Casablanca

Rating:
Summary: Not Dar Baida, but Ya Gotta come to Rick's
Review: My heart thrills as I watch this movie. This for me is the romantic movie par excellant. The hope for love, the dashed desires, the renewal of possibility...and the ending, the amazing ending, unexpected by even the actors, is true romance- not in just the idea of love between a man and a woman, but romance in a literary Woodsworthian way. Ideals, and desires, and love are all one, in the decisions we must finally make in life.

The sighs of delight in how events develop can not detract from it's stars, but there are negatives to the movie. Primarily it's setting. It has nothing to do with Casablanca, Dar Baida, or Morocco. It's not even filmed here, but rather in Hollywood. So you have a triparty attempt to control by the French Resistance, the Vichy government and the Nazis, and Rick, the American. Occasionally some Moroccans are trotted out to remind us that this takes place in Morocco, but they are stereotypical caricatures. The most telling scene in this respect is when the Nazi anthem is drowned out by the French anthem, and everyone feels there was a bit of justice done this night- all of the movie protagonists, and all the reviewers. But what is missing is a bit of the history of this time- how the French colonized Morocco, wrested control of the country from it's inhabitants, imposed their values and culture and stripped away the freedom from the Moroccans. And how the Moroccans had to fight a bloody war of resistance to the French occupation after WWII to win their freedom.

So we bear this in mind as we watch. But then, accepting the lack of reality, it is a wonderful movie of romance, and I will happily dispense with reality for a brief bit of idealism any day.

Rating:
Summary: They don't make 'em like this anymore
Review: Along with Hithcock's Rear Window, Casablanca is extremely effective at using a single memorable set (the apartment for Rear Window and the saloon for Casablanca) for most of the film. The overall pacing of the film strikes a fine balance between character development and suspense, as it is not too long and does not lose its way, thanks to a total lack of extraneous subplots, which often hinders lesser films. Bogart's Rick is the most interesting character as he exhibits a number of traits and transformations that are paralleled in the real world, from his personal loss of a great love to apathy for a higher cause to a metamorphosis resulting in self-sacrifice that spurs others (in this case Louis) to respond in kind against evil. Throw in numerous memorable lines, some fine acting, lots of smoking and drinking that is appropriate for the circumstances rather than overdone, and some hated Nazis, and you have the makings of a timeless, atmospheric film.

Rating:
Summary: You must remember this...
Review: Welcome to Casablanca, in French Morocco. The year, 1942, with the Third Reich at its height in World War II. But the multi-themed, multilayered movie of the same name, based on a Murray Burnett play originally titled "Everybody Comes To Rick's," well, is the story of people searching for hope in a hopeless world, with mixes of intrigue, danger, the eternal triangle, the rebirth of one's soul emerging out of the chasm of cynicism, and fighting for a broader cause rather than looking out for number one.

Amid the teeming masses of those who wait and wait and wait and wait to get their exit visa signed by French police prefect Louis Renault, a corrupt official with a charming air, many of them will go to Rick's Cafe Americain, where there's gambling, dodgy deals, and even an arrest that makes for an exciting evening. The owner, Rick (Richard Blaine), is an American expatriot who is completely neutral about everything, which is an asset for both the Vichy French and the Nazis. "I stick my neck out for nobody" he tells Renault, who replies "A wise foreign policy." However, it's Ferrari, the rotund owner of the Blue Parrot who tells Rick that "isolation is no longer a practical policy." Renault too shares Rick's isolationist view by telling Major Strasser, a visiting German officer, that he blows with the wind, and "the prevailing wind is from Vichy." He's just a bureaucrat doing his job, with lots of perks.

Enter, or in Rick's case, reenter, Ilsa Lund, with whom he had a whirlwind romance in Paris and with whom he was set to flee before the Gestapo got to him. Alas, there came "the wild finish-a guy on a station platform in the rain with a comical look on his face because his insides have been kicked out." Ilsa is here with her husband Victor Laszlo, a Czech resistance leader and key figure trying to unify opposition to the Third Reich. Ilsa wants to explain about that last day, but seeing what Rick has become has left her disheartened with him. And Renault is interested in keeping Laszlo in Casablanca, but also in getting some transit papers the black marketeer Ugatti passed on to Rick before his arrest. Despite Rick's neutrality, he suspects "that under that cynical shell, you're at heart a sentimentalist." that becomes true when Rick's old wounds are opened, seen all too poignantly when he places his hands in his head.

Casablanca is also a place where "human life is a commodity," where the worst elements of humanity cluster, trying to exploit those less fortunate. This is underscored by Ferrari, who swats flies at his place, demonstrating the value of human life in Casablanca. Casablanca is also a place where the Nazis have outlawed miracles. However, as things turn out, miracles do not come in the divine sense of the word. Rather, it is people who become miracles by their actions and convictions of their heart.

There are many other characters here apart from Ferrari. There's the pickpocket, Carl, Rick's waiter and accountant, Sasha, the Russian barkeep, and a Bulgarian couple hoping for their chance at freedom.

Although Ilsa's the one that's reawakened Rick's humanity, I'd argue that it's the young Bulgarian girl hoping to get out of Casablanca with her husband and approaches Rick who actually sets him on the road to losing his cynicism. She asks him "If someone loved you very much that your happiness was the only thing she wanted in the world and she did a bad thing to make certain of it, could you forgive her?...and he never knew, and the girl kept this bad thing locked in her heart. That would be all right, wouldn't it?" That brings into mind the flashback seen, with Rick and Ilsa the epitomy of a couple in the throes of romance, and it's quite a shock to see why he's the cynic that he is.

Parts of this movie have been used in other films. Bogie's speech to Bergman at the ending of Casablanca has been cannibalized by Woody Allen in Play It Again Sam and in the Red Dwarf story Camille, in a very bizarre way. But the most effective tribute has been the hit BBC series As Time Goes By, taken from the immortal song from Casablanca, with that as the theme song.

All the characters and actors are wonderful, with Bogie at his best, Ingrid Bergman at her loveliest, Claude Rains at his most dapper as Renault, and Sydney Greenstreet pulling in another hammy role as Ferrari. And this was one of Conrad Veidt's (Strasser) last roles, as he died of a heart attack a year later. This would have been a totally different movie had Ronald Reagan, Dennis Morgan, and Anne Sheridan played Rick, Victor, and Ilsa.

I've seen this many times and enjoyed it more everytime. What do I do when I'm in the mood for this? Yes, you guessed it...play it again.

Rating:
Summary: Here's Looking at a Great DVD, Kid
Review: Casablanca reigns as one of the greatest films of all-time. There's just no need to rehash what's already been said by critics about why this film is so tremendous.

This new two-disc special edition DVD really hits the mark. First up, on disc one, is a brand new transfer for the film. It simply is impossible for Casablanca to look any better than this. There's no question that it looks better than when it was originally released, than when it hit laserdisc, or any kind of other release. The image is crisp and perfect. I just can't rave about this picture enough.

Also on disc one are two audio commentaries. There's no one more interesting to listen to on an audio commentary than Roger Ebert when he's talking about a classic movie he loves. The Citizen Kane audio commentary is great, and this one is every bit as good. Ebert mixes it up with great anecdotes about the making of the film, provides background information, and specifically points out why Casablanca is so great. He points out plot holes and cheap production values, and talks about why they don't matter and why audiences have ignored them all these years. Rudy Behlmer's commentary is less engaging but still worth a listen.

The two documentaries, particularly Bacall on Bogart, are fantastic. Warner, again following the Citizen Kane release, instead of loading this DVD with quantity, has tossed viewers some great quality.

I owned the previous DVD release of Casablanca. I have no regrets about buying this new release - it tops the last one in every way, shape, and form.

Rating:
Summary: Bland, stereotyped and highly over rated
Review: It seems to be the norm to approve movies that have been braided as "classics" (probably coz very few movies were made in early 40s compared to now).. If you just skim through the hype and judge it objectively, the open minded among you would certainly be appalled by its mediocrity and blandness.. The hotch potchedly construed scenarios, the cultural/racial stereotypes, the sexist concepts of weak women begging men to decide their lives and the highly over stretched sentimentality reeking with hypocricy are just a few of the noteworthy aspects that confirm this movie is one of the most superficial and conformistic movies ever made.

There are infact dozens of very little known post modernistic movies by literally unknown directors that certainly deserve much more attention than this one. It was infact much worse than that pseudo-postmodernistic flick "donnie darko". Deserves one star due to superb performance by Humphrey Bogart.

Rating:
Summary: The bar has just been raised
Review: There's very little to add to wtdk's review below, but I must add my vote to the list of those who are wowed by the quality of this 2-disc set. I still experience that "gee-whiz" feeling when I see the best of these restorations, and this is without question one of the best. It's as if I had been watching this movie through a dirty window for years, and WB came along and didn't bother to clean the window, but busted it out entirely. The black and white is so clean and so crisp that it's possible to appreciate the line and shadow and pattern to a degree that could not be done before, unless one had the good fortune to see it sixty years ago.

While the outtakes and deleted scenes are pretty esoteric (film scraps really rather than anything of genuine interest; too bad they didn't save their fluffs), the documentaries, one of which I'd seen before, are excellent and a great addition to the disk. Having Bacall around is a plus, and a rarity. Most of the people involved in these classic films just aren't around anymore, and finding someone to talk about them in anything other than an academic way is going to be increasingly difficult.

A great movie and a great restoration. Here's to Warners!!

Rating:
Summary: My Favorate Movie of all Time
Review: Cassablanca just might be the perfect movie, I'd give it 6 stars. This movie is the perfect guys romance, Bergman is the only woman he's only loved, she hurt him and now he doesn't give a damn about anything. What guy has gone threw that. The movie has wonderful acting, when Bogart enters the room and hears "As Times Go By" playing, he runs up to the piano and when he see Bogart you can see in his face that he's just had his guts ripped out and stuffed back in, that's acting. I cant' imagine a better movie.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy This
Review: I would like to have rated this 'video' zero-stars, but 1-star is as bad as it can be rated.The film may be great, we were very anxious to see this old movie but we found ourselves 'locked into' over 45 minutes of real Hollywood hype stuff. Thank goodness for 'fast forward'. If we had known this video was full of this, we would NEVER have wasted our money. We refuse to even look at it, it's going into the garbage tonight -- good riddance.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed presentation
Review: The useless 40 minute documentary should have been placed AFTER the feature film, and NOT before the film- very sloppy production. The film is complex and full of intrigue.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greats
Review: Casablanca is one of those movies that everyone can find something to like about it. Even 70 years later, this movie is still one of the most popular movies ever made. Set in the city of Casablanca in unoccupied French territory, the story is full of intrigue, a triangle love story, great characters, and too many one-liners to even mention. In Casablanca, people are desperately trying to get travel visas out of the city so they can get to America as the war draws closer. Two German couriers carrying visas are murdered making everyone wonder where the documents are. From here we are introduced to Rick, a bar owner who apparently has no allegiance except to himself. One night, the love of his life walks in to his bar setting the whole story in motion. This is a fabulous movie that can be watched over and over again. It has all the elements of a great movie and should not be missed.

Humphrey Bogart was never better than his role as Rick, the bartender who looks out only for himself. Simply put, this is one of the coolest characters in movie history. Ingrid Bergman is great as Ilsa, a woman who has a romantic link to Rick in the past. Bogie and Bergman are great together throughout making their relationship truly believable. Paul Henried stars as Victor Lazslo, Ilsa's husband and leader of the resistance movement. Claude Rains gives an excellent performance as Captain Renault, a French officer who plays both the Allies and the Germans. The film also stars Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt. The two-disc special edition should not be missed by fans of the movie. There are too many extras to even mention, but they are all worthwhile. Movie fans everywhere will love this classic movie. Do not miss!