Casablanca

Rating:
Summary: A Superb example of Hollywood filmmaking at it's best!
Review: This is an excellent film that deserves multiple viewings. Basically the story is about nightclub owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart) who runs into his old love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her underground leader husband (Paul Henreid) at his club in Morocco and that's just the beginning. This is a great film that also stars Claude rains, Peter Lorre and Conrad Veidt. With great performances all the way around, this is a timeless classic. Highly recommended. If you like this film try Algiers (1938) with the beautiful Hedy Lamarr and Charles Boyer. Ingrid Bergman fans should see her in Gaslight (1944) and Notorious (1946) and fans of Conrad Veidt are encouraged to see Dark Journey (1937).

Rating:
Summary: You Can Keep Paris, I'd Rather Get the Girl
Review: I know I'm supposed to like this movie, but I don't. Of course, it's got some great lines like 'Here's looking at you kid' (I use that one all the time) and 'Play it again, Sam.' The World War Two subplot also kind gets you, like some kind of turf war between rival gangs, the Nazis and the French. But what gives me the jip is the fact that Humphy lets that sweet kid go off on a plane trip into the fog with some dorky freedom fighter. Not me, brother. I'd rather peach that palooka to the Gestapo and grab the moll for myself, Paris or no Paris. The way I figure it is there'll always be plenty of wars going on somewhere. The main thing's not to pass up a class dame when she just happens to stumble into your gin joint, Rick. Claude Rains or Ingrid Bergman - I know who I'd rather spend the war with.

Rating:
Summary: Immaculate.
Review: Casablanca is the one film you definitely need in your collection, regardless of what other movies you decide to have in your library.

Wise men say that Citizen Kane is the greatest American movie ever made. But Welles's film doesn't have the sheer watchability of Casablanca. You can enjoy Casablanca time after time. It is more than enduring, it is impervious.

When just about every line in a script is not only good, not only excellent, but legendary you know you're on to a good thing. And, although famously a lot of things in this film happened by accident (It was originally intended as a vehicle for Ronald 'Bedtime For Bonzo' Reagan) and good luck, the script isn't one of them.

'I came to Casablanca for my health, I came for the water.' 'Water? What water? We're in the middle of a desert.' 'I was misinformed.'

Bogart is superb as the cynical Rick, a man who puts his neck out for nobody. And Bergman is oh-so beautiful, and oh-so talented and just oh-so...

The supporting cast are superb. Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Conrad Veidt, Claude Rains... with a cast list that impressive you can't go that far wrong, but there's no reason it should have gone quite this right.

Michael Curtiz directs a consummate, slick, barbed and witty war-time romance that has more than stood the test of time.

This movie is American cinema writ large. Nobody has matched its appeal and I don't think anyone ever will. In another sixty years time people will still be watching and enjoying Casablanca and won't give most contemporary studio output a second thought.

The featurette on this DVD is, well, its okay. Its always good to see Lauren Bacall, and the people involved with the movie who are still alive tell interesting tales. You know the old stuff about how Casablanca was just one of fifty or so movies put out every year and, well, nobody *knew*.

Actually to be perfectly honest I stopped the documentary halfway through. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but frankly, I just want to see the film. I'm not interested in the trivia myself. It isn't the trivia that is going to survive the next sixty years either. It is the movie itself. Which is immaculate.

Whatever movies you have in your collection - from Truffaut to Woo, you need this.

Rating:
Summary: The Film for a Lost Generation...
Review: 'Casablanca'....the greatest, yes, of course...everybody knows 'Casablanca' is the greatest. What it captures, most people do not speak of. Yes dialouge, camera shots, acting, plot, all of the elements that make a great movie a great movie are tangled up inside of this film, but underneath all the Hollywood greatness, there lies a human greatness. A greatness for all the people like Rick & Ilsa who had to sacrifice their personal lives for a greater cause. Like Rick says, "It doesn't take much to see that the problems of 3 little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." These people like Rick & Ilsa are the lost generation; the WW II generation, and 'Casablanca' eloquently caputures their significance and importance they had in history, for they are the true heros. Rick and Ilsa are here to represent these heros. Yes there are the monuments for the soilders and victims of the war, but 'Casablanca' is the ultimate monument to these heros, the everyday people of the world who put their own lives on hold to help the greater cause. So just remember, as time goes by, the people--the heros--who faced this great challenge may not live forever, but their duty and honor will always live on immortally, through 'Casablanca'.

Rating:
Summary: Must See
Review: Well, I am not going to give a plot summary like everyone else did, but I will say that the quality of sound and picture is excellent and the movie itself is a classic. I just saw it for the first time and finally know where all those cliches come from like "this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.." and "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday... " Get it, you won't regret it!

Rating:
Summary: "An American Classic"
Review: When I was younger and people talked about the greatest movies of all time CASABLANCA almost always entered into the conversation. I never understood why. Of course, I hadn't seen the film either. Nevertheless, I couldn't understand why there was so much ado about a black and white movie that was a love story set in a bar. It didn't make any sense to me. Now that I am a bit older and have actually seen the film, I understand what all the fuss was about.

CASABLANCA is an American classic. It has a great plot, interesting characters, and wonderful dialogue. Yes, it is in black and white, it is a love story, and it does take place in a bar. But all of those things that I thought were so lame when I was a kid, are now the things that make the movie so dear. I hated black and white movies when I was a kid. Now I enjoy them and seeing a film of that age with such a great story makes it even that much more enduring. When I was a kid, I couldn't relate to Bogart's character at all. Now, I can empathize with his struggles. As for the boring bar that I thought was so lame; I now know as Rick's and see how important it is to the film, drawing together all the wonderful elements and characters of the story into one setting.

All in all, a superb movie that deserves to be called an American classic.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Ever
Review: Casablanca is the best, ever. I have seen the move eneough that I can recite most of the lines, yet I never miss a chance to watch it again. If you have never seen Casablanca, you have never seen a movie. Just an interesting bit of trivia: Q: The move takes place over three days during WW-2. What historical event happend during those same three days? A: The attack on Pearl Harbor. Coincidence? Next time you watch the movie, pay attention to the late night bar scene "Of all the gin joints in all the towns..." and you will hear the date.

Rating:
Summary: : )
Review: Rick and Louis start

A beautiful friendship while

Ilsa gets on plane

Rating:
Summary: Here's looking at you Bogey . . .
Review: There is little I can say about a film of this magnitude. On first viewing it left me spell bound. I was so deeply touched by the character depth, the story line, and the settings. This movie made a Bogie fan out of me. The transfer on the DVD is excellent (as opposed o the video version where you have to fast forward through the retrospective at the BEGINING of the movie?). It was one of the first I bought and still love it all these DVDs later. There still is no one like Bogie!

Rating:
Summary: The best way to see the best movie at home!
Review: I've never been sure if this is the best movie ever made, but I'm sure it's among the top few. It seemed unlikely that there would be significant extra material included with this disk, but this edition includes some outtakes, as well as interviews with some of the principles. Also, there is some interesting trivia revaled in Lauren Bacall's documentary. Did you know that the mechanics working at the airfield are Little People, for instance, or why they were used? And, as you might expect, the technical quality of this format is excellent. But, the best reason to buy this disk is the movie itself. When I see the ending, I never know wheter to cry, cheer, or just shout my thanks to those who created this masterpiece.

Buy it, you'll like it!