CASABLANCA - A Best Loved Film 1942

CASABLANCA - A Best Loved Film 1942 - This is surely an all time favorite of many people although I don't think it is quite up there with Gone With the Wind. This 1942 drama received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director(Michael Curtiz), and Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for but did not win, Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Best Supporting Actor (Claude Rains), Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score(Max Steiner)and best editing. Those are some pretty big accomplishments. Humphrey Bogart stars as a cafe owner Rick, with Ingrid Bergman as his lost love Ilsa. Paul Henreid is her husband. Their lives become entwined in the exotic Moroccan City of Casablanca during the early days of WWII. There are several quotes made very famous by this movie. You may know them & not even know where they came from. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" "Here's looking at you kid," & "Play it Again Sam". Speaking of Play it Again Sam, Dooley Wilson (Sam) was a professional drummer who faked playing the piano. Most people don't know that, good trivia question! This movie would be a welcome addition to any classic movies collection. Enjoy!

"If you could play it for her you can play it for me"

The above title should be the real way to remember this classic best movie ever made to be seen. No, the line "Play it again, Sam,"does not exist, but just every other famous lines we all remember does such as "Round up the usual suspects!" The actual move, Casablanca, first released in 1942, has some mistakes as do all movies, but I would have to say for young and old, for the person who lived through it to the acid rocker, this is THE BEST MOVE EVER MADE TO BE SEEN! Is it a love story? Yes! Is it a story of intrigue? Yes! Is it pure entertainment YES! IS IT HUMPHREY BOGART AND INGRID BERGMAN AT THEIR BEST? YES! YES! YES!

The additional disc has the most interesting information yet from interviews with children of the stars, home movies of the stars, what it was like at home with Bogard! Also, a SCENE BY SCENE ANALYSIS BY ROGER EBERT! There is so much more, too!

I WOULD SAY, THIS WAS THE MOST THOUGHTFUL BIRTHDAY GIFT(MY WIFE PRESENTED IT TO ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY) I HAVE EVER RECEIVED. IT BRINGS TEARS TO MY EYES WHEN I WATCH IT (NOT BAD FOR A CRUSTY 56 YEAR OLD GUY)!

If you ever want to purchase a movie set or just a movie that will last a lifetime of watching, this is it! No, there is no"I'll be back special effects" blow em up stuff! Just pure talent: great acting, superb cinematography and absolutely academy award winning directing with Michael Curtiz. He never did anything without a meaning; suit the action to the word, the word to the action.

ALL IN ALL, I'LL BE TRITE, A TRIPLE THUMBS UP!!!!!

Straight romance, slow, mushy

I may be prejudiced by the fact that I absolutely hate romance. Romantic comedy and musicals I can stand (to an extent, as I don’t like An American in Paris). But I hate pure romance.

I came into the movie thinking it was something like Notorious, romantic suspense or something of that nature. I was incredibly wrong. It was pure romance, pure romance.

Basically the plot is this: Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who runs a bar in Casablanca, where all the refugees go (during WWII), sees an old flame (Ingrid Bergman) again. This recalls the days in Paris shortly before he left. She comes and talks to him. She says she’s married to this guy (Paul Hendrid). Rick had seen them together in his bar. The guy is prominent on the Nazi blacklist and so the Gestapo, who just arrived, want to see to it that he stays in Casablanca. There are some twists and the movie ends.

Seen that way, it seems absurd that anyone could stretch this over the course of a movie an hour and forty minutes long. Frankly it is. Sure, I cut out all the mushy parts and the fancy lines (“Here’s looking at you, kid!”), etc.

Claude Rains and Peter Lorre are the best actors of the bunch. Bergman is okay. Hendrid sort of mutters his lines so it’s hard to understand them. I hate Bogart’s voice—it’s raw, high-pitched and sort of shrill. That and he kind of slurs or has a lisp or something. And his looks—his face looks like a hollowed out corps—haggard. Probably he was on drugs or alcohol.

The opening was horrible. Unnecessary and left me wondering who the movie was going to be about. I mean, I have no problem with establishing shots. But never should the camera stop on a person and should those people have an honest to goodness line (not brushing over). It makes you think the movie’s gonna be about them. But the opening to this movie does that constantly.

People say this is the best movie that has ever been made. I’ll second that, with one minor modification, “it’s the worst movie that has ever been made”. Fine, maybe not the worst. But just plain stupid. Not worth watching again. No tension, no real suspense. It’s a good movie to see what WWII was like (this was made before it was over). Other than that, it stinks on ice.

EVERY collection should have this one!!

This is certainly among the most spirited and ennobling movies ever made. The 1942 Casablanca still wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster is sophisticated instead of outlandish, intriguing instead of garish. Humphrey Bogart plays the allegedly apolitical club owner in unoccupied French territory that is nevertheless crawling with Nazis; Ingrid Bergman is the lover who mysteriously deserted him in Paris; and Paul Heinreid is her heroic, slightly bewildered husband. Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt are among what may be the best supporting cast in the history of Hollywood films.

Casablanca: The must have movie!

What can you say about a movie that has Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman in it, except AWSOME! This is a must have flick! The interaction between them is magical. It's like they were ment to be together! (make's me feel all mushy inside!) If it had been any one else, other than Ingrid, this movie wouldn't be a classic.
The plot revolves around WWII, Rick's cafe (owned by Humphrey Bogart)and the Nazi's in Morocco. Rick, who play's both side's just to play it safe, stick's his neck out for no one. When " IN all gin joint's in all the world, she had to walk in to my place" Ilsa,(Ingrid) re-enter's Rick's like and turn's it inside out.(some how I just knew that was going to happen!)
After a long interlude, that take's us thru they short steamy love affair, we learn how Rick wound up in Morocco, with out IIsa. Make's ya want cry, don't it!
Any way, with the unwittingly help of Peter(Wooo, those eye's)Lorre who got whacked earlier in the flick, paper's that he left with Rick that are kind'a like a "get out of jail early" pass, are now the hot item that the Husband of IIsa is looking for. With the Nazi's closing in for the kill, Rick pull's the "rabit out of the hat trick", dubble crosses his old arch enemy the local constable, and foils the Nazi's plan's on keeping the pair in Morocco. OOOOOh that crazy Rick, well, after we watch Ingrid's plane sore into the fog, Rick make's amend's with the constable, and utter's those immortal word's,
"This look's like the begining of a BEA-UTIFUL friendship"
Fade to black, roll the credit's, grab some Kleenex, and head for the exit!
If you don't have this movie in your collection, I recommend you run, don't walk, to your nearest video store, and snag a copy of this classic for your self! I got mine, now go get your's!
Nuff said!