Casablanca Plot Intro
Casablanca, Morocco, the early ’40s. With France occupied and most of Europe in uproar, refugees from all over flock to Casablanca where they use wits, bribery and luck to gain exit visas for a new, free life in America. Within this chaos is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a bar owner who wants to keep his head down and stay out of dangerous politics. But his life is changed when an old flame of his, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), arrives in Casablanca with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Laszlo is wanted by the Nazis so the couple are desperate to leave- and Rick becomes their only salvation. With old feelings between Rick and Ilsa re-emerging, however, Rick must now make a choice. Will he help his beloved Ilsa to leave his life forever, or keep her within the suppressive confines of Casablanca?
Casablanca is not just a popular film. It has that enviable “icon” status that is shared with Gone With the Wind. The American Film Institute names it as the third greatest film of all time, surpassed only by Citizen Kane and The Godfather. It’s part of movie royalty, with lines and scenes that have been satirised, imitated and referenced by The Simpsons, Family Guy, Red Dwarf and even, to name an obscure reference, one of the Discworld computer games. In other words, Casablanca is a Big Deal.
But, on my first viewing when I was in my mid-teens, I found it dull and confusing. I spotted all the famous lines which, like the shower scene in Psycho, are so expected that they’ve lost their power. I developed a disliking for Humphrey Bogart who pretty much plays the same detached, moody loner in all the other films I’ve seen of him, I was disappointed by how small-scale the film is (it’s mostly set in Rick’s cafe) and I found the final climactic 20 minutes too convoluted to follow (a lot happens in a short space of time).
But this repeated viewing gave me a more positive perspective, having now learnt more about the war, about unlikeable, complex characters in fiction, and gained an appreciation for films of this era. It’s refreshingly dark. How Green Was My Valley was sweet, homely and domestic. Mrs Miniver was inspiring and rose-tinted. But Casablanca is unafraid to show the corruption and unpleasantness of humanity. I loved all the side-characters who are desperately trying to escape or survive in their own way (such as a French floozy named Yvonne, and a young Bulgarian couple who have run out of money) and I liked speculating about where they were from and where they would end up.
I also gained more understanding of the three major players in the central love triangle. Laszlo is the conventional hero- handsome, righteous, bellicose and courageous. Rick is the polar opposite- cynical, acerbic, ostensibly indifferent but loyal to his friends. And I identified much more with Ilsa, who is torn between two men she adores for different reasons, but must choose one to run away with. Should she choose the rebel or the survivor? Whom would YOU choose?
What marks Casablanca down for me is that I was nowhere near as emotionally captivated as I was with the Welsh miners or Scarlett O’Hara in previous films. There are the classic, oft-repeated lines, but the film is also dotted with lines like, “Is that cannon fire, or is it my heart pounding?”, which would make the writers of Dynasty wince. I was interested to see how the main characters fare, and in the motivations and loyalties of some of the more ambiguous characters (Claude Raines’ measured performance as Captain Renault is an excellent example of untrustworthy meets likeable). But interesting is not enough for 10 out of 10- I want to be devastated and inspired but I was neither of those things.
For me, Casablanca is a fascinating insight into a side of the war that is often unexplored, and I enjoyed the way in which so many characters and storylines are tightly held together under a small-scale setting, but it’s not powerful enough for me to place it in my list of favourites.
Highlight
The famous Marseillaise scene, in which the entire cafe out-sing a group of German commanders. Imagine watching THAT in 1943 after a wearying 4 years of warfare.
Lowlight
The scenes between Bogart and Bergman alone sometimes drag. I found them full of saccharine dialogue that didn’t advance the story.
Mark
7/10 (up from a 4/10 when I last watched it)
My mother loves this film. She quotes the lines, hums the tunes and does wistful sighs when you talk about Humphrey Bogart. So when I first sat down to watch it with her a few years ago, I expected great things, and was fairly disappointed. I found it dull, dragging, and very much like a patchwork of great lines all stitched together. However, since then I have grown up a fair bit, have gained a knowledge of the context of this film, and was prepared to re-approach it with a more adult perspective.
It is somewhat surprising then to say that my opinion of this film has actually sunk further still. Plot-wise, very little happens. Character-wise, very little happens. And all of the female characters - particularly Ingrid Bergman - have nothing to do whatsoever. Bergman’s character has absolutely no agency bar protecting her big strong revolutionary husband. Bogart’s character does very little until the very end - and I’m particularly biased against the ‘masculine’ style of acting we’re seeing a lot in this period (namely just saying your lines while looking like you’ve had full-face botox). It’s just a bit dull.
In fact I found it comparable to a far greater film - Cabaret - which has the similar situation of a lot of people trying to carry on as normal - going to bars and clubs - while secretly trying to escape the Nazi threat of the time. Cabaret likewise has a moment where people singing overpower the situation - only it’s more subversive as the young handsome Nazis sing Tomorrow Belongs To Me and everyone begins to reluctantly, fervently, join in. But Cabaret has characters you care about and feels more real. This on the other hand ends up feeling a bit half-finished. There’s no great story, there’s some atmosphere but nothing is really done with it.
What’s surprising about this film is that the screenplay is generally considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, ever written. Whereas I feel it’s a piece very much of its time, and gathering dust rapidly. I can imagine that, being produced in the heart of WWII, it would have resonated with the watching audience far more and inspired them. The lines themselves could be great - but they’re all delivered at rattle-fast pace and without any deeper thought, so that they have only gathered importance and sincerity with the repetition and spoofs on other shows. Coming back to the source, I was left rather uninspired.
Highlight
The line ‘we’ll always have Paris’ is useful when saying goodbye to friends for the weekend, so I’m very grateful it was written, even if it was delivered with somewhat-underwhelming gusto.
Lowlight
It’s a slow film with potentially great lines, that doesn’t deliver the goods. Also Ingrid Bergman has such a lack of any personality or action here that she could be successfully replaced with a hatstand, and the film wouldn’t differ.
Mark
3.5/10
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