, are you going to bore everybody with the typical In the Mood? or Sing Sing Sing? Or choose other music from the era to also fit the mood of the scene?
As you say : « My favourite films of ALL TIMES », may I ask you : how many films have you seen of the early 30s ? I have observed that young people are usually not aware of the past, so they shouldn’t be so assertive… Study a little more, that’s the advise of a French elder woman who owns 247 English speaking films prior to 1936 and 916 prior to 1950 in her DVD library. Truly yours.
Regarding the Nazi occupation thing in France..the Nazi’s mainly occupied the major city of Paris, France…and so for the rest of the southern part of the country the Nazi’s formed a Vichy French government…a government that supposedly were loyal to the German’s.
You did a good job while commenting this movie…. And you guessed right about Ilsa thinking that Victor was dead very early ! Casablanca is one of my favourite movies too. Could you try « The Third Man » which is great too ? Salute from France 🇫🇷
This ior Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time. It does everything right and has something for everyone. It gets better the more times you watch it - you should revisit it every few years - eventually it will be your favorite.
Enjoyed your reaction. Two more great movies in the top 100: The Maltese Falcon (almost the same cast of characters as Casablanca) and Hitchcock's Vertigo.
I think you missed some of the genius of this movie. This will really sound odd coming from me, but, I believe that you really need your usual pauses to stop the dialogue to comment and form your thoughts. It was not a "Cult" classic, it's a masterpiece, but that may have been how it was labeled where you are. I was really hoping that you would have picked up on the beautiful masterclass in lighting the way that camera perfectly caught the curls of smoke dancing from the cigarettes and use shadow. I kept waiting for you to say something about that! I think because it wasn't "flashy" as you said and was instead subtle, you may have missed it in because you were following the story. I've really been enjoying your work more and more, but this one, I'm sorry to say was only surface level. I'd like leave you with one more thing. I'd like to see you get past your idea that there are missing parts from a 4x3 screen when you are watching older media. Keep it up! I think the movie description may have tricked you as to how much this movie had to offer.
Appreciate the feedback 😁 I cannot always pick up on everything in the moment and there are things I wish I commented on when I think about the film after or see it when editing. Its a shame but it is what it is. Still trying to be perfect. I also love the 4:3 as i am used to it with buffy. ❤️
Research the actors in this film and their backgrounds, and why they took the roles. I think it's very interesting A Bergman movie you'll love is Gaslight.
As others have pointed out, only three of the credited actors were American. To have so many immigrants associated with this film being made during wartime was quite special. This film is worth a re-watch to enjoy the lighting, character actoirs, sets and, for me, to see how they set up all the scenes between Ilsa and Rick. Ingrid Bergman was taller than Humphrey Bogart so lots of shooting tricks were used during filming to make him look taller in every scene (she sat on fewer or no cushions on the couch, while he sat on several; if they were standing she would slouch and he would wear lifts or blocks on his shoes; etc.). Also, again as others have said, there are so many classic lines in this film. One of the reasons he calls her kid ("here's looking at you, kid" is one of those classic lines) is because he was 15 years older than she was (43 to 27 or thereabouts).
Your summary at the end is on point but you were laughing through the whole thing like it’s a comedy which is really annoying. What is also annoying is trying to predict everything that will happen in the story because all its saying is - look at how smart I am that I can figure out this plot line. Totally destroys the feeling. The best reactions are those that go along for the ride displaying real emotions without trying to dissect every aspect. As someone who is occasionally entertained by reaction videos, I want to see someone who shares the feels I felt, but doesn’t try to dryly analyze them.
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Gotta say from a technical perspective this film does the simple things right. Nothing too flashy. However it's the fantastically well written romance and acting that I now understand why this film is a classic!
Gotta admit that you being a film student and not seeing this took me by surprise. I took a some film classes and the teacher didn't just have us watch it but talked about it the way literature teachers talk about Shakespeare. Great reaction.
The most amazing part of Casablanca is that the script was being written/rewritten daily during the shooting of the Film... And It Won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay... And I think it should have Won Best Film Editing...
"Round up the usual suspects"
Yes it was actually a real shit show. lots of frustrated actors.
There are good documentaries on TH-cam about this
Possibly the greatest movie ever made. Unquestionably the greatest script with the most iconic lines.
Ooooo bigggg shout!!! Majot respect for that 🫡
@@eliemoses When the academy listed the 100 greatest movies quotes of all time there were a couple of films that had 2 quotes, 2 movies that had 3 quotes in the top 100, which was the second highest amount...
... Casablanca has 6! 6% of the top 100 quotes were Casablanca!
Totally agree
Many years ago I had a roommate who also loved classic film, but she hadn't yet watched Casablanca (which I already loved). We rented it and she did love it. Her only criticism was that there were too many clichéd lines in the dialogue. She was amazed when I told her all those lines had originated from Casablanca. ❤
@@torontomame Haha, that's great.
Yep. It's not cheating if the husband is dead.
She thought Victor was dead.
So it wasn't cheating - as soon as she found out Victor was alive, she left Rick, even though she loved him.
Casablanca is truly a classic, one of the best movies ever made.
The best thing about Louis is just how brazen he is. "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" "your winnings, sir" "oh, thank you very much". Or that bit at the end "Major Strasser's been shot, round up the usual suspects!" while they're literally standing over the body with a smoking gun.
This « Orthodox Cross » is actually « la Croix de Lorraine », the flag of the Underground (Résistance) ; when earlier in the movie, they shot the man whose papers were expired, when they search him, you could have noticed he had leaflets with this Cross on him.
Salute from France 🇫🇷
When the patrons of Rick's Café are singing the French national anthem with such passion, it was completely real because the war was actually going on at the time they made this...
Yea no lie u can actually feel the passion!
Some Casablanca trivia for you: many the actors in the film were actually themselves refugees from Nazi occupation. Paul Henreid (Victor Lazlo), Conrad Veidt (Major Strasse), Peter Lorre (Ugarte), S.Z. Sakall (Carl the waiter), Marcel Dalio (Emil, the croupier at the roulette wheel), Helmut Dantine (Jan Brandel, the young man trying to win enough money at the roulette wheel to buy their exit visas), Madeleine Lebeau (Yvonne, the girl Rick dumps and who cries while singing "La Marseillaise.") I can't imagine what it must have been like to escape Nazi Europe and then performed in a film about what the horrors they fled from.
I saw this during WW2 and I believe the reason that it became such an instant classic is that the theme and story truly hit a nerve with the audience members.
Everyone identified with the story because in 1942 suddenly husbands and wives, young men and their lovers were being forcefully separated by the war and the draft.
Casablanca is the greatest movie ever made! It’s not a cult classic, it’s a mainstream smash movie.
Dialogue writing is an art form this movie is a masterclass ❤
You keep saying that everything in this movie was perfect. This movie is exceptionally well done, but this is classic movie making from a time when there were VERY finite resources for a run of the mill movie. The difference is that these were true professionals who knew what they were doing. They didn't have the option of getting sloppy or taking a hundred takes to get that perfect take. There was no expectation that this was going to be a great film. This was a studio film with a contract cast. But even the run of the mill films look great compared to so much of the crap that gets put out today.
This movie is lightning in a bottle. Perfection.
One last note: There were only three American actors in this film; Bogart, Dooley Wilson (Sam), and Joy Page (the Bulgarian girl). All of the rest of the cast were foreign, many who had fled to the United States to avoid the Nazis, even Conrad Veidt (Major Strasser) fled Germany to protect his Jewish wife.
It absolutely is an allegory and not just a love triangle story. I studied this film in a class called Politics Propaganda and Cinema many many years ago. Rick represents American isolationism prior to Pear Harbor. There is a reason it’s set in December 1941. ( I stick my neck out for no one) to his realization that there are things worth sticking your neck out and the problems of “ three little people “ don’t amount to a hill of beans. Victor welcomes Rick ( the US) back to the fight saying he is sure now our side will win. Renault dumping the Vichy water as he gains a spine and a conscience. The movie doesn’t end on the love story it ends on the two cynics doing the noble thing and going off to fight the Nazis. I can’t imagine this message being lost on anyone at the time. It’s an amazing film , and probably one of the best political propaganda films presented as a great love story. It’s my favorite film.
An absolute stone cold classic. Rick is symbolic of the American isolationist view towards the war in Europe at the time, and his realization that it is not a tenable situation, that it actually is affecting his life. If you have not watched the I will suggest "M" (1932), a German crime/thriller with excellent reflections of society in general, and Harvy (1950), a touching comedy/fantasy that is also reflective of social mores and living ones life.
The :theme: of Casablanca: is explicit in the song Sam sings for Rick and Ilsa:
"It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory, a case of do or die...
The clue for Ilsa's behavior is in the flashback: there was a man, but he is dead.
The chess game was actually a play by mail match Bogart was having with a friend.
Not an Orthodox Cross. It's the Cross of Lorraine, which was a symbol of the Free French during the Occupation.
Amazingly, the script was still being written as the movie was being shot. None of the actors knew how it would end even as they were learning their lines each day.
You may be too young to have heard all the quotations that used to be common from this movie. But perhaps you'll recognize them in the future...this may be the most quoted movie ever.
‘Casablanca’ is renowned and is justly acknowledged as one of the most romantic films of all time but it is much more than the tale 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 the film’s 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 and memorable quotes, comedic elements together with 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 pre-Pearl Harbour, 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.
Michael Curtiz’s direction is multi-faceted: Documentary, Film Noir, German Expressionism, Flashback etc. He is the master of creating the plot via seamlessly connecting a series of rapid-fire vignettes.
POINTS OF INTEREST AND NOTES FOR SUBSEQUENT VIEWINGS.
Rick’s initial selfishness, (I stick my neck out for nobody’), 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. 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’s 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 facial 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
‘I don’t buy or sell human beings..’
CIVIL RIGHTS
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.
Captain Renault dumps the bottle of Vichy water to represent his rejection of the Nazi- collaborating French Government which was located in Vichy.
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 the husband is ‘lucky’ because his partner truly loves him.
Ilsa loved Lazlo, but it was a different kind of love. She loved him for his qualities--duty, sacrifice, honor, and so on. In today's film, she would be running off with Rick and such a film would be forgotten. She loved Rick more, or maybe differently. As far as an affair goes, she did not know Victor was alive. She thought he had died in the concentration camp. When she found out he was alive, she could not abandon him. I don't think she needed to tell her husband what happened with Rick when Victor was in the camp. There's a war going on and there's work to do. These are problems of three little people in a world gone mad.
"If it's December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in America? I'll bet they're asleep all over America." They woke up shortly afterward...
If you can recall, she never told Victor that she loved him. Even when he said it to her, her reply was "I know." Howevér her she was committed to him, just as Laslow was committed to his work
Yet she tells Rick multiple times.
Great movie everyone shines and nobody steps on each other’s toes in speaking their lines. Masterpiece
This is one of those films, you happen to catch a minute of it on TV and you just wind up sitting there & seeing the whole thing, again. it’s just so Damm watchable. The story just zips right along, even today’s kids with Tik-Tok attention spans who find the pacing of 80’s action thrillers to be almost unbearably slow find them selves caught up in this hokey old movie.
And the thing is, this was never meant to be a movie for the ages, it was just one more on the assembly line on the Warner Brothers lot that week. The director was just a reliable craftsman who knew how to get a scene set up, shot, move on to the next one quickly & under budget, I’ve read people who claim that any real vision for the film came from producer Hal Wallis, he made (or at least approved) most of the creative decisions regarding the film, but he mostly just let the massive Warner Brothers movie machine do it’s thing: a huge room full of writers who knew just how to write for the many lead & character actors they had under contract (Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet (Ferrari) and Peter Lore (Ugarte) had all previously appeared together in The Maltese Falcon and likely many other WB films of the era), set designers & lighting techs who knew exactly how to turn a single saloon set into an exotic depiction of North Africa, camera operators who didn’t really need to be told which side to shoot Ingrid Bergman from to make her look her best, and by sheer luck on this occasion everything just happened to click. The story, the cast, their chemistry, and yes, the real-life events happening at the time (the real Casablanca was liberated by the Allies just shortly before the film’s Premire) all just came together to produce one of the most acclaimed films of all time almost by accident.
Michael Curtiz was hardly "just a reliable craftsman." He was Warner Brothers top director and filmed some of the greatest movies of all time including, among many others, Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy, This is the Army, and later White Christmas. Curtiz had often not gotten the attention he deserves, largely, I believe, because he tackled so many different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole him.
The cross on the ring isn't an Orthodox cross. It's the Cross of Lorraine, used by the French Underground during WW2 as a recognition sign.
Congratulations! You're now qualified to listen to Al Stewart's The Year of the Cat. Pull up the lyrics and you'll get the imagery and will love it!😉
One of the greatest movies, with a great cast.
This movies was rushed through production to take advantage of the Allied invasion of French Morocco and capture of Casablanca just a few week earlier. As the film was released, Churchill and Roosevelt were meeting in Casablanca. The film was both critical and box office success. The historical setting is Vichy French Morocco, Vichy France ( sometimes called " Unoccupied France " ) is officially neutral but under the control of Nazi Germany. Rick is American, but fought on the side of the communists in Spain, and ran guns to Ethiopian rebels. America was largely sympathetic to the Fascists and Nazis at that time and Rick would have been " unwelcome " back home.
We see it as historic AND romance, and a tribute to freedom and the human spirit.
This movie needs at least three viewings to be taken in effectivly. Every other viewing is an opportunity to catch the small things you missed every time prior.
As a film student, you owe it to yourself to watch "Sunset Blvd." (1950), if you haven't already. It speaks of Hollywood as it was pre-1950, in 1950 ... and today.
Btw, *no one* has ever been more adamant about having a better side than Barbra Streisand.
You are typically missing all the famous quotes from this masterpiece because of your young age. If you're film student you'd better learn them all, or you really don't know film. First Bogart NEVER said "Play it again Sam" yet so many people claim he did, but you just saw him say "if you can play it for her you can play it for me, play it!" The other famous quotes are:" Here's looking at you kid" repeated at least 4 times in the film. "I stick my neck out for no one." "Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." [Great line for parties when friend comes through the door]. "Round up the usual suspects" [don't know how many elementary school principals have said that lol]. "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." and the name of the book the movie is from "Everybody comes to Rick's" said by Captain Renault early in the movie. Quiz at 11. Can't believe you did not show a reaction to the funniest line in the movie where Renault says he's closing down the Cafe because of gambling and then the guy hands him his winnings.
Neeed a rewatch 🫡
min 10:00 is not ortodox but the Lorena cross, it was the symbol of the "Free France" and the Resistance...
It was known as "Unoccupied France" but that was only because the Germans didn't station large numbers of troops. The Vichy government that was set up was French in name only, it was a puppet government for the Nazis that did what it was told. That's what made that scene at the end a little more hard hitting when the police captain threw that bottle in the trash, it was Vichy Water.
This film is always in the top five of the American Film Institute list of greatest American films of all time. Director Michael Curtiz was known for his artistic and powerful use of shadows, high contrast black & white, and for fusing stories with both strong action and emotional elements. Many of the cast and crew were refugees from Europe at that time so the scene when they all sing La Marseillaise was filled with genuine emotions. Vichy represented the ruling government which cooperated with the Nazi occupation; when Captain Renault kicks the bucket at the end after dumping the bottled Vichy water in it, it signals that he has decided to stop being a tool of the occupying German forces and will join the Free French movement (its symbol was on the ring that the Swedish man showed to Victor Lazlo when he first arrived in the bar.) Scripts for this were constantly being changed; the Allies were losing at the time (it was before the D-Day invasion) and people were genuinely worried about what the future held. Ingrid Bergman has discussed that no one knew whether she would go or stay and the final decision was made late in the filming process. This film is known for having some of the most iconic and memorable lines.
Madeleine Lebeau, who played Yvonne, actually lived a story very similar to the refugees in Casablanca. She fled Paris as the Germans were marching in with her Jewish husband, making it to Lisbon, though without going through Africa and caught a boat to the Americas, eventually making it to California. Her husband also had an uncredited role in the film, he plays the croupier who tells Louis, "Your winnings sir".
@@dsmdgoldShe was also the longest surviving cast member. She died in the last few years.
I was fortunate to see this with a live orchestra and it was an amazing experience. If anyone loves this film, like me, if you have a chance to see your local orchestra do it, go.
It is brilliantly executed by the cast and the Warner Brothers production crew. Even the music score is excellent. The script is great.
Great reaction to this absolute classic, Elie. I always loved the direction of Michael Curtiz, as he always had great shot composition and used shadows so well. Looking forward to more classics!
Casablanca is widley considered one of the top 2 films of ALL time, with only Citizen Cane sometimes being ranked #1. I agree that it is at minimum #2.
You were talking when Rick and Ferrari discussed Sam and the rest of the employees of Rick's. They would all continue to be employed and Sam would receive 1/2 of the profits. Sam was his friend.
I thought the same thing. He talked over a few good parts.
This is not only one of the greatest classic Old Hollywood movies and greatest movies ever made period but it’s definitely way up on my all time favorites movie list. It never gets old. So many memorable iconic lines of dialogue, incredible acting performances by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as well as the entire cast. Also love the As Time Goes By song by Dooley Wilson. I really believe this is one of those classic all time great movies that would be impossible to remake anywhere near as good as the original. It’s an untouchable movie. I also recommend you watch Ben-Hur 1959 version that won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture. That an incredible classic film. It stars Charlton Heston.
Since you are interested in looking at 'greatest' lists, I'll add another for you. A few years ago, the AFI put out a list of the 100 greatest lines in film history. Casablanca had 6 of them. The next most quoted film had 2 or 3. The interesting part is the 6 do not include all of the well-known lines from this movie. I guess they had to stop somewhere. 😊
This is my favorite film of all time.
Rick's decision was foreshadowed in other ways that would've been obvious at the time, but which would only be known to a history buff who views the film, today.
The reason the German's had a file on Rick was because of his activities in North Africa and Europe, in the years leading up to the war.
In North Africa, Rick sold guns to the Bedouins fighting against Mussolini's Italian Army, which he sent to "recapture" the former territory held by the Roman Empire.
In Spain, Rick provided weapons to the "Loyalist" forces.
The Loyalists in Spain were those who fought for the lawfully-elected socialist government of Spain during the Great Depression, against the Nationalist Forces in the Spanish Civil War.
The Nationalists were conservative monarchists who despised Spain's shift to democratic parliamentarian form of government and hated the socialist "Popular Front" that won the 1936 election.
The Nationalist Front was backed by Hitler's NAZI government in Germany, which supplied them with weapons and training, and even used the Spanish Civil War as a "test bed" for the development of "Blitzkrieg" warfare.
The Blitzkrieg required the close coordination of air power, infantry, and mobile armor elements in the first really successful example of the military doctrine of "combined arms," and the Spanish Civil War is where the Germans put on the final polish.
So, during the decade before the war, Rick had first provided guns to the enemies of the Axis powers in North Africa, and then the enemies of the Fascists in Spain.
And that meant the reason he couldn't return to the United States may have had to do with labor union activity -- which frequently turned violent during strikes -- during the 1920s.
As such, the U.S. government may have had him tagged as a socialist agitator; he was certainly anti-fascist.
Also, this film is a lot more than just a " *cult* " classic.
It won three Academy Awards, and was selected in 1989 by the U.S. Library of Congress for historical preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
So, it's not a "cult" classic; it is one of the finest English-language film ever lensed.
It's not a cult classic. It's a classic. Maybe THE classic
The now generation has difficulty grasping the reality and depth of those times.
If you're serious about movie making, stop giggling and understand this movie. I guess 80 plus years later today's generations cannot grasp what people of the forties experienced.
Nice reaction to one of the greatest classic films! More classics, please, you do a good job with them!
Rick was NOT a sentimentalist at the end. He suppressed his sentiment for the cause.
Always great to see the classics. You should definetely check out Touch of Evil (1958) by Orson Welles (the opening sequence will blow your mind), and The Naked City (1948) - shot almost entirely on location in New York in 1947, when most movies were made in film studios (and pretty interesting in how it was made, also won 2 Oscars iirc). For a film student, those are a must see.
Also The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart - absolute joy to watch.
I got schindlers list up next ready to go!
The cross is not "orthodox"; it is a French symbol. In the context of the film it is obviously a code for the anti-Nazi resistance underground.
The greatest movie ever made, hard to believe this was over 80 years ago!!
I feel when he says here’s looking at you kid is his I love you.
Just like at the end, her 'God bless you' was her i love you to him, echoed from the letter she left him.
" Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
At that moment, Japanese bombers and fighters were inbound for Pearl Harbor.
That's what I was told a long time ago, anyway. (I like to think it's true.)
Remember this overlooked Rick quote from early on: "If it's December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in America? I'll bet they're asleep all over America." So the film is set in the first week of December, '41.
The reality is that real gunshot wounds are seldom large and never throw the victim ten feet backward through a window. They are puncture wounds that often do not bleed. Modern movies get it very wrong indeed.
It is an allegory. Rick represents the USA. Rick's personal journey from isolationism to commitment to the Allied cause was one of things America's wartime censors liked about about this film.
Not an Orthodox Cross; that's the Cross of Lorraine. It was the symbol of the Free French during WW2.
The film is very well acted. All the leads were talented A list actors, and in a moment of inspiration the filmmakers used used actors who were real actual refugees from the Nazis, all of whom were A listers in their original countries to play the minor characters. This made those characters also well acted.
Captain Renault was trading sex for Visas. The morality censors wanted that out of the film, because that was immoral. Meanwhile the War Office censors liked that bit in the film; for reasons.
Casablanca was ruled by Vichy France. Germany was free to operate as they pleased in Vichy territory. Vichy Franc cooperated 100% with Nazi Germany.
The War Office people liked the Ilsa story line. This film was made very early in the WW2, and they knew that American men and women would be separated for years, and infidelity was going to happen. People needed to be introduced to the idea gently, and shown how to deal with it. (footnote: I was taught that according to the War Department the average American G.I. had sex with 18 women in the European Theater)
Way why back when I took a ! unit college course (for an easy A) that was only about this movie. It is surprisingly multilayered film. It wasn't meant to be. It just happened. Foreground love story, with subtle wartime propaganda which modern audiences mostly miss. (the man shot a few minutes into the film dies in front of Petain. the President of Vichy France who surrendered to Germany. The bottle of Vichy water Capetian Renault throw away at the airport. there are too many examples to list)
Entire books have been written about the making of this film. You might want to hunt one down. It employed many techniques used by 1940's Hollywood. For example, the plane in the airport at the end is actually a scale model with children and midgets working on it to keep the perspective accurate. (the fog also helped keep that hidden)
I agree with you that filmmakers rely on blue screen too much these days, and they lack the feel of old movies.
Love this movie! Another interesting aspect is that many of the supporting cast immigrated to America to escape the Nazis. Plus the fact that the war was not over, so no one knew if the Nazis would ultimately win.
I think it's a great idea to watch as many as you can of the best-loved movies. I watched some of your Buffy reactions and was a little surprised that as a film student most of your film references were to Marvel superhero movies. It can only help you in the film industry to get a wider knowledge of the craft. And now that you've seen this, I think you'll pick up on some references and quotes to it still being made in popular culture.
They didn't show the impact of bullets in part to the Hayes Code. The chess game Bogart is playing was one he was playing by mail in real life. He was an avid chess player.
You asked why Captain Reynaud collaborated with the Germans. His character represented the Vichy government. When Germany invaded France they divided the country in two. One part became occupied France, completely under control of the Nazis. They installed a puppet government in the other part, headed by Marshal Petain and based in Vichy. That government was loyal to the Germans, and represented the French people only as a fiction. Captain Reynaud stood for the Vichy regime, both literally and symbolically. In the end, Reynaud decides he's through with Vichy and sides with Rick and the loyalists.
At the beginning of the movie, when the man is shot running away, there is a picture of Pétain with the ironic caption: “Je tiens mes promesses memes celles des autres.” (“I keep my promises, just as I keep those of others.”)
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When Bogie tells you to do something and you ignore him, then he has to repeat himself, look out!!!
Good response! It's a case where the studio system worked just about to perfection. Ingrid Bergman is a legendary beauty. Warner's traded Olivia De Haviland to MGM to get Bergman for this film. Bogie has matured as an actor in this. His hurt and loss as he's drinking alone except for Sam, having him play that song that tears his heart out. I've seen one response video where the woman doing the response tears up at the final airport farewell scene.. she got it, and it got to her. The are books and documentary videos about Casablanca. So many individuals' stories.
So many epic lines! "Of all the gin joints in all the world, she walks into mine!" "Here's looking at you, kid." I'd like your thoughts on the camera work. I've read that there was some very subtle and good camera movement for the time around the closeups.
The script is smart and many quotable lines. It was casted perfectly. The camera work and set and lighting set the mood.
The film was released in the same month or so that Gen Paton invaded North Africa via Morocco, so the interest in the movie set 12 months earlier while the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbour and Rommel was getting beaten at El Alamein .....was intense!
In watching your reactions, I've inadvertently watched you grow up and it's clear to me that you're much less immature and much more perceptive and observant about these movies than you were a few years ago. Your analysis was very perceptive, particularly for someone who was born so long after the movie was made. Bogart was a good, understated actor.
Second comment: max Steiner's genius excelled here. He did more things with "As Time Goes By"! Love theme, loss, pain, longing, hope, joy. Also bits of "Deutchland, Uber Alles" and "La Marseillais", with scoring to shift emotions. They would have used the Nazis' "Horst Wessel Song", but everyone detested the idea of paying Nazi Germany a royalty on it! So they used that song "The March on the Rhine". Steiner did not like "As Time Goes By", pitched a fit, wanted it out, until "fate took a hand!" and Bergman was already back at MGM working on her next film, and had had her hair cut short for that part. She was already in a key scene, humming it for Sam! So they had to keep it! Film history!
Max Steiner wrote the score, as well for Gone With the Wind and so many others. He changed the way movie music is made, to go with the mood and the script, and not just for transitions between scenes or to fill in the silence between conversations. No Max Steiner, no John Williams IMO. He was from Austria, was once taught by Gustave Mahler and others. I am currently reading Steve Smith's book on Max Steiner, released in 2020. Film schools should teach the history of cinema and include this book...there is a lot to be gained by knowing the history of your craft, not just the techniques. As a former music teacher and still a musician, i can identify almost every old tune in this flick...in the flash back they are dancing to Perfidia, for example. What if you're making a period film involving WWII and needed music from the era, are you going to bore everybody with the typical In the Mood? or Sing Sing Sing? Or choose other music from the era to also fit the mood of the scene?
Max Steiner also did the score for King Kong (1933), which was absolutely amazing.
As you say : « My favourite films of ALL TIMES », may I ask you : how many films have you seen of the early 30s ?
I have observed that young people are usually not aware of the past, so they shouldn’t be so assertive…
Study a little more, that’s the advise of a French elder woman who owns 247 English speaking films prior to 1936 and 916 prior to 1950 in her DVD library.
Truly yours.
Probably just Metropolis I have to check
Sam will be working for Ferrari. You talked over it.
Regarding the Nazi occupation thing in France..the Nazi’s mainly occupied the major city of Paris, France…and so for the rest of the southern part of the country the Nazi’s formed a Vichy French government…a government that supposedly were loyal to the German’s.
You did a good job while commenting this movie…. And you guessed right about Ilsa thinking that Victor was dead very early !
Casablanca is one of my favourite movies too.
Could you try « The Third Man » which is great too ?
Salute from France 🇫🇷
This ior Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time. It does everything right and has something for everyone. It gets better the more times you watch it - you should revisit it every few years - eventually it will be your favorite.
Thanks, Elie! 🌴 I suspect this masterpiece will appeal more to you over time. #ElieMoses #MichaelCurtiz #Casablanca #Casablanca1942
Enjoyed your reaction. Two more great movies in the top 100: The Maltese Falcon (almost the same cast of characters as Casablanca) and Hitchcock's Vertigo.
Done vertigo on the channel 😁
I think you missed some of the genius of this movie. This will really sound odd coming from me, but, I believe that you really need your usual pauses to stop the dialogue to comment and form your thoughts. It was not a "Cult" classic, it's a masterpiece, but that may have been how it was labeled where you are. I was really hoping that you would have picked up on the beautiful masterclass in lighting the way that camera perfectly caught the curls of smoke dancing from the cigarettes and use shadow. I kept waiting for you to say something about that! I think because it wasn't "flashy" as you said and was instead subtle, you may have missed it in because you were following the story.
I've really been enjoying your work more and more, but this one, I'm sorry to say was only surface level. I'd like leave you with one more thing. I'd like to see you get past your idea that there are missing parts from a 4x3 screen when you are watching older media. Keep it up! I think the movie description may have tricked you as to how much this movie had to offer.
Appreciate the feedback 😁 I cannot always pick up on everything in the moment and there are things I wish I commented on when I think about the film after or see it when editing. Its a shame but it is what it is. Still trying to be perfect. I also love the 4:3 as i am used to it with buffy. ❤️
@@eliemoses You can just do what some other reactors have done and just give your final thoughts after you've edited.
You missed the "We will always have Paris" line by just being a smart ass.! As a film student, watch it again, and really take notice
Louie i think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship
Wonderful movie.
Those who sang the French national anthem were refugees at the time. Their tears were real.
Research the actors in this film and their backgrounds, and why they took the roles. I think it's very interesting
A Bergman movie you'll love is Gaslight.
Casablanca , the Comedy. Yep
About that IMDb list. Looking over it at least half of them don't belong there, IMHO.
There were Frenchmen that follwed the Wehrmacht , they were called Vichy
This movie could be seen as an early War film, Propaganda, or Film Noir.
Watch citizen cane or listen to war of the world' with Richard Burton at night
This IS NOT a comedy.
Looney Tunes did a remake of this movie. It's called Carrotblanca.
Featuring Penelope Pussycat's first spoken lines. Also Tweety doing an iconic Peter Lorre.
You cut a lot of classic scenes and lines.
I watched this movie several times und still love it, even if the plot around the visas is a little silly.
ring shows cross of Lorraine. French symbol of national independence
How did you get 73k likes from 6k views ?
Warner Bros animation lampooned this film/actor's to the point of being iconic....🥕
3/4 shots favoring the left
As others have pointed out, only three of the credited actors were American. To have so many immigrants associated with this film being made during wartime was quite special. This film is worth a re-watch to enjoy the lighting, character actoirs, sets and, for me, to see how they set up all the scenes between Ilsa and Rick. Ingrid Bergman was taller than Humphrey Bogart so lots of shooting tricks were used during filming to make him look taller in every scene (she sat on fewer or no cushions on the couch, while he sat on several; if they were standing she would slouch and he would wear lifts or blocks on his shoes; etc.). Also, again as others have said, there are so many classic lines in this film. One of the reasons he calls her kid ("here's looking at you, kid" is one of those classic lines) is because he was 15 years older than she was (43 to 27 or thereabouts).
The 4 X 3 ratio was the norm until the 1950s.
And slapping your name across it is unnecessary -- but I understand the attention-seeking.
Your summary at the end is on point but you were laughing through the whole thing like it’s a comedy which is really annoying. What is also annoying is trying to predict everything that will happen in the story because all its saying is - look at how smart I am that I can figure out this plot line. Totally destroys the feeling. The best reactions are those that go along for the ride displaying real emotions without trying to dissect every aspect.
As someone who is occasionally entertained by reaction videos, I want to see someone who shares the feels I felt, but doesn’t try to dryly analyze them.
Aaargh! The subtitles for the movie are horrible!
You editing needs work, you talked over and left out some really key lines. Other than that your reaction/commentary was good.
Love you comments. Have you ever seen the 1957 “Witness For The Prosecution”? If not, please!
Not an Orthodox cross, a cross of Lorraine:
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