Casablanca

Casablanca is one of those movies that has, rightfully so, been declared one of the greatest films of all time. The screenplay was famously written prior to the USA’s entry into World War II but first read by a studio head the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The timing was perfect during a time when American sensibilities were so abruptly shifted. The film also famously took advantage of the influx of refugees fleeing Nazi occupied countries, peppering in many background people who had experienced exactly what they were called on to convey. Such things lend a feeling of authenticity to a film that could have felt as phony as Sirocco, another wartime film starring Humphrey Bogart.

The story of Casablanca is simple at first but hides a depth that transcends many of the films of this era. Rick Blaine (Bogart), has fled America for some unknown reason and, after some time in Ethiopia and France, settles down in the city of Casablanca and runs a cafe and illegal gambling establishment. With him is his friend and employee Sam (Dooley Wilson), a man who has been with Rick for many years and may be the only one who knows the real reason Rick cannot return to America. Into this story enters Ilsa (Ingred Bergman) and her husband Victor Laszlo. Laszlo is the leader of the Free French Movement and has fled Nazi occupied France where he hopes to secure a visa to America where he can continue his work to rid the world of the Nazis. The man who was supposed to furnish them with their visas, though, has been captured. He, however, left the visas in Rick’s hands before he was caught. But Rick has a history with Ilsa that has left him bitter and unwilling to give up the visas to her and her husband no matter how important it is to the resistance effort.

As with the best stories, there are many layers to Casablanca that really make this picture shine. The film also manages to not tip its hat too early, leaving audiences guessing what is really going on for much of the film. This is done expertly without being confusing and making each revelation all the more powerful as they fill in the blanks both to us as well as the characters. When we get the first and only flashback showing us the history behind Rick and Ilsa, it is a revelation without being too much. We suspect there was a romance between them yet not what ultimately happened. Afterwards, as Rick is seen drinking himself into a stupor because of Ilsa’s reappearance in his life, we feel that bitterness and understand it. We know there must be more to the story, that she must not be completely to blame for what happened, but we’re also firmly on his side and can sympathize with his pain. This is further bolstered by Sam, who knows how much pain Rick is in, who refuses to leave his side.

Paul Henreid has a real challenge in this film playing the legendary Victor Laszlo. We are instinctively driven to root for Rick and Ilsa. Everything supports and drives this romance. Yet she is married to Laszlo. She may love Laszlo but she also loves Rick, perhaps more so. The film drives this dilemma home many times, giving Bergman an opportunity to really show off her dramatic chops as an actress. Henreid has to play against this and sadly comes up short. His portrayal of Laszlo is stiff and stoic, overly heroic and selfless to the point that he is un-relatable. He is a character who never seems to think of himself, not even in minor things and thus is a caricature. There is no nuance to him. It is easily the film’s biggest weakness.

In contrast, Humphrey Bogart is a revelation here. Rick puts up a front of being uncaring, a man who “sticks his neck out for no one,” and uses women without any real plans for commitment. Yet he is more than that and, with the revelations of his past, we can understand his jaded personality. We also see that he isn’t really as calloused as he first appears. Midway through the film a young Bulgarian woman approaches him about her plight to obtain visas for her and her husband for the price of her virtue to the prefect of police. Rick, through means of his own, finds a way to prevent her from paying this steep price. There is also some lip service to him having supplied weapons in the past, fighting in Spain on the loyalist side when the other side could have paid him more for his services. He is a deeply complex character shrouded in mysteries, some of which never get answered.

Ingrid Bergman was relatively new on the scene in Hollywood at this time. She was a Swedish born actress who first came to American audiences three years prior and was cast here on loan from The David O. Selznick’s Company. Despite her newness, she was already an excellent actress. She had a way of conveying her emotions in her eyes, completely convincingly. It is a marvel watching her eyes wash over the face of Rick during the flashback, and again later when she comes to his room late in the film. It conveys so much without a single word. When she is with her husband, we see her attraction to him, but can tell that it is not the same. 

Rounding out the cast is Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, the prefect of police who uses his position of power to obtain favors from young women in exchange for exit visas. This morally bankrupt character flaw could easily turn us away from him, yet Rains plays him is such a way that we forget he is doing this and just enjoy his screen presence. His friendship and banter with Rick further cements our love for this character. Rains is perfect here, giving us the odd juxtaposition of puppet for the Nazis and likable scoundrel. In his own words, he blows with the wind and at present that wind is blowing from the Vichy government, collaborators with the Nazis. Eventually he will have to choose where he will ultimately stand and, even though we’re never quite such which side he will land on until it happens, we never lose our love for him.

The film is not without its flaws. As mentioned above, Henreid is too stiff as Victor Laszlo. The concept of the visas he and Ilsa need is ridiculous when you think about it. These visas supposedly allow anyone to leave Casablanca without being questioned. That the Nazis would let anyone leave, especially someone like Laszlo, simply because he has a piece of paper is preposterous. Likewise, Laszlo shouldn’t even be able to walk around Casablanca freely in the first place, unoccupied France or not. Yet these are nitpicks, hardly worth even mentioning as the real story isn’t about any of this. The real story is Rick and Ilsa and whether Rick will be able to find his heart again and do the right thing in the end.

Casablanca won the best picture of the year at the Academy Awards and continues to endure as one of the greatest films of all time. It continues to remain in the cultural zeitgeist, finding new audiences to this day. People who don’t even like old black and white films will find something to like here. There is just something about this film that transcends that bias. It has heart, passion, and pushes a narrative that is as relevant today as it was then. The backdrop may be over eighty years in the past but it still resonates today and the feelings these characters feel can be understood by audiences of all ages. It is timeless and magical and deserves its spot amongst the best films of all time.

Academy Award Nominations:

Outstanding Motion Picture: Warner Bros. (Won)

Best Director: Michael Curtiz (won)

Best Actor: Humphrey Bogart

Best Supporting Actor: Claude Rains

Best Screenplay: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (won)

Best Cinematography - Black-and-White: Arthur Edeson

Best Film Editing: Owen Marks

Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Max Steiner

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Release Date: January 23, 1943

Running Time: 102 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre

Directed By: Michael Curtiz