Casablanca (1942)

I got to do something really unique this past Wednesday, which was to see "Casablanca" on the big screen. It was the 70th anniversary of the film, and there were select theaters doing a single screening of it. Luckily one of them was a theater not 10 minutes from my house. So I dropped the money for an expensive ticket and sallied forth to watch what is regarded as one of the best films ever made for what would be only my second time seeing it.

I had seen the Blu-Ray of it a few years ago, and while the Blu-Ray undoubtedly had a better picture than what I saw in the theater, one thing still held true on a second viewing that I felt the first time I saw the movie: "Casablanca" is very, very good.

It's nice to see a movie that is able to live up to the hype surrounding it. "Casablanca" manages to be just as titanically good as everyone says it is. It's a rare feat, to be sure. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me well that there are a number of classic films that I didn't enjoy, chief among them being "Citizen Kane." But I found "Casablanca" to be a very inspired, intense, and engaging movie that after 70 years still holds up, if one would take the time to watch something that old.

I know that a big aspect of the movie, the war, is lost on people who weren't around when it was released, since it came out in 1942, in the midst of World War II. These are the timely issues going on in the movie that are somewhat lost on people today, since we can't relate to them, and in that respect the film is a bit dated and shows its age. It would be like somebody watching "United 93" or "World Trade Center" a hundred years from now. It's not that nobody would understand or have emotions over what's going on, but if they weren't alive when 9/11 happened, you'd never really have the same connection. For that reason, I'm sure "Casablanca" was even more powerful when it was first released.

"You know, Paul, I'm actually smoking 3 cigarettes right now. I've discovered Quantum Smoking."

What was always surprising to me about "Casablanca" was just how intense it is. There are moments in the movie that are genuine nail-biters. Most of the movie takes place in "Rick's Cafe Americain," the bar Humphrey Bogart's character famously owns, and big portions of the movie are a revolving door of characters coming and going, politicking, scheming, and hunting, always barely ahead of the person gunning for them. The story unfolds naturally from this interaction of people swirling around each other, and there is little clunky exposition going on. The dialogue is just superb in this regard, as you get a lot of backstory from people talking in a fairly realistic fashion.

The cast is of course legendary for anyone who knows their film history. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are the most famous of the leads, but Claude Rains ("The Invisible Man" himself, as the intro to "Rocky Horror" reminds us) and Sydney Greenstreet were also big deals, as well as Peter Lorre, who is one of those actors who everybody is aware of, but nobody knows who he is. If you don't know him, he's the guy with the weird voice. Yeah, that one.

Something else noteworthy about the dialogue is that surprisingly enough, "Casablanca" has some pretty funny dialogue. Most of these zingers come from Bogart, although Claude Rains has some great moments as well. I think seeing it with an audience enhanced the comedy. People were laughing a lot at the funny lines, and it became infectious. Much better than when I saw it by myself, where I'm not sure if I laughed out loud or not. Probably not, but in the theater, I did. It was a great experience.

Of course the ending is famous, and yeah, it does deserve the praise it gets. It's a fantastic ending about sacrifice, sticking your neck out for the greater good of everyone, and as Bogart famously says, realizing that "the problems of two people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." It's still a powerful ending today, but back in 1942 it must have been something else for sure.

There really isn't much more to say. Yeah, some of the dialogue might sound cheesy to our ears, and it may seem slower paced than what we are used to (even though it's not), it's a movie everyone should see. Don't let the fact that it's old scare you off. It's "Casablanca."

"Forget it Rick. It's Chinatown. Wait..."

THE BOTTOM LINE - The bottom line is that it's "Casablanca," one of the best films ever made. If you've never seen it, yes, it really is as good as you've heard. Very Highly Recommended.