> “Casablanca is best described as cinematic magic that occurred accidentally on purpose,” writes [Alan K Rode, biographer of the director Michael Curtiz]
> Casablanca brings with it, like a trail of perfume, other situations that the viewer brings to bear on it quite readily […] it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works…
I've seen Casablanca more times than A Beautiful Mind, and I worked on that movie.
My first viewings were indeed from the balcony of the Brattle Theatre, where one could get books of ten tickets cheap as a grad student. My last viewing was just before the pandemic, in the Stanford Theatre.
I vowed to let go of all inhibitions, and let the movie guide my emotions. That's how Casablanca deserves to be seen.
I have to confess that I haven't been to the Brattle in ages; I go into the city for a lot fewer evening events than I did. But that's pretty much the last relic of quirky Cambridge theaters. And even campus film events get a lot less traffic than they used to.
I had a film professor who told us that he thought Casablanca should be #1 on AFIs list of the best films. Citizen Kane is a masterpiece of cinematography, but otherwise I think it’s kind of weird. Casablanca is beautiful, complex, and approachable.
A different way of putting the above is that Casablanca's aesthetic was so influential that it guided decades of subsequent work.
My 2¢: this could be a consequence of both the movie's strengths as much as of the trade-offs taken that did not overshadow the strengths. For example, the movie's wartime moral dichotomy is carefully offset with reminders about the limitations of moralism.
Having recently rewatched it. I think the only thing I somewhat objected to was the use of gauze filters to soften the close-ups of Bergman as they felt jarring in relation to the other cinematography. It was popular at the time, but I feel like it has aged poorly. Other than that, what a movie it is. Looking forward to when I again (inevitably) watch it again.
> Nearly all of the 100-plus actors and actresses in the film were immigrants hailing from more than 34 different nations. Bogart was the lone American;
Uhm, hello, Arthur Wilson? Born in Texas, died in California. "Play it again, Sam".
Trivia. (Because I lost a bet once--that I was very setup for :-)) The phrase "Play it again, Sam" doesn't actually appear in Casablanca. ("Play it Sam" does.) I assume the phrase was popularized by a 1970s Woody Allen film which wasn't really one of his better works but is somewhat memorable for having a running gag that is one of those things that is totally alien in a world with cellphones.
She was the stepdaughter of Jack Warner (as in "Warner Brothers"). But supposedly she got the part on her own without his help at all. Not sure I believe that.
I wish, I wish, I wish that Ronald Reagan had taken the role played by Paul Heinreid (he was considered for it). Then it would be conservatives who bore one about Casablanca, and they are less ubiquitous in the press.
And if you want to be anti-colonialist, you can look at Edward Said's take on the movie in Orientalism.
This is also the message of Umberto Eco's essay called "Casablanca, or, The Clichés are Having a Ball" — https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/26/casablanca-or-the-cliches...
> Casablanca brings with it, like a trail of perfume, other situations that the viewer brings to bear on it quite readily […] it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works…